Founded as early as 1984 in Oslo, Norway by the late and legendary frontman Øystein Aarseth aka Euronymous, bassist Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud, and Kjetil “Manheim” Haraldsson on drums, the band took its name from the VENOM song “Mayhem with Mercy”. Continuing and renewing the Black Metal styl...

Since their inception in 1993, Oslo’s TSJUDER have been responsible for some of the most hate-filled ferocity perpetrated under the banner of TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL.

Formed in 1986, AGRESSOR is one of the precursor bands of the French Death-Thrash Metal scene, and the very first to release an album of this style in France (the split LP Licensed To Thrash). A true pioneer.

Obsidian… dark, reflective and black: it’s a pretty decent description of the music that Paradise Lost have been making over the last 36 years, even though this most resilient of British metal bands have stoically refused to be pinned down to one easily defined formula. Powered by a lust for crea...

Behemoth is a Polish extreme metal band from Gdańsk, formed in 1991. They are considered to have played an important role in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground.

Until the late 1990s, the band played a traditional black metal style with secular lyrical content, but soon changed to ...

INFECTED RAIN is a modern metal band that has gained a reputation for their unique and energetic blend of styles, which features female screaming, hard riffs, and electronic sound. Since forming in 2008, they have played numerous concerts in Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine.

As always, Infected Ra...

Carcass are an English extreme metal band from Liverpool, formed in 1985. The band have gone through several line-up changes, leaving guitarist Bill Steer and bassist-vocalist Jeff Walker as the only constant members. They broke up in 1996, but reformed in 2007 without one of their original membe...

Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédéric Leclercq.

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in March 1985 when local bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns merged. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic lineup" consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy ...

Killswitch Engage first shook the structure of heavy music upon climbing out of snowy industrialized Western Massachusetts in 2000. A musical outlier, the band pioneered a union of thrashed-out European guitar pyrotechnics, East Coast hardcore spirit, on-stage hijinks, and enlightened lyricism th...

Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Nevalainen, and then bassist Sami Vänskä after the releas...

Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya.

Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside ...

Testament is an American thrash metal band from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1983 under the name Legacy, the band's current lineup comprises guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick, lead vocalist Chuck Billy, drummer Gene Hoglan, and bassist Steve Di Giorgio.

During Helloween's tour of their album The Dark Ride in 2001, members Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch (who had been in the band since 1989 and 1994, respectively) decided to form a side project. As the other Helloween members felt the two were more focused on their side project than Helloween at the ...

Edu Falaschi is one of the greatest icons of Brazilian heavy metal, with a career spanning three decades. He gained international recognition when he took over as vocalist of Angra in the early 2000s, where he recorded iconic albums such as Rebirth (2001) and Temple Of Shadows (2004). After leavi...

Opeth are a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. In addition to progressive metal, the band incorporates folk, blues, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from death metal, especially in their early works.

The most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the 1980s. By taking the hard-riffing and minor-key melodies handed down from metal masters like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, then infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Hellow...

Formed as a symphonic metal band with gothic tendencies, later Epica have incorporated into their sound strong death metal influences. Starting from the third album, even progressive metal attitudes have become evident. In addition, the band often uses thrash metal and groove metal riffs, black m...

With more than 25 years under the belt, Portugal’s MOONSPELL has always been a creative and live force that refused to die or to compromise to the grinding of time. Their latest work (1755) with its rabid mix between History and Metal, took their fans by storm again. Fully sung in Portuguese, the...

Patty Gurdy is a German singer, songwriter, and hurdy-gurdy influencer known for her distinctive fusion of celtic-pop and medieval-inspired sounds. With a signature green hurdy-gurdy and a hauntingly powerful voice, she's brought a rare historical instrument into the modern spotlight. Her unique ...

The origins of the Swedish quintet Andromeda can be traced back to 1999 when Johan submitted the demo "Welcome to forever" to the recordlabel WAR-music who wanted to sign a deal. The feeling was mutual and in the autumn that year Andromeda came together as Thomas, Martin and bassplayer Gert Daun ...

Destruction is a German thrash metal band formed in 1982. They have been credited as one of the "Big Four" of the German thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator, Sodom and Tankard.

Accept are a German heavy metal band from Solingen, formed in 1976 by guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and former members Udo Dirkschneider (vocals) and Peter Baltes (bass). Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s, when the band got its start under the name Band X. Accept's lineup has change...