Helloween

            Biography
Helloween is a power/heavy/speed metal band from Germany founded in 1983 by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. Helloween are known as major innovators of power metal.

Members today are Andi Deris – Vocals, Michael Weikath – Guitar, Backing vocals, Sascha Gerstner – Guitar, Backing vocals, Markus Grosskopf – Bass, Backing vocals and Daniel Löble – Drums


The original line-up featured Kai Hansen (Vocals/Guitars), Michael Weikath (Guitars), Markus Grosskopf (Bass) and Ingo Schwichtenberg (Drums). In 1984 the band had signed a deal with Noise Records and recorded two songs for a Noise compilation record called Death Metal. The two tracks were “Oernst Of Life” by Weikath, and Hansen’s “Metal Invaders” which later on ended up in a faster version on the band’s first full-length album.

1985 came around and Helloween then recorded their first record Helloween, a self-titled EP containing 5 tracks. The EP was successful, and during that same year they recorded and released their first full-length album titled Walls of Jericho which became a critical smash, with its innovative mixture of speed and melodies. (In Fact, WWE Wrestler Chris Jericho took his stage name from the album, as well as the name of his signature submission move Walls Of Jericho). However, during the following tour, it became obvious that Kai had difficulties singing and playing the guitar at the same time. Kai’s last performance as the band’s lead-singer came in 1986 in form of a single EP titled Judas, which contained the song “Judas” along with some live tracks. After that Helloween began the search for a new vocalist…

The first choice was to recruit former Tyran Pace vocalist Ralf Scheepers, however the band ended up finding an 18-year-old talent from the local Hamburg band Ill Prophecy, named Michael Kiske. With their new lead singer they recorded Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part 1, released in 1987, which established Helloween as one of the most successful metal bands in Europe. In 1988 Helloween recorded Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II, their best-known album featuring the classic line-up. The band achieved even more success around the world than with “Keeper 1” and things were going extremely well.

Guitarist Kai Hansen surprisingly left the band soon after the European tour for the “Keeper 2” album due to conflicts within the band as well as troubles with the record company, and a growing dissatisfaction with life on tour. He was shortly after replaced by former Rampage guitarist Roland Grapow, who finished the rest of the “Keeper 2” tour with the band.

In 1989 the band released a live album called Live In The UK, featuring live material from their 1988 European tour, entitled Keepers Live in Japan and I Want Out Live in US. The remaining members continued on, but label problems kept them from touring and releasing new material until 1991 when, after several rumours about the band breaking up, they released Pink Bubbles Go Ape. The album was an utter failure commercially and critically, and soon tensions started to build up between the band members. The pop-influenced follow-up Chameleon, released in 1993, made the band lose most of their hardcore fans. During the Chameleon-tour, drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg fell ill due to personal- and drug-related problems, and was eventually forced to take a break from the band. Meanwhile the conflicts within the rest of the band had grown even worse, and the band decided to fire singer Michael Kiske.

Helloween returned in 1994 with former Pink Cream 69-singer Andi Deris as their new lead-singer, and Uli Kusch, formerly of Kai Hansen’s new band Gamma Ray, on the drums, releasing their successful comeback Master of the Rings. However, in 1995 the band and its former members were badly shaken by the tragic suicide of original drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg, who never managed to recover from his illness. Dedicated to his memory, 1996’s The Time Of The Oath re-established the band as one of the most popular European metal bands. Following another world tour, a double live album called High Live was released.

In 1998 Helloween released Better Than Raw, one of the band’s heaviest albums since the full-length debut. A cover-album called Metal Jukebox was released in 1999. 2000 saw the release of The Dark Ride, a more experimental and darker album than their previous releases. Immediately after the following world tour, Helloween parted ways with guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch who together formed Masterplan. Replacements were soon found in guitarist Sascha Gerstner (ex-Freedom Call, Neumond), and drummer Mark Cross (ex. Metalium and Kingdom Come, currently in Firewind) who was later to be replaced by Stefan Schwarzmann, former drummer of Running Wild and Accept. Another studio album titled Rabbit Don’t Come Easy came in 2003 with a successful world tour following, including the bands first tour in the U.S. since 1989.

2005 saw yet another line-up change, following the “Rabbits on the Run” tour, as it became apparent that Helloween and Stefan Schwarzmann did not share the same musical vision. As further noted by the band, he had some trouble performing fast drum parts, so he was replaced by Dani Loble, the former drummer of German metal band Rawhead Rexx. A change in record company also followed as they inked a deal with German label SPV. Any fears that what had now become a revolving door of band members would affect the quality of their new album were laid to rest as Helloween’s new studio album, titled Keeper of the Seven Keys - The Legacy, was released in October 28, 2005 in Germany, and November 8 in the U.S.A. to commercial and critical acclaim. The album had a pre-release single, Mrs. God, as well as a video for the track. The track Light the Universe was released as a single on November 22, featuring Candice Night of Blackmore’s Night on guest vocals. She also appears in the video clip for that track.

In late 2006, Helloween filmed and recorded shows in Sao Paulo (Brazil), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Tokyo (Japan), for their live album Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006. The DVD also featured extra footage of the band as well as interviews and a road movie. This is the second Helloween live album to feature Andi Deris as frontman, and third overall. It enjoyed chart success in several countries: Germany: 9 (DVD) & 58 (CD), Sweden: 9 (DVD), France: 10 (DVD).

Helloween has since completed their latest studio album Gambling with the Devil, which was released on October 23, 2007. It has received many positive reviews, with most fans praising the album as being one of the best Deris era albums. Despite being one of Helloween’s heaviest albums, it is noted for featuring more keyboards. “As Long As I Fall”, the first single, was released in early September and available only via download (save for Japan, where it was released on CD). The video for the song is available at their official site.

Helloween teamed up with Kai Hansen’s current band Gamma Ray for their 2007/2008 “Hellish Rock” world tour, that started in early November 2007. Helloween were headlining and Gamma Ray were labeled as the “very special guest” with most shows also having fellow German “guest” Axxis. The tour went through Europe, Asia, South America as well as a few dates in the US. The tour is notable for Kai Hansen stepping on stage with his former band fellows Weikath and Grosskopf to perform hits “I Want Out” and “Future World” in the last encore segment of Helloween.

On December 26, 2009, Helloween released the Unarmed – Best of 25th Anniversary album in Japan. The album was released on February 1, 2010 in Europe. The album is a compilation of 10 of the band’s best songs, re-recorded in different musical styles than the original recordings and by the current lineup. It features a 17 minute “Keepers Medley”, recorded by a 70 piece orchestra from Prague, mixing together “Halloween”, “The Keeper of the Seven Keys”, and “The King for 1000 years”. There is a limited edition digipak, including a 30 minute “making of”-DVD with interviews and studio footage. The bands website states that the album will be released on April 13, 2010 in North America via SONY & THE END RECORDS labels.

PANTERA

                                                                              Biography
Pantera was an extremely popular metal band from Arlington, Texas, formed in 1981. Specifically, some fans consider them power metal, groove metal, or an amalgamation of both (so called “power groove”, a term the band devised themselves). Emerging alongside influential classic thrash metal acts such as Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, Pantera was a key formulator of the post-thrash subgenre of heavy metal music.

At the start of the career the style of Pantera’s image and sound was heavily influenced by bands like KISS & Van Halen. At certain stages, Pantera drew more on the popular LA glam scene. The extent to how far Pantera took the glam image is one of many disputes among fans of heavy metal and those who discredit the band’s popularity to the 90s; however most of the material on the albums themselves were a contrast to typical glam metal formula. They released three albums during this stage before acquiring Razor White vocalist, Philip Anselmo from New Orleans. As soon as Anselmo joined the band the group took a noticable change in style and image with their Power Metal. The album shifted away from most of the glam image and focused mostly on the more respectable speed metal genre. This style would continue evolving for two years as Pantera drew on many more sources of influence within the metal scene.

As they began their transformation into post-thrash/groove metal they began to absorb a lot more from the underground extreme metal scene of the late 80s which included bands such as Slayer, Sepultura, Cro-Mags, and Exhorder. The latter band to this day causes much controversy and dispute between fans despite the fact that Exhorder lead singer Kyle Thomas himself stated that many of these claims are over-exaggerated and unfair for a band that “worked a hell-of-alot harder” than Exhorder did to get where they did.

On VH1’s list of 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, Pantera ranked forty-fifth. Legendary guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott has won numerous awards from Metal Edge, Hit Parader, Circus, Kerrang, Guitar One, Guitar World, & Guitar For The Practicing Musician magazines for his brutal, lighting fast solos, and unmatchable grooves.

Pantera played a major role in the “resurrection” of American Metal in the 90’s and influence can be seen to this day in a broad range of metal bands. Glam was rapidly dying out, and grunge was taking over. In February and July 1992, Pantera and Megadeth both released albums, Vulgar Display of Power, and Countdown to Extinction, the latter reaching #2 on the billboard album charts. Together, the two albums began a resurgence in American metal music. In 1994, Pantera’s third major label album Far Beyond Driven debuted on the charts at number one, astonishing those in the music industry who were unaware of the band’s growing legion of fans. This proved to be the band’s commercial peak. In 1996 Pantera released The Great Southern Trendkill, which debuted at number four on the charts. The band toured in the summer of 1996 with White Zombie and the Deftones. In 1997, the band coheadlined the USA Ozzfest with Black Sabbath and Marilyn Manson. Soon after, the band released their first and only live album, Official Live: 101 Proof. The album debuted at number four on the billboard album charts. The band toured alongside Anthrax, Coal Chamber, and Machine Head to support the album. In 2000, the band released their final album, Reinventing the Steel. The band headlined Ozzfest 2000, then toured overseas before coming back to the USA to headline the Extreme Steel Tour, playing after the legendary Slayer, Soulfly, Static X, and Morbid Angel.

Pantera also acquired an official drink, called Black Tooth Grin after the lyrics in the song Sweating Bullets by Megadeth.

Pantera had all of their major label albums and home videos sell to either gold or platinum status with virtually no support from MTV or radio.

In 2002 vocalist Philip Anselmo focused on his side projects Down and Superjoint Ritual. After no communication between the Abbott brothers and Anselmo, the band officially broke up in 2003. The Abbott brothers formed Damageplan in 2003 and released the album New Found Power. On December 8th, 2004, while the band was touring for that album, deranged fan Nathan Gale shot and killed legendary guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott on stage, along with 3 other people.

Even though Pantera’s fans are still distraught over the tragic murder of Dimebag Darrell, they have finally heard music from often talked about Rebel Meets Rebel project featuring Pantera members Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, Rex Brown and outlaw country artist David Allan Coe. A DVD entitled DIMEvision was released by Vinnie Paul’s record label, Big Vin Records. Rebel Meets Rebel’s self titled album was released on May 2nd, 2006, and entered the billboard charts at number 39. The DIMEvision DVD, released the same day as Rebel Meets Rebel, entered the billboard DVD charts at number one and has already sold enough copies to be certified gold. VH1 also produced a Behind The Music episode for Pantera, which resulted in many fans getting the answers they wanted regarding the final days of the band straight from the band and their friends and associates.

Drummer Vinnie Paul can now be heard in the metal supergroup “Hellyeah”, while Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown have been heavily involved with Down since late 2006, performing several tours around the world and releasing a much anticipated third Down album which received critical praise and a single that saw heavy radio rotation. Though rumors frequently surface of a Pantera reunion with guitarist Zakk Wylde in place of Dimebag, this is nothing more than gossip with an improbable likelihood of ever happening. Any chance for a reunion between surviving members of Pantera has been delayed since Vinnie Paul and Dimebag’s ex-girlfriend, Rita, remain at odds with Phil, which continues to tear a schism between Pantera fans still loyal to Philip and those who blame Phil for Pantera’s demise and ultimately Dimebag’s death.

sepultura

Sepultura is a Brazilian metal band, formed in 1983. The band was a major force in the death metal, thrash metal and ultimately groove metal realms during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their name means “grave” in Portuguese, which they chose after Max Cavalera, one of the founding members, was translating the lyrics of the Motörhead song “Dancing on Your Grave”.

Sepultura was formed in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1983 by Max Cavalera (guitars and vocals), his younger brother Igor Cavalera (drums), Paulo Pinto (bass) and Jairo Guedes (guitars). Sepultura signed to Cogumelo Records after a few years of performing, with a sound influenced by their favorite bands such as Ratos de Porão, Discharge, Possessed, GBH and Metallica. Their first EP was Bestial Devastation, a split with Overdose’s album on the flipside. Their first LP was Morbid Visions (1986), which included the moderate hit “Troops of Doom” that attracted the band some attention. After Morbid Visions, Jairo Guedes left the band for another death metal venture and Sao Paulo based guitarist Andreas Kisser replaced him. Their second full-length album was Schizophrenia, which was a critical success that led to a contract with Roadrunner Records.

With Roadrunner distributing Schizophrenia worldwide, Sepultura reached new audiences of metal fans, cemented by 1989’s Beneath the Remains (1989), which was followed by a long European tour. By the time they released 1991’s Arise (1991), Sepultura were located in Phoenix, Arizona and had become one of the most critically-praised metal bands of the 1990s, with Arise going platinum by the end of its supporting tour. Musically, Arise was slightly different from the first three Sepultura albums. Slowing down and also experimenting with some groove-laden rhythms. In 1993, Sepultura made the groove hints on Arise to a considerable change in their sound. Changing their original death/thrash style to a more hardcore inspired groove metal sound with Chaos A.D.. 1996’s Roots took Sepultura even further from their original sound,the desire to further experiment with the music of Brazil, especially the percussive type played by Salvador, Bahia samba reggae group Olodum. The band further innovated by experimenting with elements from the music of Brazil’s indigenous peoples and metal music.

At the height of Sepultura’s fame, however, a series of events broke the band apart. Just after the album ”Roots” (1996), Sepultura decided to fire their manager, Gloria. Since she was Max’s wife, he decided to quit too.

It was rumoured that there was some intra-band tension throughout the latter half of 1996, and at the end of a successful tour of Britain later that year, at Brixton Academy on 16th December 1996, the band told Max they would not renew Gloria’s management contract. Max Cavalera left the band, and subsequently formed a new band, Soulfly. The others announced that they would continue under the Sepultura name and were searching for a replacement.

A recording of Max’s last show with the band was later released as a live album, 2002’s Under a Pale Grey Sky by their former record label Roadrunner Records, against the wishes of the band. Derrick Green from Cleveland and formerly of Outface wound up filling the frontman spot, and the band released Against in 1998. Against was commercially less successful than its two predecessors, as was the follow-up Nation. These releases saw Sepultura move away from their previous approach of the thrash metal sound - a process already in motion in such releases as Roots, and aided by Max’s departure - and this led to widespread criticism from the band’s original fanbase. Subsequent releases have had a positive effect in returning praise to the band, but opinion is divided on their new direction.

After recording Revolusongs, an EP full of covers in 2002, the band released the album Roorback in 2003, which garnered a lot of positive reviews.

In November 2005 the live Double-DVD and Double-CD Live in São Paulo was released. This was the first official live album from the band.

The release of ‘Live In Sao Paulo’ marked the first involvement of the new ’Sepularmy’ street team in promotion of the bands music. The Sepularmy is unrelated to the bands record label SPV and its members are motivated purely by the desire to share the bands music with as many people as possible. The army is expected to be involved in the promotion of all the bands releases and endeavours for the foreseeable future and anyone is welcome to register and help out.

A new album, called Dante XXI was released on March 14, 2006. It based around Dante’s The Divine Comedy. This album has been considered to be the band’s best effort with Derrick Green and also carries some thrash influence. Although some areas of the media have criticized the album, fans have received it well.

In a recent interview, Igor stated that the band agreed to retire the Sepultura name at the conclusion of the band’s current tour, but bassist Paulo Jr. has denied this report.

In 2007 Max and Igor formed a new band called Cavalera Conspiracy.

In January 2009, Sepultura released A-Lex, being the first album without any Cavalera member. It is a new concept album based on the book A Clockwork Orange.

http://sepultura.com
http://www.myspace.com/sepultura

http://www.last.fm/group/Early+Sepultura

Death Angel

Among the youngest bands ever to storm the metal genre, Death Angel has come to be known as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the thriving Bay Area Thrash Metal Scene in the early 1980s, an era when one could catch Cliff Burton (Metallica) at the front of the stage at Ruthie’s Inn banging his head to Death Angel’s inventive style, and speedy, complex arrangements.

In 1986, a Death Angel demo produced by Kirk Hammett (Metallica) titled “Kill As One” sparked the interest of Enigma Records. Then, in 1987, Death Angel’s debut, “The Ultra Violence,” was released. Drummer Andy Galeon was just 14 years old at the time. The album was a full-frontal assault on the ears, buzzing with the group’s youthful energy, and “The Ultra Violence” sold 40,000 copies in just four months. Another innovative recording, “Frolic Through the Park,” followed, marking Death Angel’s evolution both lyrically and musically. “Bored,” another track from the band’s second release, highlighted the cutting-edge band’s inventive dynamics, and won a spot on MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball.”

Geffen Records was impressed enough with Death Angel’s television premier to offer the band a deal, and Death Angel became the first band of their breed to appear on the major label’s roster. At Geffen, the band released what is widely regarded as one of the most original and accomplished thrash metal albums ever recorded, “Act III.” The record pushed the limits of the genre to create something truly unique, a definitive work that is essential to any metal fan’s music collection. Death Angel’s masterful songwriting ability was once again on display nationwide in 1990, as the videos for “Seemingly Endless Time’ and ‘Room With A View’ saw heavy rotation on MTV.

Death Angel’s world tour between 1986 and 1990 included two sold-out tours of Japan. in fact, nearly every date on the Act III World Tour, which included storied venues such as The Warfield Theater in San Francisco, The Ritz in New York, and England’s Hammersmith Odeon, were sold out to capacity, a remarkable achievement for any band, but particularly stunning for such a young group, not to mention one comprised of cousins.

Death Angel’s trajectory to fame was tragically cut short in 1990, when the band’s tour bus crashed in the Arizona desert. Drummer Andy Galeon was critically injured, and would need more than a year to recover. During this downtime, vocalist Mark Osegueda left the band and moved to New York to pursue a life outside of music. The remaining members went on to form The Organization, and released two full-length albums under that name. The “O,” as they came to be known, toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, including two appearances at Holland’s famed Dynamo Open Air Festival, a support slot on Rob Halford’s “Fight” tour, and as the main support for the Motorhead tour in Europe.

After the “O” disbanded in 1995, the band members went on to pursue other musical projects, including “The Past,” (Rob, Andy, Dennis, Gus), Big Shrimp (Dennis, Andy), Smokestack (Rob, Andy), Silver Circus (Mark), and Swarm (Rob, Andy, Mark). The latter incarnation toured the United States for three months in 2001, supporting Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains).

Death Angel resurfaced in 2001 to perform at a cancer benefit for frontman Chuck Billy (Testament) called “Thrash of the Titans.” The response was so great that many offers came quickly in 2002, beginning with a “secret” gig in San Francisco, and sold it out under the pseudo name, “Kill As One.”

The show was a warm up for 2 dates in Holland including the famed Dynamo Open Air Festival and a pre-event show at the Efenaar club in Eindhoven which sold out before the band even arrived in Europe.

The next year saw DA supporting Metallica at the Fillmore in San Francisco as well as supporting Anthrax and Halford in the US. What began as a gathering of positive vibes for a friend turned into a full time mission to continue a journey that began so long ago… In 2004 Death Angel released their long awaited fourth studio disc, “The Art of Dying” on Nuclear Blast. A natural progression from “Act III“, the new album delivered straight Thrash Metal with diverse musicality to rave reviews worldwide. Brutal thrasher “Thrown to the Wolves”, the melodic doom of “The Devil Incarnate” and the speed rock of “Thicker than Blood” proved to fans that they didn’t miss a beat. The disc concludes with the acoustic / rock tune “Word to the Wise”, their overcome all obstacles approach still intact. The band hit the road to support T.A.O.D., embarking on an extensive tour with festival appearances in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Mexico and Japan. The group found themselves sharing the bill with many of their early influences from UFO to Alice in Chains, The Exploited to Guns n Roses! Currently DA is in the studio writing songs for a new album slated for release in autumn 2007, surfacing only to headline the Pulp Summer Slam Festival in the Philippines and Rock Hard Festival in Germany this summer.

www.deathangel.com

GWAR

GWAR is a satirical thrash metal/punk band formed in 1985-1986 by a group of artists and musicians at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. The band is perhaps best known for their elaborate sci-fi/horror film inspired costumes, raunchy lyrics, and graphic stage performances, which can consist of scatology, sadomasochism, necrophilia, paedo-necrophilia, beastio-necrophilia, fire dancing, fake pagan rituals, mock executions/mutilations, and other controversial violent and political themes. GWAR was, for a long time, on the leading edge of shock rock, going as far as appearing on Jerry Springer in character and in full costume during the mid 1990’s.

The origin and meaning of the band’s name has been left intentionally vague by its members, although the most widely accepted explanation (though false and denied by the band members) is that GWAR is an acronym for “God What an Awful Racket!” One rumor states that the name may have come from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel Watchmen, in which a poster reads, “Pink Triangle LIVE at the Gay Women Against Rape Benefit Concert.” Other unsubstantiated rumors state that GWAR! is the sound monsters make in old horror movies, or that a fan at a club yelled “You should call your band…” and vomited before he could finish, making a sound close to the word GWAR. A final possibility, and the most viable as of yet, coming from sources close to the band suggests strongly that the name comes from the answer David Brockie gave to Hunter Jackson when asked what the band should be called. David Brockie simply responded with a mostly unintelligble word and isolated a single sound out of the rubble therefore creating GWAR.

The band was the result of the collaboration between Hunter Jackson and Dave Brockie, then the singer for a punk band called Death Piggy. Jackson was working on a movie at the time the two met. The movie, entitled Scumdogs of the Universe, featured a plot involving terrifying intergalactic barbarians. Jackson and Brockie combined their ideas, re-named the band Gwar, and have been performing as ghoulish intergalatic warriors ever since. Their costumes are generally made of foam latex, styrofoam, and hardened rubber. It should be noted that the costumes they are wearing actually cover very little with the rest of their bodies being accentuated with makeup. They further their production in concert by dousing, spraying, and at times nearly drowning their audiences with imitation blood, semen, gore, and other bodily fluids. All the fluids are made of water and dye that washes out easily. It is rumored that corn syrup or a similar product has been used as a thickener.

Another trademark of GWAR’s live show is their mutilations of celebrities and figures in current events. Victims of GWAR’s antics have included O.J. Simpson, George W. Bush, Paris Hilton, and many others. The band also makes frequent references to political and historical figures, fantasy literature, and mythology. For instance, the song “Whargoul” makes reference to Minas Morgul, a setting in the J.R.R. Tolkien Lord of the Rings books; and the title of their sixth album Ragnarok comes from Norse mythology.

GWAR, though by no means a small-time band, have not enjoyed as much mainstream recognition as many other bands. Around the time of their second album (Scumdogs of the Universe), they enjoyed a fair deal of success, due in part to Beavis and Butt-head. After that, however, GWAR’s popularity waned and they were even featured on the VH1 program “Where Are They Now.” Though not at the peak of their popularity, GWAR was recently invited to play on the Sounds of the Underground tour, which was very well received.

Gwar were, at one time, banned from performing in their home city of Richmond, Virginia due to their raucous stage performances. During that time they would appear in their home town under the pseudonym Rawg and play sans costumes. The ban was later lifted and the band can now play in Richmond again in full gory attire. GWAR was banned earlier in North Carolina for obscenity reasons (Brockie was arrested for wearing his “Cuttlefish of Cthulu” prosthetic penis; this incident was the inspiration for GWAR’s America Must Be Destroyed album). Band members and associates often have cookouts at their house, dubbed “Gwar-BQ’s.” The video for “Saddam a Go-Go” from This Toilet Earth appeared in the hit movie Empire Records. Gwar was/is primarily a band of former art students, and this is reflected in the obscure references made in some of their songs. Gwar fans are known as Bohabs or Scumdogs.

Municipal Waste

Municipal Waste is a crossover thrash band from Richmond, Virginia formed in 2001. They are known for their loud, drunken, party atmosphere and rowdy show attendees, and also for their humorous thrash oriented parody song titles. Occasionally, they have been known to play unscheduled shows late at night. Municipal Waste are a crucial element of Richmond culture, and have four albums under their bullet belts, including 2009’s Massive Aggressive. Playing at This Is For You Fest ‘05 in Daytona Beach and at Super Sabado Gigante Fest 2 in January 2006 CA, they continued to gain national acclaim in the metal scene. They have toured Australia and Europe.

They had a successful 2006 US tour in support of Gwar. Staying on the road for a while, they then toured the US with Destruction in early 2007.

In 2008 they played at Download on the Tuborg stage on the Sunday in a half hour slot which was regarded as one of the best performances from any band over the weekend.

ORACLE

ORACLE (Indonesia Thrash metal band) was formed in 1999 as experimental process in music, by combining the current trend at that time such as industrial metal with other metal musical styles such as progressive and thrash. This in turned produced a unique sound that would become ORACLE sound. Founding members Mahendra a.k.a Vamp Shiver (Drums, Loops, SFX) and Jimmy a.k.a Zeitgeist (Guitar, SFX).

“Warna dan Dimensi” (Color and Dimension) the title of the first album. This album contains a mixture of Insdustrial metal and Thrash metal. ORACLE invited some talented musicians to help Emil a.k.a Demonic Darkstar on vocal, Wiwin on Bass, Andre on Keyboard and Nao on vocal. Due to difficulty of commiting the band, we were separated by time and situation.

In 2004, ORACLE was reunited and pursues in pure metal. The line up was Demonic Darkstar on vocal, Vamp Shiver on drum, Zeitgeist on guitar, Wisnu a.k.a Damien 666 on guitar. Marcell a.k.a Demon Horn from GETAH helped ORACLE to fill in the bass player position. After awhile, ORACLE found Bayu a.k.a Azrael to jumped aboard as a permanent bass player.

In 2006, Demonic Darkstar left the band and replaced by Troy a.k.a Balthazar on vocal. With Balthazar, ORACLE found their identity in their music. ORACLE focus on Thrash Metal genre after a long transformation of identity searching. We just release the new EP called “Judging The Sleepers” which contains Thrash Metal.

Currently, ORACLE has just released their new Thrash Metal album called “No Truth, No Justice”

Line-up:
Troy - vocals
Wisnu - guitars
Jimmy - guitars
Bayu - bass
Mahendra - drums

GIGANTOR

Gigantor is Indonesian Thrash metal band that was formed in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 6th 2006. The band was the next incarnation of Giant (which formed in 2002) by Rizky (vocals) and Irfan (drums). In the absence of their bandmates, they decided to recruit their former bandmates from both highschool band. Then came Dipo (guitar) and Barata (bass) to complete their line-up and made the band lives again. In the beginning, Gigantor played cover versions of their idol such as KISS, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Slayer and Anthrax. As time goes by, Gigantor now perform their own songs and also record them. But never forget to pay tribute to their roots and play their favourite heavy/thrash metal tunes. The band already released their self-titled debut on August 2010.

NEVERMORE

Biography

Nevermore is an American metal band from Seattle, Washington. Their precise musical style is debated by fans and critics alike. The band incorporates elements from styles such as Doom, Thrash, Power, and progressive metal into their songs, and also makes use of acoustic guitars and a wide range of vocal styles.

They started in the beginning of the 1990s, when the band Sanctuary was pressured by its recording label to change its musical style, switching from heavy metal to grunge, which was obtaining mainstream success at the time due to bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Two members of the band, vocalist Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard, didn’t agree with the change and thus proceeded to create a project of their own. Nevermore.

By the end of 1994, the band assumed a stable line-up, which saw the additions of drummer Van Williams and former Sanctuary touring guitarist Jeff Loomis . In 1995 Nevermore released its first, self-titled, album through Century Media Records. This album received much attention and specialized review, as its release was followed by an European tour with Blind Guardian and a North American tour with Death, both internationally-renowned bands.

Second guitarist Pat O’Brien joined the band prior to the release of the “In Memory” EP, and also took part in the recording of the subsequent album “The Politics Of Ecstasy”, both from 1996. O’Brien left Nevermore to play in Cannibal Corpse, and guitarist Tim Calvert, who had previously contributed to Nevermore through songwriting, replaced O’Brien as Nevermore’s guitarist.

Three years without releases followed, and in 1999 the album “Dreaming Neon Black” was released. Highly acclaimed, the album narrates the story of a man’s slow decline into madness, subsequent to the death of the only woman he ever loved. The tracks of this albums are varied in style, ranging from slow and melodic to aggressive and progressive. Warrel Dane put much effort in interpretation, emitting varied emotions from his vocals. The album’s lyrics are a partially true retelling of the events Dane underwent after the vanishing of his long-time girlfriend.

A long tour with several concerts followed, and Nevermore played together with bands such as Mercyful Fate, Arch Enemy, Iced Earth and Opeth. After the end of the tour, in 2000, guitarist Tim Calvert announced his departure from the band, subsequent to his marriage. Instead of finding a replacement, the band decided to continue as a quartet, only adding session guitarists for live appearances, such as Curran Murphy (who went on to play in Annihilator) and Jag Panzer’s Chris Broderick.

Nevermore proceeded to record “Dead Heart In A Dead World”, which was followed by tours with several bands, most notably with Savatage in 2001.

Their fifth album, “Enemies of Reality”, remained in production for over a year, and was released in 2003. This album faced much criticism for its production and was re-released in 2005, after being remixed by Andy Sneap. On tour, the band was joined by second lead guitarist Steve Smyth , formerly of Vicious Rumors and Testament; Smyth was eventually added to the line-up on a permanent basis.

A sixth album, “This Godless Endeavor”, was released in July of 2005. Nevermore then toured on Dave Mustaine’s Gigantour during the summer of 2005. In 2006 they are scheduled to tour with Disturbed. They are also playing in direct support to In Flames on the second leg of their North American tour.

2006 held a bit of bad luck for Nevermore, as bassist Jim Sheppard underwent a procedure for Crohn’s disease, which he has suffered from for over 15 years, and guitarist Steve Smyth was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, he ultimately underwent a kidney transplant operation (which was successful). Warrel Dane developed type 2 diabetes, and the band was forced to cancel their show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 13, 2006, due to an unspecified illness afflicting Dane.

According to the Official Nevermore website, www.nevermore.tv, their show on September, 12 2006 at the Zeche club in Bochum, Germany was to be filmed for Nevermore’s first full length DVD. This event was captured by 7 cameras and the live recording was produced by Andy Sneap. The double DVD set includes a Nevermore documentary, all of the bands promo videos and past recordings from their whole career to date. This DVD was expected to be released in early 2007, but was pushed back and eventually came out the following year (2008).

In August 2007, Steve Smyth stated that he will be parting ways with Nevermore. He is currently promoting his solo album that was recently released, The EssenEss Project.

2007 was a slow year for Nevermore as Warrel Dane, Van Williams and Jeff Loomis all worked on their own side projects for a good part of the year, only taking time off to do various festivals and a small tour.

Nevermore released The Year Of The Voyager in 2008.

In late 2009 Nevermore entered the studio with Peter Wichers to record their seventh album The Obsidian Conpiracy. It was released May 31st in Europe and June 8th in America. They also completed their line-up with the addition of Hungarian Guitarist Attila Vörös. The Obsidian Conspiracy is also available in a limited edition box with a CD ROM titled Shed Like Loomis (featuring sheet music and guitar tabs and videos of Jeff Loomis playing guitar for two of the new songs), postcards featuring artwork and lyrics, and a digipak version of the album with two bonus cover tracks (The Tea Party’s Temptation, and The Doors’ Crystal Ship).

Nevermore is:

• Warrel Dane – vocals
  
• Jeff Loomis – lead, rhythmn and acoustic guitar
  
• Jim Sheppard – bass
  
• Van Williams – drums
  
• Attila Vörös - Current Touring Guitarist
  
  Former members
  
  
• Mark Arrington - drums, percussion (1991 - 1994)
  
• Adam Gardner - alternative percusion (live,1992-1993)
  
• Pat O’Brien - rhythm guitars (1994 - 1996)
  
• Tim Calvert - rhythm guitars (1997 - 2000)
  
• James MacDonough - bass (live, 2006)
  
• Curran Murphy - rhythm guitars (live, 2002-2004)
  
• Steve Smyth - rhythm guitars (2004 - 2007)
  
• Chris Broderick - rhythm guitars (live, 2003, 2006, 2007)

Sodom

Sodom is a German thrash metal band formed in Gelsenkirchen, Germany in 1981.

Along with the bands Kreator and Destruction, Sodom is considered one of the “big three” of Teutonic thrash metal. While the other two bands created a sound that would influence death metal, Sodom’s music style would greatly influence many late-1980s and early-1990s black metal bands, among others.

Sodom’s original line-up consisted of Tom Angelripper, Bloody Monster, and Aggressor. The band was initiated by Tom as a desperate attempt to get out of having to work in coal mines in his hometown of Gelsenkirchen. Taking inspiration from bands such as Motörhead, Saxon, Tank, Venom and Accept, the group released two demos which led to a record deal with Steamhammer (which were not recorded with Bloody Monster, who by this time was replaced by Chris “Witchhunter” Dudek). Aggressor left the band shortly before releasing the “In the Sign of Evil” EP (generally regarded as an important early black metal release), and was replaced by Grave Violator, who himself did not last long, and left following the recording of “In the Sign of Evil”. Michael “Destructor” Wulf was found as a replacement, after which the band went and recorded “Obsessed by Cruelty”, their full-length debut featuring music that was mostly in the vein of “In The Sign of Evil”. Wulf did not last in the band long, and later went and joined Kreator (he would not last long there either, and he died in 1993 after a tragic motorcycle accident).

For the most part, Sodom was at first not taken seriously, with various press sources describing them as “a second-rate Venom clone with semi-inventive lyrics”. One member would change that. Frank “Blackfire” Gosdzik came in to fill the guitar spot Wulf had left behind. Frank convinced Tom that thrash metal was moving beyond horror/occult/satanic themes of bands like Venom to embrace political, societal, and war themes. Tom was already interested in various wars yet remained a peacenik. New inspiration culminated into Frank’s full-length debut with the band, “Persecution Mania”. The new lyrical approach and increased musicianship on the part of Frank gave the band great acclaim (as well as a gas-masked mascot Knarrenheinz, who appeared for the first time on Persecution Mania’s cover). They soon embarked on a tour of Europe with the Swiss thrash metal band Coroner. After touring for the better part of 1987 and 1988, the band returned to the studio to make another album. The final product, “Agent Orange”, sold 100,000 copies in Germany alone. This made Sodom famous, giving them worldwide critical acclaim, and secured their place alongside Kreator and Destruction as one of the great Teutonic thrash metal bands. To this date, “Agent Orange” has sold more than any other German thrash-metal album in the world.

Problems were brewing inside of the band, however. Tom and Chris descended further into alcoholism−and in Chris’s case, drug use. Furthermore, Frank had grown tired of composing music that his band-mates would often perform poorly live. Mille Petrozza of Kreator offered Frank a position with his band, after they lost their second guitarist, and Frank accepted. Angelripper went out looking for a replacement and found Michael Hoffman, formerly of German thrashers Assassin.

With this line-up, the album “Better off Dead” was released in 1990. During the South American tour however, Hoffman decided to stay in Brazil and was therefore forced to quit. Andy Brings replaced him, and a new album was recorded, “Tapping the Vein”, with more of a death metal sound. This proved to be the last album with the drummer Witchhunter: He was kicked out of the band, and Atomic Steif formerly of both Holy Moses and Living Death became his replacement behind the drum kit.

The group recorded the album, “Get What You Deserve”. The death metal influences were out; the influence of punk came in. “Get What You Deserve” had an arguably grotesque album cover (featuring a dead man shot and lying in his bed with a woman tied-up nearby), and many fans did not take to the band’s new direction. This period also marked the beginning of less international visibility for the band as thrash lost its commercial viability for the remainder of the 1990s. Angelripper also started a solo career doing metal impressions of drinking songs, German schlagers and even Christmas-type carols. A live album was recorded of the tour in support of the resulting album called “Marooned - Live”.

“Masquerade in Blood”, in the same vein as the previous album, was released in 1995. Again another guitarist had to be found. The new choice, Strahli, did not stay very long with the band. He was arrested and imprisoned on drug-related matters and has since been difficult to locate, mostly because he’s homeless. Atomic Steif also left and again Angelripper needed to search for new members. These were found: a guitarist in Bernemann and a drummer in Bobby Schottkowski. This line-up stabilized the band significantly and is still current.

The album “‘Til Death Do Us Unite” featured a controversial album cover, depicting a woman’s pregnant belly and a man’s beer gut pressing in a human skull together. This album marked the beginning of Sodom’s return to thrash but was more along the lines of a thrash-crossover sound and had much in common with bands like Suicidal Tendencies. It also spawned the song for which Sodom would make their most famous music video, the highly-controversial song “Fuck The Police.” After this album, Sodom returned to the studio and released “Code Red” in 1999 which marked a full return to the Teutonic thrash metal sound of the 1980s, and it was met with praise from fans and press alike. A limited edition featured a bonus CD containing a tribute to Sodom album, “Homage to the Gods”. With 2001 came the release of “M-16”, a concept album about the Vietnam War, which took its title from the famed M16 assault rifle. A tour followed with the other two big German thrash metal bands Kreator and Destruction, but Sodom ended up going on its own halfway through the tour due to a feud between Destruction bassist Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer and Tom Angelripper. Destruction claimed Sodom ripped off their music and sound.

In 2003, a double live album was recorded in Bangkok, Thailand, titled “One Night in Bangkok”. A new album simply titled “Sodom” was released in 2006, in the same vein as “M-16”. The title was chosen - as Angelripper explained it - because every band needs a self-titled album, and the band had never released one. The album was delayed however, because the DVD “Lords of Depravity” took more time to compose than initially thought.

In 2007, Tom was asked by the record label Steamhammer for any tracks to be released on the “In The Sign Of Evil” EP. Tom believed there were, and the label floated the idea to Tom to get ex-members Chris Witchhunter and Grave Violator (real name: Franz Josef Peppi) to re-record the EP with the bonus tracks. The result became “The Final Sign of Evil”. Chris “Witchhunter” Dudek died on 7 September 2008 from liver failure after a long battle with illness.

In 2009, Sodom returned to the UK to play their first show in 20 years at Bloodstock Open Air.

The band is now currently in the studio recording their next album entitled “In War And Pieces” which is due for release on November 22, 2010 via SPV records.


Current members:

* Tom Angelripper (Thomas Such, Onkel Tom) - Vocals/Bass (Desperados)
* Bernemann (Bernd Kost) - Guitars (ex-Crows)


Former members:

* Aggressor (Frank Testegen) - Guitars (1983-1984)
* Grave Violator (Pepi Dominic) - Guitars (1984-1985)
* Destructor (Michael Wulf) - Guitars (later Kreator) (1985-1986) R.I.P. in 1993.
* Assator (Uwe Christophers) - Guitars (ex-Darkness) (on tour in 1986)
* Frank Blackfire (Frank Gosdzik) - Guitars (later Mystic) and Kreator) (1987-1989, special appearance in the December 28, 2006 concert in Bochum)
* Uwe Baltrusch - Guitars (on tour in 1989/1990) (also in Mekong Delta, later House of Spirits)
* Michael Hoffman - Guitars (ex-Assassin) (1990)
* Andy Brings - Guitars (later Powergod) (1991-1995)
* Strahli (Dirk Strahlimeier) - Guitars (1995-1996)
* Chris Witchhunter (Christian Dudek) - Drums (1983-1992) (see also Destruction and Bathory)
* Atomic Steif (Guido Richter) - Drums (later Stahlträger and Assassin), ex-Sacred Chao, ex-Holy Moses, ex-Living Death, ex-Brotós) (1992-1996)
* Bobby Schottkowski - Drums (ex-Crows, ex-Onkel Tom Angelripper) (1997-2010)


Discography:

* Obsessed by Cruelty (1986)
* Persecution Mania (1987)
* Agent Orange (1989)
* Better Off Dead (1990)
* Tapping the Vein (1992)
* Get What You Deserve (1994)
* Masquerade in Blood (1995)
* ‘Til Death Do Us Unite (1997)
* Code Red (1999)
* M-16 (2001)
* Sodom (2006)
* The Final Sign of Evil (2007)

* In War and Pieces (2010)

SLAYER

Biography

Slayer is a thrash metal band from US, formed in 1981. The band was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. The band was credited as one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands, along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth.

Slayer’s musical traits involve fast tremolo picking, guitar solos, double bass drumming, and shouting vocals. The band’s lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as death, deviants, suicide, genocide, necrophilia, insanity, Nazism, religion, Satanism, serial killers, and warfare have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from religious groups and the general public. Slayer is best known for speaking through perspective without being necessarily sympathetic to the cause of their inspiration.

Since their debut record in 1983, the band has released two live albums, one cover album, one box set, three DVDs, one VHS, two EPs, and eleven studio albums, four of which have received gold certification in the United States. The band has received three Grammy nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song “Eyes Of The Insane”, and one in 2008 for the song “Final Six”. They have headlined music festivals worldwide, including Unholy Alliance and Ozzfest.

Slayer was formed in 1981 in Huntington Park, Los Angeles, California. The Band was formed by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King when they met at a tryout for a local band. Tom Araya soon joined on bass and vocals, and drummer Dave Lombardo joined last later in 1982. They played in a style reminiscent of early Exodus, influenced heavily by punk acts Minor Threat, Stooges and Heavy Metal bands Venom and Judas Priest.

“Black Magic”, the heaviest, darkest, and most evil song at the time (according to some), was written in February, 1983, and marked Slayer’s definite venture into thrash metal. They secured a spot on the compilation appeareance “Metal Massacre III” in 1983, contributing the speed metal song “Aggressive Perfector”. They also recorded two demos in 1983, and became a popular live act in the Los Angeles area. (In 1983, Bob Gourley filled in for Dave for one gig. He later appeared in Dark Angel (US).) Their debut LP, Show No Mercy, was recorded in November, 1983.)

A live EP was recorded in the studio in front of 50 of their closest friends in January, 1984, and after that “Show No Mercy” was released. The “Haunting the Chapel” and “Live Undead” EPs followed.

After 1985’s “Hell Awaits”, Slayer were signed to Rick Rubin’s Def Jam record label, better known for acts like Run DMC. This led to three studio albums, including the brutal “Reign in Blood”, as well as a 1991 live double CD, “Decade Of Aggression”.

Dave Lombardo left the band in 1987 for several weeks, and was replaced for a few live gigs by Tony Scaglione (Whiplash (US)), and then again left in 1992. Finally, in 1994, Paul Bostaph from Forbidden was brought in, and three more albums were recorded.

Then, in 2001, Bostaph left to join Systematic, and Lombardo, who had been in Grip Inc. and Fantomas rejoined the band.

Interesting facts:

It’s official that Slayer is the most covered metal band in the world aside from Metallica and Iron Maiden.

Tom Araya (born Tomas Enrique Araya June 6, 1961 in Vina del Mar, Chile. He has provided guest vocals to recordings by other artists, including “Iron Gland” from Alice in Chains’ album Dirt, and “Terrorist” from Soulfly’s album Primitive. His brother is John Araya (Bloodcum (US), Thine Eyes Bleed)

Kerry King recorded a guitar solo for “No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn” by the popular hip-hop/rock group Beastie Boys.

Tom Araya’s brother John (Bloodcum (US), Thine Eyes Bleed) worked as an sound engineer for Slayer in their early days.

According the book of Jarek Szubrycht (Lux Occulta) “Bez litosci. Prawdziwa historia zespo?u Slayer”, Greg Hall was asked to play with Slayer after Tony Scaglione left the band in January 1987. It never happens because Lombardo returned to the band.

Gene Hoglan, the legendary drummer who has played in bands such as Dark Angel (US), Strapping Young Lad and Death, used to be a Slayer lights man and roadie on the Show No Mercy tour, and was asked to be Dave Lombardo’s drum tech on the Haunting North America tour (‘84), but knocked it back to pursue his own music career. He even did backup vocals on the album Show No Mercy (the song Evil Has No Boundaries).

Birth Dates:
Tom Araya (06 June 1961 Vina del Mar, Chile)
Jeff Hannemann (31 January 1964 Oakland, CA)
Kerry King (03 June 1964 Los Angeles, CA)
Dave Lombardo (16 February 1965 Havana, Cuba)
Paul Bostaph (26 March 1964 Newark, CA)+

Artileri

Formed in 1982 in a dodgy Copenhagen suburb called Taastrup. Back in 1982 neither Metallica nor Slayer had released any records, so from the very beginning it was obvious that Artillery were pioneering what would later be labeled thrash metal.

The bands two first demo recordings Shellshock and Deeds Of Darkness were both released in 1984 with Artillery's first vocalist Carsten Lohmann, at the mike, the two brothers Morten and Michael Stützer handling bass and guitar, and Carsten Nielsen on drums. Carsten Lohmann, however, left the band a year later in 1985 and Artillery was then joined by vocalist Flemming Rønsdorf. Flemmings marvelous and unique vocal performances matched Artillerys style of playing perfectly and the bands 3rd demo tape Fear of Tomorrow soon got them a deal with Neat Records. Things immediately started to move and within that same year, 1985, the band released their debut album likewise entitled Fear Of Tomorrow. Two years later came what to this date is still considered a landmark in the history of European thrash metal; the release of Terror Squad. A highly praised masterpiece which immediately caught the attention of the underground press worldwide. The only one who didn't give the album the attention it deserved was Neat Records, so despite the fantastic reviews, to this date Terror Squad remains one of the most overlooked album of the eighties.

During this period Artillery hung out and made friends with Metallica when Metallica visited Copenhagen to record Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets, and they gigged with some of the biggest names in thrash metal such as Destruction and Slayer just to name a few.

One of the bizarre highlights of Artillery's career occurred in 1989 when the cold war was still in full effect. A Danish project called Next Stop founded with the purpose of creating mutual understanding through cultural exchange, between East and West asked Artillery if they wanted to be part of the project and thus do a small tour in the Soviet Union together with an old Danish punk band called Sort Sol (Formerly SODS). Guitarist Michael Stützer recalls this about the trip. We did actually play a number of sold out shows together with Sort Sol and the Soviet metal kids went absolutely nuts. One night things really got out of hand. The fans rushed the stage covering us with homemade crosses and metal badges. At one point somebody wrapped the soviet flag around my shoulders and I guess that apparently ticked off the authorities. Police cleared the stage by beating up the fans and it was all just chaos really. Right after we were labeled decadent and dangerous to the Soviet society, put on a train and escorted out of the country. We spent five days riding the Trans Siberian railroad, before making it to the border. Actually the song 07:00 From Tashkent and Dont Believe (By Inheritance) were both written on that train, says Michael with a grin.

Despite Neat Records lack of support Artillery carried on and in 1989 they recorded a promotional tape which immediately got them hooked up with Roadrunner. Roadrunner agreed to release the next Artillery album, and within that same year Artillery entered the Sweet Silence Studio in Copenhagen (where Metallica recorded both Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets) and recorded "By Inheritance" their finest album ever, and the first Artillery album to be backed by a major budget. "By Inheritance" was released in 1990 but despite the good vibes during the recording and Roadrunner's good intentions things didn't exactly turn out the way they were expected to.

According to frontman Flemming Rønsdorf: Roadrunner promised us a lot of things and in the beginning things really seemed to be working out. When we were in the studio recording By Inheritance, we were visited by press people from all over, and everybody was really excited about what they heard. It really seemed like things were finally moving our way. For some reason though it seemed like Roadrunner forgot what they had promised. They didn't advertise the album and there wasn't any touring like they had promised us.

The disappointment of once again finding themselves in a dead-end situation eventually led to the split-up of Artillery and thus in 1991 the European metal scene lost one of its most prominent names. Well at least that's what everybody thought, but as it turned out Artillery still had yet another chapter to add to the history of European thrash metal.

After the split the members of Artillery each went in different directions. Flemming Rønsdorf got by playing bars and wine lounges, for small change and square meals. At one point Flemming responded to an ad in a local news-paper where a Beatles cover band was looking for someone sounding like John Lennon. Flemming immediately stepped in and the Beatles cover band Rubber Band have been paying his bills ever since. Morten and Michael Stützer got involved in a metal project called Missing Link and furthermore Michael Stützer started a metal show called Terror Squad on a local radio station. Thus Michael have followed the development on the metal scene very closely and he has also paid frequent visits to metal festivals like Wacken Open Air and Dynamo.

In 1998, seven years after the split, Danish underground metal label Mighty Music decided to release a collection of old unavailable Artillery demo songs on the Deadly Relics album. Mighty Music persuaded Artillery into doing a one time reunion gig in support of the release of Deadly Relics. This event took place in Copenhagen in August 1998. The venue was absolutely packed and amongst the eager spectators were representatives from Diehard.

Like every-body else the Diehard staff was completely overwhelmed by the energy displayed by Artillery during their short set, and afterwards Diehard asked Artillery if they would be interested in doing a reunion album. And the answer to that question is obvious. Doing a one time reunion gig is one thing but actually doing a new album just gotta be a completely different ball game. How do the members feel about having to spend time on Artillery again?

Frontman Flemming Rønsdorf has this to say about the reunion: Honestly, I did have certain reservations towards starting up again. The anger that drove me back then was buried together with a lot of other things when we ended Artillery. I thought I had left all that behind for good. Surprisingly being back in the studio once again taking part in a recording session felt really good. I guess my heart never really stopped beating for metal and honestly, while recording I really got an adrenaline kick and I realized that the anger had never really died but merely laid dormant.

For Michael Stützer the situation is perhaps a bit less complex: I think its gonna be fun. Often when I've attended various festivals I've been recognized by people who kept asking us to get back together again. Whenever I have interviewed bands for my radioshow or answered letters there's always been questions and inquires about Artillery, and I guess the name Stützer still rings a bell in the metal scene. I just feel its really great to be able to give something back and say thanx to all the people who's been able to keep the interest for Artillery going for so many years.

The recordings process of B.A.C.K. went pretty smoothly. The backbone of Artillery; Michael and Morten Stützer, who's been in Artillery since day one and vocalist Flemming Rønsdorf entered the Starstruck Studio in Copenhagen owned by Konkhra frontman Anders Lundemark. With drummer Per M. Jensen as session drummer "B.A.C.K." was recorded during the summer of 99 and the recordings were then handed over to top producer Andy Sneap (Stuck Mojo, Exodus, Testament etc., etc.) in order to make sure that the genuine Artillery style of metal was wrapped in the sound of the nineties.

In essence: Artillery, the frosting and the topping on the thrash metal pie, are back. After seven years in absence one of Europe's finest mid eighties metal acts have now come back to set things straight and to prove to the world that there are more chapters to be added to the history of Artillery.

ANTHRAX

In the beginning of the 1980s in the US a great many bands were formed who took their inspiration from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Among the most gifted of those were bands like TWISTED SISTER, MÖTLEY CRÜE, WASP, MANOWAR and of course Anthrax.

Anthrax was formed back in 1981 by two guitarists Scott Ian and Dan Lilker. They had been classmates at the Bayside school in the Queens area of New York. Both of them already had a certain experience on stage; they played in FOUR X and WHITE HEAT respectively. Other members of the band were Dave Weiss, Paul Kahn, and John Connelly the lead singer. Problems began to appear from the very beginning. Several members left the band due to their incapability of following the standards set by Scott and Dan. The first three songs they recorded were "Sin", "Antichrist" and "Haunting Dog" with Neil Turbin at the vocals.

Anthrax's first appearance on stage took place at the "Battle of the Bands" that they have naturally won. This permitted the band to win over some local heavy metal fans, but this was not enough for them to obtain a contract with a record label. After a few more line-up changes, Charlie Benante has become the drummer of Anthrax and still remains one today, and Danny Spitz the rhythm guitarist (and has remained one for a long time). A little later, a manger called John Zazula showed a certain interest in ANTHRAX'S, music, but he thought they should work on their sound. He and his wife Marsha were the founders of the Megaforce Records and Crazed Management.

It's thanks to them that the famous Anthrax-Metallica cooperation was made possible as Metallica were also signed on the Megaforce Records. Finally Anthrax could register their first single "Soldiers of Metal" followed by "Howling Furies". The producer if the singles was Ross the Boss from Manowar (they played at the same concert just prior to that). Three thousand copies of the first single were sold in just two weeks. This encouraged John Z. to sign a long-term contract with the band and he sent them on a tour with METALLICA and RAVEN.

Finally, in 1984, Anthrax have recorded their first album entitled Fistful of Metal, that clearly showed the talent of the band thanks to the ultra-fast riffs in the style of thrash and speed metal. A lot of importance must also be attached to the lyrics of the band, who have not followed the fashion of writing about Satan and witches, but rather focused on everyday problems such as drugs and violence.

After this recording, Dan Lilker decided to leave the band and was replaced by Frank Bello, Charlie's nephew. Prior joining Anthrax, Frank was an Anthrax roadie. He still remains a member of Anthrax.

After one of the Anthrax concerts, Neil Turbin showed a highly disrespectful and arrogant attitude towards the public and had to be fired as a consequence. Anthrax have remained without a lead singer for a whole two months. They have worked with Matt Fallon on the Spreading the Disease album for a while, but they needed a permanent member. By a coincidence, they have heard about Joey Belladonna, who ironically sang in a band called MEGAFORCE. He was to greatly mark the history of Anthrax. They have put tremendous pressure on Joey to become a member of Anthrax and he finally accepted. They have completed the Spreading the Disease album with him and it was around then that Anthrax found their own sound.

In February 1985, the Armed and Dangerous album came out. Right after that Anthrax took part in the "Metal Hammer Road Shows" with ANGEL STEEL and OVERKILL.

In summer 1985 Charlie and Scott decided to form a side band called the STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH (SOD). The two other band members were Billy Milano and their former member Dan Lilker who they were still friends with. In only three days they have recorded 21 songs with their producer Alex Perlas. The name given to the album was "Speak English or Die". The record became known for its extremely heavy music and half-serious but nevertheless satirical lyrics.

The band broke up right after that. The Armed and Dangerous album has attracted the attention of the Island Records. They have signed a contract with the band and the next album that was originally entitled Anthrax Kills but was finally renamed Among the Living came out via Island. At the moment this album came out Anthrax were already a mature band. They have toured Europe several times, especially with Metallica, but one of these tours was cancelled due to the tragic death of Cliff Barton.

Among the Living was a turning point for Anthrax. They have introduced several new aspects in their music, making allusions to the works of Stephen King and rap music. "Among the Living", for example was inspired by Stephen King's The Stand. The song "I am the Law" was inspired by a character named Judge Dreadd from the famous comics series. The basic idea behind the "Efilnikufesin N.F.L." song (for those who have me on their ICQ, it sounds familiar, right?) was put forward by Scott Ian after he read the book about the death of John Belushe, the leader of the BLUES BROTHERS, from an overdose. The song entitled "Caught in a Mosh" is not about moshing, but rather the situations you often find yourself in against your own will.

It was inspired by an accident with one of the Anthrax roadies when he stage dived and injured his back. Two more songs on that album deserve particular attention: "Indians" and "One World". The first one talks about the discrimination of the native Americans (Joey is himself a native American) and the second one is about the catastrophic results that could take place if the nations keep antagonizing themselves.

Despite the energy that can be easily taken for aggression by some people, Anthrax remain a pacifist and an optimistic band. By making allusions to violence, they try and stress what the major problems of our time are. According to Scott, that they are not putting their subjective opinions across, but rather an objective reality, it's all in the papers. Among the Living faced a couple of problems. Certain critics accused the band of having sold out and several Christian organizations disliked the somewhat satanic cover, but their success was nevertheless undeniable. It was in the beginning of 1988 that Anthrax could tour with their idols, KISS, and establish friendly links with Gene Simmons.

The 12th September 1988 is the release date of the State of Euphoria. Among the biggest hits on the album are "Make Me Laugh", "Schism", "Antisocial" originally by TRUST, "Now It's Dark", "Who Cares Wins", "Misery Loves Company", "Out of Sight, Out of Mind".

The next year Anthrax made an appearance in England, where they played with LIVING COLOR and were invited to the "Head bangers' Ball".

This appearance permitted Anthrax to open the door to the continental Europe. They toured with legendary bands such as MÖTLEY CRÜE, WHITESNAKE, IRON MAIDEN, METALLICA, HALLOWEEN, and KING X. Their European success was supported by that of the US.

Towards the end of 1989 Anthrax began to work on a new album entitled Persistence of time. Unfortunately, on the 24th of January 1990, fire destroyed most of the records. They managed to get the album out by the 20th of July. Soon afterwards they released a new EP called Attack of the Killer B's. Among those songs is "Bring the Noise" that they recorded with Public Enemy, followed by a tour with the same rap group.

In March 1992 Scott reformed SOD to hold a number of concerts that helped them record a disc called Live at Budokan. It was then that Joey Belladonna began to lose interest in what Anthrax were doing and had to be fired. The new vocalist was John Bush, the former lead singer of Armoured Saint. It was with him that the last three albums were recorded: The Sound of White Noise, Stomp 442 and Volume 8: The Threat is Real. Unfortunately, their last 2 record labels, Elektra and Ignition Records did not do a good job promoting those.

In 1998 the SOD were formed once again and they have currently finished work on their new album Bigger Than the Devil