The U.S. state of Washington has been home to many popular musicians and several major hotbeds of musical innovation throughout its history. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is known for being the birthplace of grunge as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip hop. Nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also been centers of influence on popular music.
Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz is an American musician who is the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica. He first rose to prominence as the bassist of crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies from 1989 to 1995, while also collaborating with Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir for funk metal supergroup Infectious Grooves. After leaving Suicidal Tendencies, he performed with Ozzy Osbourne, Jerry Cantrell, and heavy metal band Black Label Society. Trujillo joined Metallica in 2003 and is the band's longest-serving bassist. He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Metallica in 2009.
Gary Charles "Gar" Samuelson was an American musician best remembered for being the drummer for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1984 to 1987, contributing to their first two albums, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! (1985) and Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? (1986). He is considered one of the most influential drummers of thrash metal, having pioneered the incorporation of jazz fusion into the subgenre.
Shawn Lane was an American musician who released two studio albums and collaborated with a variety of musicians including Ringo Starr, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Reggie Young, Joe Walsh, Jonas Hellborg, Anders Johansson, Jens Johansson and many others. After studying the piano, he learned to play the guitar, which he played with exceptional speed.
Mortification is an Australian Christian death metal band which was formed in 1987 as a heavy metal group, Lightforce, by mainstay Steve Rowe on bass guitar and vocals. By 1990, in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, they were renamed as Mortification with the line-up of Rowe, Michael Carlisle on guitar and Jayson Sherlock on drums. Mortification has released fourteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three extended plays, six live discs, one demo album, one box set, and several videos on major record labels such as Nuclear Blast. As one of the earliest internationally successful Christian death metal bands from Australia, they served as an inspiration for later similar groups.
...And Oceans, previously known as Havoc Unit and Festerday, is a metal band from Finland. It was formed in 1989 as a death metal band, but soon changed its style to symphonic black metal. It released its first album as ...and Oceans in 1998, and in the following years it pursued a less traditional, more industrial-oriented direction.
Xentrix are an English thrash metal band from Preston, Lancashire. The band were formed in 1984 under the name Sweet Vengeance. They changed their name to Xentrix in 1988, and released four albums – Shattered Existence (1989), For Whose Advantage? (1990), Kin (1992) and Scourge (1996) – before splitting up in 1997. After briefly reuniting in 2005–2006, Xentrix reunited once again in 2013, and they have since released two more albums: Bury the Pain (2019) and Seven Words (2022). As part of the underground metal scene of the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, Xentrix have been referred to as one of the "big four" of English thrash metal, along with Acid Reign, Onslaught and Sabbat.
Dew-Scented was a German thrash and death metal band. They have released eight studio albums and were last signed to Metal Blade Records (Europe) and Prosthetic Records. Their name is inspired by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe.
Red Harvest is a Norwegian industrial metal band from Oslo. Their 2002 album Sick Transit Gloria Mundi was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen) and an alternative Grammy in the "Best Metal Album" category. Formed in 1989, they have released eight albums, two EPs, one live DVD, a split album with Zyklon, and a compilation album.
Roxx Gang was an American glam metal band formed in 1982 in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was fronted by Kevin Steele, who formed the band along with guitarist Eric Carrell.
Crimson Thorn is an American Christian death metal band. According to Allmusic, they are "surely one of the world's most extreme-sounding Christian metal bands". Crimson Thorn has performed at Cornerstone Festival and Sonshine Festival. They have also been featured in HM Magazine.
Justin Foley is an American musician and the drummer of the metalcore band Killswitch Engage. He is also a former member of the band Blood Has Been Shed along with Killswitch Engage's former lead singer, Howard Jones.
Attitude Adjustment is an American crossover thrash band from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their debut album, American Paranoia, is considered to be an early "crossover" between hardcore punk and thrash metal.
Grand Belial's Key (GBK) is a black metal band founded in Oakton, Virginia, in 1992 by guitarist Gelal Necrosodomy and vocalist Lord Vlad Luciferian. Lord Vlad Luciferian was later ejected from the group due to internal differences. To date the band has released four full-length albums.
Impious is a Swedish thrash/death metal band.
Sadist is a death metal band from Genoa, Italy, founded in January 1991. They made their debut with a Black Screams EP in 1991, followed by three albums. The band went on a hiatus after releasing the album Lego in 2000. They reunited in 2005 and released their self-titled album in 2007, followed by the release of a further three albums since then. In total, the band has released nine albums and one EP. They are currently signed to Scarlet Records. Guitarist and keyboardist, Tommy Talamanca, has been a constant feature throughout the band's existence, as the main composer and co-producer of their musical output. Trevor Nadir has been the main vocalist of the band since 1996.
Defiance is an American thrash metal band from Oakland, California. They played a technical style of thrash originally evoking bands like Testament, though they would later move on to playing in their own unique, more progressive thrash style. After dissolving in 1995, they reformed in 2005 and released their fourth studio album The Prophecy in late 2009. They broke up once again in 2012, but announced yet another reunion in September 2019.
Seventh Angel are an English Christian metal band that formed in 1987 in Halesowen, West Midlands. The band was known for its combination of doom metal and thrash metal. The band initially released two albums, The Torment (1990) and Lament for the Weary (1992), before disbanding; these records achieved mainstream distribution through the Music for Nations label, making Seventh Angel label mates with such groups as Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. The Daily Telegraph called Seventh Angel "one of the leading Christian thrash metal bands in Great Britain."
Demolition Hammer is an American thrash metal band from the Bronx, New York, active from 1986 to 1995 and again since 2016. To date, the band has released three full-length studio albums: Tortured Existence (1990), Epidemic of Violence (1992) and Time Bomb (1994).
Hogan's Heroes was an American hardcore punk band formed in New Jersey in 1984. During their time they recorded three full lengths for California label New Red Archives. The band broke up in 1993.
