Non-Mainstream metal music

Helstar is an American heavy metal band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1982 by guitarist Larry Barragan. They were an influential force in the American power metal genre emerging in the mid-1980s.

Helstar began with a basic heavy metal style in 1983 with two demos, followed by their first studio album in 1984 titled Burning Star for Combat Records, making them label mates with Megadeth and Exodus. Struggles within the band and management issues led to changes in the band's line-up. After a year they released the Remnants of War album, also on Combat, produced by Randy Burns. The band played their first arena show in December 1985 opening for Stryper at the Sam Houston Coliseum.

In 1987, they briefly moved to Los Angeles with another line-up change, with guitarist Rob Trevino departing, and it is believed that the song "Abandon Ship", from the 1988 album A Distant Thunder, was dedicated to his departure. Along with guitarist André Corbin, Frank Ferreira was an addition to drums. They returned to Houston in 1988, signed with Metal Blade Records and recorded the A Distant Thunder album produced by Bill Metoyer. The band subsequently toured as openers for acts such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus, and Armored Saint.

Jag Panzer is an American power metal band from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Jag Panzer came together in late 1981, being inspired by the onslaught of the new wave of British heavy metal. The original line-up consisted of Harry Conklin on vocals (later nicknamed the "Tyrant"), Mark Briody, the sole guitarist of the group in its first incarnation, John Tetley (bassist) and Rick Hilyard (drummer). The band was known as Tyrant in its first incarnation, but they soon had to change the name, because another band already existed in California with that name.

They saw a poster featuring a German World War II tank, named Jagdpanzer literally "hunting tank" in German, but actually referring to what in English would be called a tank destroyer, which they decided to name their band after. They were, however, unable to pronounce the name correctly and as a result, dropped the letter "D" from the name and simply called it Jag Panzer. The band, who were all in their late teens at the time, played at local venues in the Denver club circuit, and recorded an EP in 1983, later known as Tyrants. In early 1984, the band recruited Joey Tafolla, a native of California, and promptly recorded their first album, Ample Destruction. The album was released in August of that year by the independent record label Azra Records. The album was an underground hit in the United States, and in Europe and Japan it was available on import only.

James Rivera is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the heavy metal band Helstar. He was also the singer for Seven Witches between 2002 and 2005.

Chastain is an American heavy metal music band, formed in 1984 by guitarist David T. Chastain and signed by Shrapnel Records.

Metal Church is an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in San Francisco, California in 1980 and then relocated to Aberdeen, Washington the following year and briefly using the name Shrapnel. Led by guitarist and songwriter Kurdt Vanderhoof, the band has released twelve studio albums, and is often credited as a formative influence on the thrash metal subgenre, melding the aesthetics of the new wave of British heavy metal and American hard rock with "incredibly tight musicianship" and "piercingly screeched" vocals. They are also considered to be an integral part of the Seattle heavy metal music scene of the 1980s, and achieved considerable popularity that decade, with two of their first three albums entering the Top 100 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band's early lyrical topics such as conflict and paranoia later expanded into philosophical and social commentary.

Winters Bane are a heavy/power metal band formed in 1990.: 486 They have gone through extensive line-up changes throughout their history with only guitarist and sometime-vocalist Lou St. Paul featuring as an ever-present.

In their first incarnation with Tim "Ripper" Owens (who would later join Judas Priest and Iced Earth), they released the Heart of a Killer album in 1993, a concept piece based on the murderous exploits of a character called Judge Cohagen. This album was re-released in 2000 by Century Media Records as a two-CD set, featuring a bootlegged live gig as a bonus disc.

After the departure of Owens, St. Paul took over the vocal duties for both the unreleased Season of Brutality and Girth, arguably Winters Bane's heaviest work to date.

Liege Lord is an American power metal band active in the 1980s. The band was formed by Matt Vinci, Anthony Truglio and Frank Cortese.

Warlord was an American heavy metal band, formed in 1980 and based in Los Angeles, California. Since its formation the band was led by guitarist William J Tsamis and drummer Mark Zonder.

White Wizzard is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 2007. They have released one EP and four albums: Over the Top released in 2010, Flying Tigers released in 2011, The Devil's Cut released in 2013, and Infernal Overdrive released 2018. Throughout the band's history, it has undergone numerous lineup changes, with only Jon Leon remaining a stable member of the band. The end of the band was announced by Jon Leon in April 2018, however, he announced that he was reassembling the band in March 2019.

White Wizzard was formed in Los Angeles in the summer of 2007, as Jon Leon's response to the "angsty" and "screamo" music that dominated the heavy metal scene at the time:

Crimson Glory was an American heavy metal band that formed in 1983 in Sarasota, Florida. They started in 1979 under the monikers 'Pierced Arrow', then 'Beowulf', before settling on Crimson Glory. The classic line-up consisted of vocalist Midnight, guitarists Jon Drenning and Ben Jackson, bassist Jeff Lords, and drummer Dana Burnell. With that line-up, they rose to international fame in the mid-1980s and were considered one of the pioneers of the American progressive metal movement, along with Queensrÿche, Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Watchtower. During their career, they released four studio albums and one EP.

Crimson Glory was formed in Sarasota, Florida in 1979 under the name Pierced Arrow. Pierced Arrow's line-up consisted of Tony Wise on vocals, Bernardo Hernandez and Ben Jackson on guitars, Glen Barnhardt on bass (later replaced by Jeff Lords), and Dana Burnell on drums. Hernandez and Lords were replaced by Chris Campbell and John Colemorgan respectively in late 1981, and in early 1982, the band changed its name to Beowulf. In 1983, the band changed bassists, guitarists and vocals. Lords rejoined, Chris Campbell was replaced by Jon Drenning and Tony Wise by Mark Ormes. Later Mark Ormes left and while searching for a singer, the group found an old school mate of Jeff Lords, John Patrick McDonald (later known as Midnight), singing on the beach. They later changed their name to Crimson Glory after a rose hybrid.

Armored Saint is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1982. Since 1990, the band has consisted of John Bush on lead vocals, Joey Vera on bass, Jeff Duncan on rhythm guitar and the Sandoval brothers on drums and lead guitar, respectively. Of the current lineup, Bush and Vera are the two constant members. To date, the band has released eight studio albums, one EP, two live albums and one compilation album.

Wolf is a Swedish heavy metal band from Örebro. Formed in 1995, the band has since released eight studio albums and toured with Saxon, Evile, Tankard and more recently, Trivium.

Anvil is a Canadian heavy metal band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 1978. The band currently consists of founding members Steve "Lips" Kudlow (vocals, guitar), Robb Reiner (drums), and Chris Robertson (bass). As of 2022, the band has released nineteen studio albums, and has been cited as having influenced many notable heavy metal groups, including Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, and Metallica.

Reviewers have described Anvil as a pioneering heavy metal band that was popular in the 1980s but then faded into obscurity in the 1990s, while refusing to stop playing, recording, and gigging. Anvil's antics on and off stage, the setbacks they suffered, and their determination to keep going have been compared to the fictional band Spinal Tap.

Sanctuary is an American thrash/power metal band, formed in 1985 in Seattle, Washington. They were broken up from 1992 to 2010. The band consists of Lenny Rutledge (guitar), Joseph Michael (vocals), George Hernandez (bass), and Dave Budbill (drums). The lead vocalist position was held by Warrel Dane until his death in 2017. They have released four studio albums and one live EP.

Despite never reaching mainstream success, Sanctuary is often credited for popularizing the 1980s and early 1990s Seattle hard rock and heavy metal scene, which spawned bands such as Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Queensrÿche, Metal Church, Fifth Angel, TKO, Culprit, Rail, Forced Entry and Q5.

Angel Dust (originally Angeldust) are a German heavy metal band. Initially active from 1984 to 1990 as a speed and thrash metal band, they dropped their thrash roots in favor of a power/progressive metal sound upon reforming in 1998.

Angel Dust formed in Dortmund in 1984 as a typical garage band. They took their name from a song title off English black metal band Venom's debut album Welcome to Hell. The band's musical style was initially heavily influenced by the new wave of British heavy metal and Bay Area thrash metal scenes. They soon found their niche in the speed and thrash metal styles, which were widely popular at the time. The band released their debut studio album, Into the Dark Past, in 1986, and followed it up with To Dust You Will Decay, released in 1988. The band broke up in 1990 due to internal conflicts.