 | | Offering a complex form of metal that combined the sweeping adventurism of math rock, the oddball tempos of experimental jazz, and the stunning brutality of thrash metal, Meshuggah raised the bar for metal bands everywhere upon their debut. |
 | | Originally known by the less-than-subtle moniker Burn the Priest, Richmond, Virginia-based Lamb of God decided to change their name shortly after the release of a self-titled debut in 1998. |
 | | Atlanta-based sludge/stoner/alternative metal outfit Mastodon formed in 1999 around the talents of guitarist Bill Kelliher, drummer Bränn Dailor, bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, and guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds. |
 | | Brought together in Stockholm by guitarists Peter Lindgren and Mikael Åkerfeldt in 1990, Opeth added progressive influences and acoustic instrumentation to their brand of Swedish death metal. |
 | | Described as "the world's greatest cultural force," the virtual death metal band Dethklok star in the Adult Swim television show Metalocalypse. |
 | | After leaving Ceremonial Oath to form In Flames, founding member and guitarist Jesper Strömblad saw this project as a way of expressing his songwriting creativity rather than being stuck in the background. |
 | | Following the dissolution of Marilyn Manson/Korn-aping, nu-metal also-rans Coal Chamber, vocalist Dez Fafara hooked up with guitarists Evans Pitts and Jeffrey Kendrick, bassist Jon Miller, and drummer John Boecklin to form DevilDriver -- a rather more extreme band dedicated to the subsequent hardcore-meets-death metal trends. |
 | | Swedish death metal band Amon Amarth originally formed in 1988 under the name Scum; by the time the new moniker was adopted four years later, the line-up consisted of vocalist Johan Hegg, guitarists Olli Mikkonen and Anders Hansson, bassist Ted Lundstrom and drummer Niko Kaukinen. |
 | | Formed in 1998, the Cleveland, OH-based hardcore sextet Chimaira consists of singer/screamer Mark Hunter, guitarists Matt DeVries (who replaced Jason Hager in mid-2001) and Rob Arnold, bassist Jim LaMarca, drummer Andols Herrick, and electronic specialist Chris Spicuzza. |
 | | Considered to be one of the leading death metal bands to emerge from Poland in the 1990s, Behemoth have endured quite a few lineup shifts during their career (especially in the bass department), with founding singer/guitarist Nergal being the only constant member. |
 | | Formed by ex-Carnage, Carcass, and Candlemass guitarist Michael Amott (concurrently of Spiritual Beggars) with his brother Christopher (Armageddon), Arch Enemy took a straight-ahead approach to death metal reminiscent of Entombed or late-period Carcass, blending catchy, classic-style metal riffs with crushing grooves for an intense yet accessible sound. |
 | | Detroit's the Black Dahlia Murder, named for the infamous 1947 slaying of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, actually sounds like they should live in Scandinavia, whence originates much of the frenetic brand of death and black metal that inspires them. |
 | | Having been known for running his own label Hevy Devy Records, helping out with such acts as Steve Vai and Front Line Assembly and fronting two other bands (Infinity and Ocean Machine), Strapping Young Lad frontman Devin Townsend seems to keep himself busy with the rock & roll lifestyle. |
 | | Formed in 2006 by Phil Bozeman, Brandon Cagle, and Ben Savage, tech-heavy Knoxville, TN-based death metal outfit Whitechapel (named for the London neighborhood where the notorious Jack the Ripper disposed of most of his victims) blend grindcore, hardcore, and black metal into an unholy trinity of audio violence. |
 | | Between the Buried and Me is a thinking man's hardcore unit hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina. The band began in 2000 after the dissolution of vocalist Tommy Rogers and guitarist Paul Waggoner's previous group, Prayer for Cleansing. |
 | | Unleashing a relentless fusion of hardcore and death metal with the precision guitar attack of progressive metal, Job for a Cowboy was formed in Glendale, AZ, in 2002. |
 | | Slayer were one of the most distinctive, influential, and extreme thrash metal bands of the 1980s. Their graphic lyrics dealt with everything from death and dismemberment to war and the horrors of hell. |
 | | Influential West Coast heavy metal quartet Machine Head formed in 1992 around the talents of ex-Vio-Lence guitar players Robert Flynn and Phil Demmel, bass player Adam Duce, and drummer Chris Kontos. |
 | | "If vomit were a movie, this would be the soundtrack," wrote one critic of Cannibal Corpse's music, some of the most extreme, violent death metal sounds and subject matter ever committed to tape. |
 | | Combining elements of melodic death metal, power metal, neo-classical, and thrash, Children of Bodom have been one of the world's most expansive and hard to define bands since their formation in 2003. |
 | | One of the more melodic death metal bands to expand beyond Sweden and spread their sound across the world alongside peers such as Entombed, At the Gates played a significant role in the death metal genre before breaking up in 1996, leading to the formation of the Haunted. |
 | | The preeminent metal band of the early to mid-'90s, Pantera put to rest any and all remnants of the '80s metal scene, almost single-handedly demolishing any notion that hair metal, speed metal, power metal, et al. |
 | | Blending black metal's most brutal tendencies, the melancholic beauty of opera, and industrial metal's production techniques, Dimmu Borgir carved a niche in the metal world as one of the most savage and creative acts to hail from the Norwegian scene. |
 | | The Faceless are a progressive death metal band from Los Angeles affiliated with the underground metal label Sumerian Records. |
 | | Boston-based death metal/grindcore outfit the Red Chord combine a crushing rhythmic assault and guitar patterns that bite like a circular saw with the menacing but intelligent lyrics and furious vocals of frontman Guy Kozowyk. |
 | | Over the course of more than a decade and seven increasingly accomplished albums, Chuck Schuldiner, the architect behind the ubiquitous Death, became a bona fide heavy metal icon. |
 | | As I Lay Dying are a metal-hardcore crossover band from San Diego, California. The group formed as a trio in 2001 with vocalist Tim Lambesis, drummer Jordan Mancino, and guitarist Evan White, and shortly thereafter released Beneath the Encasing of Ashes. |
 | | Technical death metal band All Shall Perish hails from Oakland, California, but their eponymous three-track demo had to make its way across the Pacific Ocean and be embraced by Japan's Amputated Vein Records to make possible their first album, Hate, Malice, Revenge, released in 2003. |
 | | Combining the extreme speed and nihilism of modern death metal with the ancient styling of Middle Eastern music, Nile formed in their hometown of Greenville, SC, in 1993. |
 | | God Forbid forges the gritting, teeth-baring bile of American death metal together with the melodic overtones of the so-called "New Wave of Swedish Death Metal" promulgated by bands like In Flames, Arch Enemy, and the late, lamented, and legendary At the Gates. |
 | | From their humble beginnings in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Sepultura went on to become the most successful Brazilian heavy metal band in history. |
 | | Fear Factory were one of the first bands to fuse the loud, crushing intensity of death metal with the cold harshness of industrial electronics and samples, producing a more varied sonic palette with which to express their bleak, pessimistic view of modern, technology-driven society. |
 | | Formed by guitarist Oli Herbert and ex-Shadows Fall vocalist Phil Labonte in 1998, Massachusetts' All That Remains debuted in 2002 with Behind Silence and Solitude on Metal Blade. |
 | | The Swedish metal sextet Soilwork formed in early 1997, fusing the country's signature ultra-heavy death metal sound with the power-groove riffs of late-'70s, early-'80s British and European metal. |
 | | Chicago-based metalcore outfit Born of Osiris (formerly known as Rosecrance) formed around the talents of Lee McKinney (guitar), Ronnie Canizaro (vocals), Joe Buras (keyboards/backing vocals), David Darocha (bass), Cameron Losch (drums), and Matt Pantelis (guitar) while still in high school. |
 | | The four bandmembers who came together and created Killswitch Engage already had strong fan followings. |
 | | Death metal band Suffocation was formed in New York in the early '90s, comprising vocalist Frank Mullen, guitarists Doug Cerrito and Terrance Hobbs, bassist Chris Richards, and drummer Mike Smith. |
 | | These Canadians started to rock in 1992 with the mission statement "deliver the most punishing music ever created by combining melody and power into one devastating force. |
 | | Groups like Venom, Mercyful Fate, and Slayer may have founded death metal in the early '80s, but it wasn't until such disciples as Morbid Angel came along at the close of the decade that the genre was pushed to its most extreme level, both musically and lyrically. |
 | | Though forever doomed, commercially speaking, by their controversial name, Maryland's Dying Fetus has endured beyond most observers' wildest expectations, and to do so, they've weathered a slew of hardships that would have felled (and did fell) most other bands. |
 | | Even if he had retired from public life to raise goats in North Dakota, guitarist Dino Cazares' heavy metal legacy would have been indefinitely perpetuated thanks to his groundbreaking work in the 1990s with Fear Factory, one of the first bands that successfully soldered industrial elements to metal, while introducing the synchronized use of both gruesomely growled vocals and melodic singing that became so popular in the 2000s. |
 | | Arising from the ashes of the important mid-'90s Swedish death metal band At the Gates and featuring former members of Witchery and Face Down, the Haunted went through countless lineup changes during the late '90s before finally releasing The Haunted Made Me Do It in 2000, confirming the excitement surrounding the band. |
 | | Hailing from central Florida, Trivium formed in 2000 and quickly built a buzz around Orlando's metal community with a blend of metalcore, thrash, and progressive metal flourish. |
 | | Testament were the biggest thrash metal band never to reach the platinum plateau. In fact, the San Francisco quintet seemed on the verge of challenging Metallica (their most obvious influence) in the melodic thrash sweepstakes, but their run toward the top was eventually derailed by inconsistency, bad business decisions, and the genre's dwindling appeal. |
 | | East Coast alternative metal ensemble the Acacia Strain utilize a bone-crushing rhythm section, apocalyptic samples, and a unique triple-guitar assault to deliver their signature blend of hardcore, noise, and death and doom metal. |
 | | The brutally heavy death metal of Through the Eyes of the Dead first appeared in June 2003, with the original band lineup of Anthony Gunnels (vocals), Justin Longshore (guitar), Richard Turbeville (guitar), Jeff Springs (bass), and Dayton Cantley (drums). |
 | | Massachusetts metalcore enthusiasts Unearth formed in 1998 and immediately started rocking, both in around Boston and on the road. |
 | | Washington, D.C.'s Darkest Hour is a supporter of the death metal/hardcore merger, founded in the early '90s by such outfits as Carcass and Entombed. |
 | | British black metal band Cradle of Filth were formed in 1991, originally comprised of vocalist Dani Filth (born Daniel Lloyd Davey), guitarist Paul Ryan, his keyboardist brother Benjamin, bassist John Richard, and drummer Darren. |
 | | Although their music sometimes bears strong similarities to the technical, progressive brand of death metal centered around Gothenburg, Sweden and epitomized by bands like In Flames, Shadows Fall actually hail from Massachusetts. |
