 | | 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. |
 | | Celtic Frost's impact on the evolution of European heavy metal cannot be overstated. Along with power metal kings Helloween (and to a lesser degree, the sometimes cartoonish Mercyful Fate), Frost's enduring influence on Europe's heavy metal landscape is arguably comparable to Metallica's standing in America. |
 | | Arguably the most influential and successful European thrash metal band ever, Germany's Kreator is also by far the most enduring. |
 | | A seminal influence on the evolution of thrash and black metal, Venom formed during the late '70s in Newcastle, England. |
 | | 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. |
 | | This German black metal band's early lineup consisted of Tom Angelripper (bass/vocals), Aggressor (guitar/vocals), and Chris "Witchhunter" Dudek (drums). |
 | | Often considered one of grindcore's founding fathers, Carcass were among the first bands of the extreme metal genre to try a different lyrical approach -- one that reflected a fascination with surgical gadgets and peculiar words straight out of a med student's textbook. |
 | | San Francisco's Death Angel was a product of the bustling Bay Area thrash metal scene of the 1980s. Combining serious guitar crunch and speed with a fair amount of technical expertise, they created complex thrash metal filled with time changes and tricky arrangements that, although generally loved by critics, usually failed to translate beyond a very specialized buying public. |
 | | One of the crucial links in the musical chain linking hardcore punk with speed metal, the Stormtroopers of Death -- known more commonly as S. |
 | | The fathers of grindcore, Napalm Death pushed the envelope of metal to new extremes of ear-splitting intensity, rejecting all notions of melody, subtlety, and good taste to forge a brand of sonic assault almost frightening in its merciless brutality. |
 | | 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. |
 | | One of Britain's most consistent and enduring death metal bands, Birmingham's Bolt Thrower has weathered the best and worst of times in the extreme genre's history without ever giving in to commercial temptations, or hardly even altering its sound. |
 | | Once the kings of the Bay Area metal scene -- the birthplace of thrash -- Exodus were unceremoniously demoted from their post with the arrival of Los Angeles' Metallica in 1982. |
 | | Possessed and Death may have brought death metal to life, but Obituary brought it to fruition. After releasing some demos as Xecutioner as far back as 1986, the five-man band debuted as Obituary on Roadrunner Records in 1989 with Slowly We Rot, and in a word, the album was landmark. |
 | | Vader formed in 1986, toiling around the European death and thrash circuit while releasing demos into the metal tape-trading circuit. |
 | | Danish band featuring vocalist King Diamond, guitarists Hank Shermann and Michael Denner, bassist Timi Hansen, and drummer Kim Ruzz. |
 | | In a musical realm where scale of influence has little to do with commercial success, few originators of the extreme metal arts evoke as deep a sense of mystery, or incite such hushed, reverential tones of admiration, as Sweden's Bathory. |
 | | From their humble beginnings in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Sepultura went on to become the most successful Brazilian heavy metal band in history. |
 | | New York thrash quartet Overkill were formed in 1984 by vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth and guitarist Bobby Gustafson, and also included bassist D. |
 | | Holland's Pestilence is generally regarded as one of the leaders of the late-'80s/early-'90s death metal scene, following closely behind Death as innovators in the genre. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Together with their countrymen Kreator and Sodom, Germany's Destruction constituted the dominating triumvirate of Teutonic thrash metal during the 1980s. |
 | | Controversy has plagued Florida-based quartet Deicide. During their first tour in 1992, the band was severely criticized for their statements in favor of animal sacrifices. |
 | | Scandinavian metal legends Entombed were at the forefront of the death metal uprising, releasing their influential debut, Left Hand Path, in 1990, just as the movement was beginning to proliferate internationally. |
 | | "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. |
 | | Dark Angel became known in thrash metal circles for their ability to deliver some of the genre's most challenging and articulate albums without ever losing touch with its core attributes of pure speed and primal aggression. |
 | | Voivod (singer Denis "Snake" Belanger, guitarist Denis "Piggy" d'Amour, drummer Michel "Away" Langevin, and bassist Jean-Yves "Blacky" Theriault) were one of the first thrash bands from Canada to gain popularity outside of their home country. |
 | | The original speedcore merchants, Cryptic Slaughter dealt a West Coast hand into the late-‘80s crossover movement, a movement that saw the normally warring armies of punk rock and thrash metal finally come together into a unified front bent on exposing social injustice and political hypocrisy. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Formed Seattle in 1982, Metal Church consisted of vocalist David Wayne, guitarists Kurdt Vanderhoof and Craig Wells, bassist Duke Erickson, and drummer Kirk Arrington. |
 | | Widely regarded as the finest vocalist in all of metal (who possesses a multi-octave range), theatrical rocker King Diamond first rose to prominence as a member of Mercyful Fate before launching a solo career on his own. |
 | | Led by bassist/vocalist Phil Rind, this Phoenix-based band also includes Wiley Arnett, Jason Rainey, and Greg Hall. |
 | | Arising from the death metal hotbed of Florida in the early '90s (but originally from Buffalo, NY), Malevolent Creation tend to be somewhat overlooked in discussions of groups who helped define the sound and style of American death metal. |
 | | Nearly as much as Metallica or Megadeth, Anthrax were responsible for the emergence of speed and thrash metal. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Arguably the ultimate progressive metal band of their day, Atheist's impossibly Byzantine death-jazz proved too advanced even for committed metalheads to stomach. |
 | | Larger than life metal bassist/singer Pete Steele got his start as the frontman for Brooklyn's hardcore metal trio Carnivore (which also included members Louie Beateaux on drums, and two different guitarists -- first Keith Alexander, then Marc Piovanetti) in the mid-'80s. |
 | | The death metal band Immolation formed in New York in 1986; originally dubbed Rigor Mortis, the group first comprised singer/bassist Ross Dolan, guitarists Robert Vignaud and Thomas Wilkinson, and drummer Craig Smilowski. |
 | | From choosing a name that makes them sound like some sort of urban public works department, to their music itself, Richmond, VA's Municipal Waste openly bow down to the memory of '80s thrash metal and crossover -- twenty years after, and a few hundred miles away from the original movement's heyday in New York City. |
 | | After he left Metallica in 1983, guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine formed the thrash metal quartet Megadeth. |
 | | The hard-drinking British death metal band Benediction formed during the late 1980s; originally comprised of vocalist Barney Greenaway, guitarists Peter Rewinski and Darren Brookes, bassist Paul Adams and drummer Ian Treacy, they made their LP debut in 1990 with Subconscious Terror. |
 | | Of all the major second wave black metal bands to emerge from Norway's fertile breeding grounds during the early 1990s, only a handful -- Mayhem, Emperor, Enslaved, Ulver -- have achieved the same exalted status and world-wide recognition as the legendary Darkthrone; and arguably none has been as consistent or prolific in the decades that followed. |
 | | When attention first focused on Norway's almost cartoonishly violent black metal scene in the mid-'90s, Mayhem were dubbed its godfathers, but most of the critical accolades were bestowed upon Emperor, whose musical innovations have had more impact on the genre than any other band. |
 | | Flotsam and Jetsam initially showed a lot of promise within thrash metal circles and, though they've continued to record over the past 15 years, their talent and professionalism never quite translated into significant sales or mainstream recognition. |
 | | Of all the Norwegian black metal bands, Immortal has, arguably, stuck the closest to the mystical, occult-inspired vision of the scene: the bandmembers kept the evil-Kiss makeup throughout the band's existence, rarely experimented outside of the traditional guitars-drums-bass instrumental configuration, and never revealed their real names. |
 | | Death metallists Vital Remains formed during 1989, and hail from Providence, Rhode Island - influenced by the likes of Venom, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Sodom, and Destruction. |
 | | Norwegian black metal trio Satyricon are led by Satyr, also featuring drummer Frost and keyboardist Kine. |
 | | 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. |
 | | San Francisco's Vio-Lence were one of the late arrivals to the '80s thrash metal party, and while they bore all the regular sonic traits of the genre, they never really had the chance to develop in the short time allotted to them. |
 | | 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. |
