Death was an American death metal band formed in Altamonte Springs, Florida in 1984 by guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner. Death is considered to be among the most influential bands in heavy metal and a pioneering force in the extreme metal subgenre of death metal. The band's debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, has been widely regarded as one of the first death metal records, alongside the first records from Possessed and Necrophagia.
Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, formed in 1988.
Devin Garrett Townsend is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also had an extensive solo career and has released a total of 25 albums across all of his projects as of 2020.
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. By 1997, he had recruited permanent members; this line-up, which consisted of Townsend on vocals and guitar, Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums, lasted until the band's dissolution.
Elvenking is a heavy metal band from Sacile, Italy. As of 2019, they have released one demo and ten full-length studio albums. Elvenking's music draws their inspiration from very different genres such as metal, folk, hard rock, pop, prog, and classical music.
Gwar, often stylized in all caps as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. Despite the death of frontman and lead singer Dave Brockie in 2014, the group has continued, albeit without any of its founding members.
Annihilator is a Canadian thrash metal band founded in Ottawa in 1984. It is the highest-selling Canadian thrash metal group in history, having sold more than three million albums worldwide, although most sales have been generated outside of Canada. Along with Sacrifice, Voivod and Razor, Annihilator is known as one of the "big four" of Canadian thrash metal. They are also considered to be part of the "second wave" of thrash metal bands from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Eugene Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer, acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. Though his playing style is very technically demanding, he retains high accuracy at extreme tempos, earning him the nicknames "The Atomic Clock" and "Human Drum Machine".
Accelerated Evolution is the sixth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, released in 2003. The album, written and produced by Townsend, was a mix of musical styles from alternative rock to hard rock to progressive metal. Townsend, the lead vocalist and guitarist, assembled a group of Vancouver musicians to perform with him on the album: guitarist Brian Waddell, drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen, bassist Mike Young, and keyboardist Dave Young. This lineup, the Devin Townsend Band, was Townsend's first dedicated lineup for his solo material, and was created as a counterpart to Townsend's extreme metal project Strapping Young Lad.
Zimmers Hole is a Canadian heavy metal band from Vancouver. The band formed in 1991, and features former Strapping Young Lad members Byron Stroud, Jed Simon and Gene Hoglan, along with vocalist Chris Valagao.
The Berzerker are an industrial death metal band from Melbourne, Australia and was formed in 1995. The band's music, heavily influenced by older death metal and grindcore, can be characterized as a fusion of these with speedcore, and gabber. The band's founding member Luke Kenny described the band's style as industrial death metal.
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing is the debut studio album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on April 4, 1995. Century Media Europe released a remastered version of the album on June 12, 2006, which includes the video for "S.Y.L.", several bonus tracks, and a 12-page booklet containing extended liner notes.
City is the second studio album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad, released on February 11, 1997. Frontman Devin Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record the album, including prolific drummer Gene Hoglan, and Townsend's former bandmates Jed Simon on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass. The album was critically acclaimed, with Revolver naming it one of "the greatest metal albums of all time", and it is widely considered Strapping Young Lad's best work. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art.
Synchestra is the eighth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the second and final album he recorded with The Devin Townsend Band. The album was released in January 2006 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.
Jedson Louis Simon is a Canadian musician. He was a member of supergroup Scar the Martyr and has been a member of numerous metal bands, including Front Line Assembly, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, and TENET. He is currently a member of VIMIC.
Kick Axe is a Canadian heavy metal band from Regina, Saskatchewan. Influenced by rambunctious arena rock from the 70s and early 80s, the group is perhaps best known for their 1984 album Vices, praised by publications such as AllMusic for its "down-and-dirty guitar riffs" and notably managing to crack the American market. The band achieved moderate commercial success in the mid-1980s on the strength of the singles "Heavy Metal Shuffle", "On the Road to Rock", "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Rock the World". Following the release of their 1986 album Rock the World, Kick Axe disbanded and remained on hiatus for many years. In 2004, they re-emerged with the album Kick Axe IV.
Ki is the eleventh studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the first album in the Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released on May 25, 2009, on Townsend's independent record label HevyDevy Records.
Stress Factor 9 was a Canadian thrash metal band from Vancouver, formed in 2005. SF9's members include frontman Randy Rampage and drummer Ray Hartmann with guitarist Kick, and their most recent lineup included Frank Frightful, and Duane Chaos.
Hawking is a progressive metal band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, composed of vocalists and guitarists Tom Vanderkam and Saul Sitar, bassist and vocalist Chris Young, and drummer and vocalist Chartwell Kerr.
Peach Pit is an indie pop band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The band consists of singer and rhythm guitarist Neil Smith, lead guitarist Christopher Vanderkooy, bassist Peter Wilton, and drummer Mikey Pascuzzi. They describe their own music as "chewed bubblegum pop", whereas critics have described their sound as sad pop, and surf rock and is characterized by a soft spoken vocal style and guitar-driven rock melodies. The band's music videos are produced by videographer Lester Lyons-Hookham. The band sported the same clothes for every live performance during their "Being So Normal" album phase after buying them for their first music video shoot.
