Artist Highlight: Death

Key Release: Symbolic (1995)

There may have been earlier death metal bands (Possessed is often credited with being the first), but none shaped the genre with way the aptly-named Death did. The brainchild of guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, Death released its debut Scream Bloody Gore in 1986 to the shock and awe of fans who previously had thought they knew “heavy.” Full of horror-themed lyrics and sporting gruesome cover art, Death’s first three albums (Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, and Spiritual Healing) laid the blueprint for bands like Morbid Angel and Deicide who would take the genre to new popular heights.

Artist Highlight: Intronaut

Key Release: Prehistoricisms (2008)

Just when you think Intronaut can’t twist and grow any more, it knocks down another musical wall and continues on its way. This nigh-unclassifiable Californian quartet has changed the game with every release – from Meshuggah-slaying debut Void to stoner-jazz tour-de-force Valley of Smoke, every album has been different from the last and enjoyable for new reasons. It’s fascinating listening to the group’s breakthrough opus Prehistoricisms and hearing the difference between two consecutive songs; take, for instance, the meticulously planned polyrhythms and explosive drumming of “Australopithecus”, immediately followed by “The Reptile Brain,” whose impressively authentic Indian raga impression foregoes technicality entirely for an otherworldly trip into Eastern melody and meditation.