Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal music. Although their heyday was the late 1960s, the band has been reincarnated with various members with varying levels of success with no new recordings since 1975. Their second album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968), remains a best-seller, and Iron Butterfly was the first group to receive an In-House platinum album award from Atlantic Records. Their music has found a significant impact on the international rock scenes, influencing numerous acts such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Rush, Alice Cooper, Mountain, Uriah Heep, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Slayer, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Queens of the Stone Age.
Sponge is an American rock band formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1992 by vocalist Vinnie Dombroski, guitarist Mike Cross, bassist Tim Cross, drummer Jimmy Paluzzi, and guitarist Joey Mazzola. Dombroski and the Cross brothers were previously in the hard rock band Loudhouse, with Mazzola joining later before the end of the band's tenure. Sponge's discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums, and several charting singles. They are best known for their 1994 hit "Plowed", their 1995 hit "Molly ", and their 1996 hit "Wax Ecstatic ".
Kingdom Come is a Germany-based hard rock band formed in 1987. The band was originally fronted by Lenny Wolf, until their hiatus in 2016. While there have been no constant Kingdom Come members throughout the band's history, their most recent lineup features three original members who, along with drummer James Kottak, left the band in 1989 and returned in 2018. Wolf was replaced by Keith St. John in 2018, and he remained until 2024, when Ezekiel "Zeke" Kaplan replaced him. Kottak remained in Kingdom Come until his death in January of the same year and was replaced by Matt Muckle. The group's 1988 debut album, Kingdom Come, is to date their most internationally popular and biggest selling recording and features their most notable hit "Get It On".
Ancient is a Norwegian black metal band from Bergen, formed in 1992. The band released six full-length albums released by Metal Blade Records to date and a variety of mini-albums, EPs and special releases. Ancient used to have the classic raw black metal sound, similar to Darkthrone's works. Beginning with The Cainian Chronicle, they moved towards a more Nordic/atmospheric black metal sound, akin to Emperor and a cleaner production. After a period of turmoil concerning their line-up, they went on to add gothic-style instruments such as violins, a female vocalist, and synthesizers to their music.
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion band founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, California.
Arena are an English neo-prog band founded in 1995. Their style ranges from symphonic to hard rock.
Krokus is a Swiss hard rock and heavy metal band formed in 1975. They were popular in North America during the 1980s.
Lacrimas Profundere is a gothic metal band from Germany. Their name means "to shed tears" in Latin. Their stylistic aesthetic has changed over time; originally a gothic death-doom band, they have simplified their style to a more mainstream gothic rock/metal style with more influences from bands such as HIM, The 69 Eyes, before returning to their heavier gothic doom roots on their 2019 album Bleeding the Stars.
Buckcherry is an American hard rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1995. The band released two albums, Buckcherry (1999) and Time Bomb (2001), before dissolving in 2002. Buckcherry's first album Buckcherry was DreamWorks' first album to go gold. In 2005, lead vocalist Josh Todd and lead guitarist Keith Nelson reformed Buckcherry with a new lineup and released a new album in 2006, 15. It contained Buckcherry's biggest crossover hits to date, "Crazy Bitch", and their first Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit, "Sorry". The band continued to record albums, releasing five between 2008 and 2019: Black Butterfly in 2008, All Night Long in 2010, Confessions in 2013, Rock 'n' Roll in 2015, and Warpaint in 2019. Their ninth album Hellbound released in 2021, and their tenth and most recent album Vol. 10 released in 2023.
Danger Danger is an American glam metal band formed in Queens, New York, in 1986.
Souls is a Bangladeshi rock band formed in Chittagong in 1972.
Guardian is an American Christian hard rock and metal band. The band has released seven studio albums, three additional albums in Spanish, and toured extensively worldwide. There are also numerous compilations, independent releases, live records and bootlegs available.
The Greg Kihn Band is an American band that was started by frontman Greg Kihn and bassist Steve Wright. Their most successful singles include "The Breakup Song " and "Jeopardy". The band's musical style and genres comprise rock, pop rock and power pop.
Roomful of Blues is an American jump blues and swing revival big band based in Rhode Island. With a recording career that spans over 50 years, they have toured worldwide and recorded many albums. Roomful of Blues, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Swagger, sway and swing with energy and precision". Since 1967, the group’s blend of swing, rock and roll, jump blues, boogie-woogie and soul has earned it five Grammy Award nominations and many other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards. Billboard called the band "a tour de force of horn-fried blues…Roomful is so tight and so right." The Down Beat International Critics Poll has twice selected Roomful of Blues as Best Blues Band.
Ark is a Bangladeshi rock band formed in 1991 in Dhaka City by keyboardist Ashiquzzaman Tulu. The original founder members are Ashiquzzaman Tulu, Ridwan Nabi Pancham and Shamim. As of 2017, the band line-up re-consists of lead vocalist Syed Hasanur Rahman, keyboardist Tinku Azizur Rahman and drummer Hassan Towhidur Rahman.
Loch Vostok is a progressive metal band from Uppsala, Sweden. Named after a subterranean lake in Antarctica, it rose from the collapse of the progressive metal band Mayadome in 2001.
Sear Bliss is a Hungarian atmospheric black metal band from Szombathely, formed in 1993 by bassist, vocalist and now also keyboardist András Nagy. Apart from the usual heavy metal instruments they adopted synthesizer and wind instruments in their songs. The Netherlands' leading metal magazine, Aardschok awarded Sear Bliss debut album Phantoms the title of "CD Of The Month". It was the first time in the magazine's history that the award went to a black metal album.
Rockets is a French space rock band that formed in Paris in 1974 and relocated to Italy in 1978. Some of the former members had played together since 1970 in a local band called Crystal. In their most successful era (1977–1982) the line-up comprised vocalist Christian Le Bartz, bassist and vocalist "Little" Gérard L'Her, guitarist and keyboardist Alain Maratrat, drummer and percussionist Alain Groetzinger, and keyboardist Fabrice Quagliotti. The band went through a number of name changes, being known as the Rocket Men and Rok-Etz, among others. In the year 2000, Fabrice Quagliotti decided to reform the band, but with a totally different line-up. This brought to an anomalous situation, as far as none of the former members agreed to hold a reunion. In fact, the last former member to leave the band was Alain Maratrat, in 1992.
Ring of Fire is an American neoclassical/progressive/power metal band from Chula Vista, California formed in 2000. Fronted by former Yngwie J. Malmsteen collaborator Mark Boals after the release of his solo album Ring of Fire, the band also included guitarist Tony MacAlpine, Planet X drummer Virgil Donati, grammy-award-winning bassist Philip Bynoe, and keyboardist Steve Weingart. Ring of Fire released three studio albums between 2001 and 2004, as well as a live album, Burning Live In Tokyo 2002. After disbanding, Boals, MacAlpine, and Donati later formed Seven the Hardway. Boals, MacAlpine, and keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij returned in 2014 with their fourth studio album Battle of Leningrad. On 20 February 2024, Vitalij Kuprij died due to a cardiac arrest at 49 years old.
Rogue Anthem is an American Christian punk and Christian rock band, and they primarily play punk rock. This band was started, in 2012, with members vocalist, Bill B., lead guitarist, Neill B., guitarist, Carter, bassist and keyboardist, Vulcho, and drummer, Tanner. Their former lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Myke Augustat died in 2012. The band's first release, with Thumper Punk Records, What to Believe, a studio album, released in 2012.
