Acdc

AC/DC is an Australian rock band and considered pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal music. The group was formed in Sydney, Australia in December, 1973. Their albums have sold in colossal numbers — the total is now estimated to be around 100 million copies worldwide.
AC/DC is generally divided into 'Bon Scott era (1974-80)' and 'Brian Johnson era (1980-present)'. Some fans have a preference, others point to the merits of both singers and appreciate them equally

Limp bizkit

Limp Bizkit is a band from Jacksonville, Florida. They started out on around late 1994 giving free shows and concerts whenever they could get a gig. Yes i know its hard to believe but the Number 1 band in the nation once was nothing but your tipical Local Band trying to get a record deal. Fred and Sam met up and became good friends when Sam suggested his cousin, John Otto, to play the drums for the band. Later, Wes was brought into the picture along with House of Pains main man, DJ Lethal and Limp Bizkit was started. They got their name when Fred was talking to his friend (and now roadie) when said that "his brain was like a limp biscuit." So Fred liked it and the name of their band after it.
This is an awesome band that already has a large fan base from touring with Family Values, and other tours that tend to attract large crowds.It also helps when you open for bands such as Korn and the Deftones. Limp Bizkit, after all the struggles and shit they had to put up with, has the biggest fan crowd in North America with their first hit "Faith from the album 3 Dollar Bill Ya'll, then they really hit it big with there big hit "Nookie" which was on there sophmore album, Significant Other.

Nirvana

Kurt Cobain Biography Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana, the multi-platinum grunge band that redefined the sound of the nineties.
Cobain was born on the 20th of February 1967 in Hoquaim, a small town 140 kilometres south-west of Seattle. His mother was a cocktail waitress and his father was an auto mechanic. Cobain soon moved to nearby Aberdeen, a depressed and dying logging town.
Cobain was for most his childhood a sickly bronchitic child. Matters were made worse when Cobain's parent's divorced when he was seven and by his own account Cobain said he never felt loved or secure again. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain also said that his parent's traumatic split fueled a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music.
After his parent's divorce Cobain found himself shuttled back and forth between various relatives and at one stage homeless living under a bridge.
When Cobain was eleven he heard and was captivated by the Britain's Sex Pistols and after their self-destruction Cobain and friend Krist Novoselic continued to listen to the wave of British bands including Joy Division the nihilistic post-punk band that some say Nirvana are directly descended from in form of mood, melody and lyrical quality.

Aerosmith

Aerosmith was formed in 1970, when vocalist Steven Tyler met guitarist Joe Perry while working at an ice cream parlor. Bassist Tom Hamilton and guitarist Ray Tabano, joined the group, but Ray was replaced by Brad Whitford and they added drummer Joey Kramer.
In 1972 they landed a record contract with Columbia Records. As a result, Aerosmith's self-titled debut album was released in the fall of 1973.
Areosmith spent time touring the U.S. and working on their secound album Get Your Wings, it spent a total of 86 weeks on the charts.
Aerosmith's third record, 1975's Toys in the Attic, was their breakthrough album their sound was pure rock n roll, and the the album hit number 11. Its success prompted the re-release of the power ballad "Dream On," which shot into the Top Ten in early 1976. Both Aerosmith and Get Your Wings climbed back up the charts in the wake of Toys in the Attic. "Walk This Way," the final single from Toys in the Attic, was released around the time of the group's new 1976 album, Rocks. Although it didn't feature a Top Ten hit like "Walk This Way," Rocks went platinum quickly, peaking at number three.

Kamelot

1991 - 1995
In 1991 Kamelot was founded by guitarist Thom Youngblood and drummer/ school mate Richard Warner but it took until August 1995 for their debut album "Eternity" to be released. Signing to Noise Records Germany in Spring 1994. Fans and critics alike praised Kamelot as being one of the most promising newcomers in Metal.
• In 1996...
...their second album "Dominion" received even more attention, because it showed the variety of the band, spanning all the way from European metal to classical music and progressive.
The fans and sales for Kamelot would grow over the year and the group was being touted as one the new leaders in Melodic Metal from the U.S. Not resting on their laurels the group went back to work on their 3rd and most important release. But obstacles were ahead...
• Kamelot 1997
A year of major changes. After the success of "Dominion" many tour opportunities came to Kamelot. Unfortunately drummer Richard Warner and vocalist Mark Vanderbilt could not tour and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel for the two to ever tour.
Kamelot's first goal was to find a new drummer. After one audition Casey Grillo was the man. Local music veteran at the age of 21, Casey was a perfect fit for the opening. After listening to between 75 and 100 audition tapes of vocalists the band was a standstill. A whole record had been written but no one worthy enough to grab the mic.

Dragonforce

Prepare yourself for a gripping, exhilarating ride on January 9th, 2006. On that date, DragonForce release their hotly awaited third album, ‘Inhuman Rampage’. The title is an apt summation of a devastating musical journey, an unstoppable force that the six-man group’s forthcoming tour of duty will leave devastated cities in its wake. Combing the primal force of power metal with hard-earned musical proficiency, old-school thrash and generous quantities of muscular melody in a unique style that they call ‘extreme power metal’, DragonForce have established themselves as THE heavy metal band of the past year.

The summer of 2005 saw them sharing festival stages with Iron Maiden, a sell-out headlining tour of the UK generating scenes of pandemonium. Intensive bouts of touring to accompany the band’s two albums to date – ‘Valley Of The Damned’ in January 2003 and the following year’s ‘Sonic Firestorm’ – has seen their fan-base escalate in quite dramatic terms. Meanwhile, the European metal press have swamped the band with almost universal reams of adulation. “DragonForce are getting bigger. Prepare for the onslaught,” Kerrang! warned. "DragonForce are as metal as f**k,” roared the UK’s Metal Hammer, “They’ll be enormous.” Writers and magazines from France, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Japan and many more wasted little time in falling under the band’s spell. Perhaps the best summation of all these accolades was Rock Hard (Germany)’s prediction that: “DragonForce could become the first British metal band in ages to reap respect from all over the world.”

Hammer fall

The foundation
After quitting the death metal act Ceremonial Oath in 1993, guitarist Oscar Dronjak formed HammerFall and soon asked Jesper Strömblad to join him. Since this idea had been existing in Oscar's for a while, the name, general direction and some music (such as the song "Steel Meets Steel") were already there. Jesper and Oscar decided that HammerFall had to be forwarded on a project level, since both wanted to keep on with their other, freshly started, bands, In Flames and Crystal Age respectively. They enlisted the help of fellow metallers Niklas Sundin (guitar) and Mikael Stanne (vocals) of Dark Tranquillity, and Johan Larsson (bass guitar).
The formative years
The aim was to get together a couple of times each year, rehearsing to particitpate in a local music competition called "Rockslaget". Time went on, and Niklas and Johan were replaced by Glenn Ljungström (In Flames) and Fredrik Larsson (Crystal Age). Apart from the HammerFall tunes "Steel Meets Steel" and "HammerFall", the band performed the Pretty Maids classic "Red, Hot and Heavy" as well as the Alice Cooper 1987 metal icon "Freedom".
The turning point
Fast forward to 1996. For the first time, HammerFall advanced to the semi-finals of "Rockslaget" with "Steel Meets Steel" , "Unchained" and the Judas Priest anthem "Breaking The Law". Amidst the celebration, it was discovered that vocalist Mikael was going to be unavailable at the time of the semi-finals. Hence, a new singer had to be brought in for this gig. After a bit of research, the name Joacim Cans came up. A phone call later, and they were in business.
The cooperation with Joacim proved to be a success, and he was immediately sworn in as a permanent member of the HF clan. Though entering a strong performance in the competition, HammerFall never reached the finals; the band was edged out in the last minute by the judges, who perhaps feared the imminent and unavoidable rise of Heavy Metal once again to international prominence. However, a two-track live performance was recorded and sent on video tape to Roel van Reijmersdal of the Dutch label Vic Records. He marvelled over its contents and immediately offered HammerFall a deal. Consequently, the summer and fall of this, the olympic year, was spent writing, rehearsing and perfecting the soon-to-be debut album, already entitled "Glory To The Brave".

Within Temptation

With the rise of gothic metal, dozens of bands have combined crunchy power chord volleys with ethereal vocals and orchestral arrangements, but none have done so as convincingly or with such a keen grasp for symphonic arrangements as Holland's Within Temptation.Within Temptation formed in Holland in 1996 around the nucleus of singer Sharon den Adel and guitarist / song writer Robert Westerholt.The band's debut album, 'Enter', enchanted the metal press with its fantastic mix of melody, orchestral elements and epic song-writing suss. A year later the band were invited to play a side stage at the Dynamo Festival - it was only their fifth performance overall - but they proved to be such a hit with the assembled throng that they were invited back the following year to open the main stage! The band toured relentlessly for the next two years

Nightwish

The year 2006 began with good news for Nightwish: Their "Highest Hopes" Best-Of compilation had not only crossed the Finnish Double Platinum mark of 60,000 sold copies, it was also Finland's best-selling album of 2005, having sold more than 65,000 times. With the media frenzy finally slowing down, the band members found time to concentrate on the important things again. Tuomas had already written the majority of the new songs, Emppu recorded some new tunes with the Finnish hard rock band Brother Firetribe, Marco returned to the Tarot camp to record the eagerly awaited album "Crows Fly Black" and Jukka had his own business projects going on.
In March, Nightwish brought home two prizes from the Emma Gaala. The band was awarded an Emma as "Best Finnish Artist 2005" and one for "Most Sold Album 2005". In the same month, the band officially started to look for a new vocalist through an open call for auditions on their website. In April, the Finnish music video awards, the Muuvi, brought more happy news to Nightwish. The jury awarded the band a Silver Muuvi for their "Sleeping Sun" video, shot in 2005. The video also made it to the second place in the public voting. May finally brought two long-expected releases. The Nightwish book, written by Mape Ollila, was released in Finland. Shortly after, Nightwish's second full-length live DVD "End Of An Era" was released and reached gold status in Finland after just one day. It was later certified gold in Germany and France as well. In the following weeks, the band retreated to their summer camp to rehearse the new songs and have a good summer. Meanwhile, the media kept themselves busy with unending speculations about the new singer.

Stratovarious

Stratovarius was founded in 1984 by three guys from Helsinki, Finland; drummer and vocalist Tuomo Lassila, bass player John Viherva and guitarist Staffan Strahlman. Before Stratovarius the same line up performed under name Black Water.
The music of early Stratovarius was very different from what it is today. Back then it was heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. Guitar player Staffan brought in some classical elements. Bass player John left the band by the end of 1984 and was replaced by Jyrki Lentonen, who previously played with Timo Tolkki in a band called Road Block.
1985 Staffan did not want to play in Stratovarius anymore and he left one week before the band was supposed to play one gig in Aalborg, Denmark. Tuomo Lassila phoned to Timo Tolkki and asked him to join the band. Timo learned all the songs from cassette tape and after a few rehearsals the band travelled to Denmark. At that time Tuomo was still singing and playing the drums at the same time. It soon became evident that the band needed a singer because Tuomo's vocal range. However, good singers are few and far between and so Timo Tolkki took over the vocal duties. At this point the music was starting to sound more like it is today: very melodic and classically influenced. Timo Tolkki brought along his influences; Blackmore, Rainbow and Baroque music. The band rehearsed and gigged extensively in Helsinki and made its first demo tape under this line up in 1987. It contained songs "Future Shock", "Fright Night" and "Night Screamer".

Angra

Angra was formed in 1991, picking up where Viper had left off playing neo-classical progressive metal. Singer Andre Matos left Viper after the Theatre of Fate album due to creative differences. Andre soon hooked up with guitarist Kiko Loureiro to form Angra; they were joined by bassist Luis Mariutti, guitarist Rafael Bittencourt and drummer Marco Antunes. After a demo entitled Reaching Horizons, Antunes was replaced on drums by Ricardo Confessori. This completed the lineup for their first full-length album, Angels Cry, which met with critical and commercial success in Brazil and Europe. It was mostly a hard progressive metal set, slowing down only for a remake of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights." Two years later, in 1995, Angra recorded their second album, entitled Holy Land. While maintaining the same core sound as Angels Cry, Angra showed subtle Brazilian influences much more on Holy Land in the rhythms and backing vocals. Two EPs, Holy Live and Freedom Call, appeared between 1996 and 1997. The next album, Fireworks, released in 1998, is a more straight forward hard rock album. The classical influences from Angels Cry and the Brazilian influences from Holy Land are both gone, being replaced by straight forward metal. In 2001 longtime vocalist Andre Matos left the group and was replaced by Edu Falaschi. The resulting album, the prog/neo-classical metal Rebirth, was a return to form for the group. They followed that record's success with Temple of Shadows in 2005. David White, All Music Guide
Group Members:Aquiles PriesterEdu FalaschiFelipe AndreoliRafael BittencourtKiko Loureiro