Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. The term Scandinavia in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The majority national languages of these three, belong to the Scandinavian dialect continuum, and are mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. In English usage, Scandinavia also sometimes refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, or to the broader region including Finland and Iceland, which is always known locally as the Nordic countries.
The Scandinavian Peninsula is a peninsula of Eurasia located in Northern Europe, which roughly comprises the mainland of Sweden, the mainland of Norway, and the northwestern area of Finland.
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic death metal, grindcore, industrial metal, power metal and black metal bands, as well as tribute albums. It also distributes and promotes two post-hardcore/metalcore labels, SharpTone Records, focused on American scene, and Arising Empire, focused more on European bands such as Novelists, Imminence, Cold Snap and While She Sleeps.
V2 Records is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to [PIAS] in 2013.
Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pagan metal and death metal records, the label moved on to releasing albums of avant-garde metal, gothic metal and punk bands as well. The label has two offices, one in Marseille, France and one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Deathspell Omega is a French black metal band formed in 1998 in Poitiers. Their lyrical content deals primarily with Satanism on a metaphysical level – as the band has stated that "all other interpretations of Satan are intellectually invalid" – and other various theological topics. They have also released a trilogy of concept albums which focus on the theological aspects of God, Satan and man's relationship with the two. They released their sixth album The Synarchy of Molten Bones on November 8, 2016. Some of their lyrical inspiration revolved around existentialist themes coming from the French surrealist Georges Bataille and the German idealist Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
Septicflesh are a Greek death metal band from Athens, founded in 1990.
Drudkh is an Ukrainian black metal band. It currently consists of Roman Saenko, Thurios, Krechet, and Vlad. All four also belonged to Blood of Kingu until it was disbanded. Their lyrics embrace Slavic mythology. Many of the band's lyrics are derived from the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ukrainian poets and especially Taras Shevchenko.
Morgul is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band formed in Råde, Norway in the year 1991.
Sturmgeist is an experimental black/thrash metal band formed by Cornelius Jakhelln in 2002.
Firebox Records is a Finnish record label based in Seinäjoki, Southern Ostrobothnia. The label is well known in the underground heavy metal scene. They specialize in doom metal.
Roger Tiegs, better known by his stage name, Infernus, is a Norwegian black metal musician and Satanist. He is the sole founding member and chief ideologist of the Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth, which was formed in 1992, as well as the founder and head of Forces of Satan Records. He is mainly a guitarist, but has also participated as bassist, drummer and vocalist on several recordings released both by Gorgoroth and other bands.
Misery Inc. was a Finnish metal band, which was formed in Myrskylä, Finland, October 2001. First there was Janne (guitar), Jukka (bass), Jonttu (drums) and Jukkis (vocals). Their original plan was to make music without any lead guitars but then it turned out to be a bit boring. Teemu joined the band and so Misery Inc. were complete.
Zweizz is the primary performing alias of Norwegian musician and composer Svein Egil Hatlevik.
Engel is a metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden. They are currently signed to Gain Records/Sony.
The Nordic countries or the Nordics are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most commonly known as Norden. The term includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands—which are both part of the Kingdom of Denmark—and the Åland Islands and Svalbard and Jan Mayen archipelagos that belong to Finland and Norway respectively, whereas the Norwegian Antarctic territories are often not considered a part of the Nordic countries, due to their geographical location. Scandinavians, who comprise over three quarters of the region's population, are the largest group, followed by Finns, who comprise the majority in Finland; other groups are indigenous minorities such as the Greenlandic Inuit and the Sami people, and recent immigrants and their descendants. The native languages Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are all North Germanic languages rooted in Old Norse. Native non-Germanic languages are Finnish, Greenlandic and several Sami languages. The main religion is Lutheran Christianity. The Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, history, religion, their use of Scandinavian languages and social structure. The Nordic countries have a long history of political unions and other close relations, but do not form a separate entity today. The Scandinavist movement sought to unite Denmark, Norway and Sweden into one country in the 19th century, with the indepedence of Finland in the early 20th century, and Iceland in the mid 20th century, this movement expanded into the modern organised Nordic cooperation which includes the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. Especially in English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, but that term more properly refers to the three monarchies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Geologically, the Scandinavian Peninsula comprises the mainland of Norway and Sweden as well as the northernmost part of Finland.
Mar de Grises was a Chilean death/doom metal band created in 2000. A good translation of "Mar de Grises" would be "Sea of Grief," or equivalently, as grey is the Spanish color of sorrows as blue is in English, "Sea of Greys".
Mark Kelson is a Melbourne born musician, best known for his work as a member of The Eternal, Cryptal Darkness (1995–2002) & Alternative 4 (2010-2013)
Syven is a Finnish band from Riihimäki, formed in 2007. The band's name can be translated as "depth" from Finnish. The band released their début album Aikaintaite through Vendlus Records in 2011; the second album, Corpus Christi , was released the following year.
EMP Label Group, also known as Ellefson Music Productions, is an American record label formed in October 2015, which was founded by David Ellefson of Megadeth.
