Geoff Johnson

Kylesa got its start in 2001 when former members of sludge-metal band Damad teamed up with guitarist and visual artist Laura Pleasants. From the beginning, this Savannah, Georgia-based band has shown no loyalty to a specific genre; as a result, the outfit's discography has been fascinatingly varied.

See also:
- Tonight: Kylesa at the Marquis Theater
- Review: Kylesa at Bluebird Theater, 10/3/10
- Review: Kylesa at Fox Theatre, 4/14/09

Aaron Thackeray

Havok, on tour in Europe right now with Cephalic Carnage, Suffocation and Fallujah, is preparing to release its new album, Unnatural Selection, on Tuesday, June 25. The ten-track album, the band's fourth release overall and the followup to 2011's Time Is Up, was produced by Havok frontman David Sanchez, mixed by legendary metal maestro Terry Date (Pantera, Soulfly, Unearth), with the kickass cover art by Rafal Wechterowicz. The outfit is slated to celebrate the release of the new album with a trio of local shows at the Marquis, Black Sheep and Aggie upon returning from Europe. Keep reading to see the cover art and track list.

See also:
- The 25 most badass local metal album covers
- The young men of Havok prove their metal
- Learn how to kick ass from the men of Havok

Ester Segarra

Founded in 2008, Ghost B.C. created a bit of mystique for itself right from the start. The sextet is essentially anonymous in its elaborate costumes, with singer Papa Emeritus II decked out like a satanic pope, and his cardinals, The Ghouls With No Name, performing in uniform brown robes whose cowls obscure any identifying features. Yes, it's a gimmick to bring a sense of mystery and ritual to an art form that, these days, doesn't have nearly enough theater.

See also:
- Tonight: Ghost B.C. at the Ogden Theatre, 4/18/13
- The ten best metal shows in Denver this April
- Review: Ghost at Marquis Theater, 1/27/12

Brandon Marshall

Over the weekend, Suicidal Tendencies played to a packed house at the Summit Music Hall. Before that, we had a chance to chat with the band's founding frontman, Mike Muir, the sole continuous member of the group, about how he first got into punk, how his group has successfully straddled the divide between metal and hardcore, how Suicidal ended up on an episode of Miami Vice, and he also shared some of the wit and wisdom he gained from his father.

See also:
- Review: Suicidal Tendencies at Summit, 4/14/13
- Photos: Suicidal Tendencies at the Summit slideshow
- The ten best metal shows in Denver this April

Ray Ahner

Death to All circa 2012

Founded in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner, Death helped to codify the aesthetic of death metal alongside early pioneers like Possessed. Schuldiner was sixteen when the band formed and twenty by the time the outfit's debut album, 1987's Scream Bloody Gore, was released. The sonic brutality of the first two Death albums was remarkable for the period when only grindcore matched it for the sheer violence of the sound. Influenced by thrash, death metal, as exemplified by the music of Death, took the music into new extreme realms of wild tempos, cutting guitar gyrations and dark subject matter.

See also:
- Monday: Death to All at the Gothic Theatre, 4/15/13
- The ten best metal shows this month
- The 25 most badass local metal album covers

Stephanie Cabral

Fear Factory was a pioneer of the so-called nü-metal genre, before that designation became a bit of an insult. An early proponent of the fusion of industrial and death metal, Fear Factory first realized that sonic alchemy with its influential 1995 album, Demanufacture. Since then, the band has explored a wider range of sounds and more rhythmic strategies than most of its peers.

See also:
- Monday: Fear Factory at the Summit Music Hall, 4/15/13
- The ten best metal shows in Denver this month
- Brujeria is a bizarre supergroup of sorts

Soilwork formed in Helsinborg, Sweden, in 1995 and developed out of the Gothenburg melodic death metal mold, incorporating aspects of NWOBHM and other styles of music to forge an angular yet flowing sound of its own. Though clearly rooted in prog, there is enough of punk frayed edges in the band's music to give it a more feral quality than that of some of its peers.

See also:
- Friday: Soilwork at the Gothic Theatre, 4/12/13
- The ten best concerts in Denver this week
- The ten best metal shows in April

Anders Fridén, far right, takes a break with the brewers at Great Divide.

Great Divide Brewing has been distributing its beers to Sweden for years via Great Brands -- a craft-beer-focused Swedish distributor that carries a handful of American brews, including those from Avery, Left Hand, Oskar Blues and Ska. The Denver brewery has garnered many fans in Scandinavia since, one of whom happens to be Anders Fridén, frontman of In Flames, in town for a show with Lamb of God at the Fillmore Auditorium tonight.

See also:
- The week's ten best concerts: 12/10-12/14
-Lamb of God with In Flames, Hellyeah, Sylosis at the Fillmore
- Lamb of God's John Campbell talks about the Czech incident