Angela Gossow

Part-American, part-Scandinavian death-metal band Dethklok has a lingering effect on its fans, who take the words seriously and do anything Dethklok lyrics say. The government fears the band's influence and sets out to destroy it by covert means; for example, by sending military pharmaceutical psychotropic drug manufacturers. Deemed sociopaths for tossing hot coffee at their concert attendees, two of the band members are alcoholics, and they all have self-esteem issues.

Swedish hard rock took its first big step abroad in the early 80s, when a young Yngwie Malmsteen sent a demo cassette across the Atlantic and became a guitar god overnight. Now Swedish hard rock bands perform all over the world on the biggest stages. This is the story of how Swedish hard rock became an export success.

Headbangers Ball (also referred to as simply The Ball) was a music television program consisting of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV, MTV2 (its sister channel), MTV Australia, MTV Rocks (formerly known as MTV2 Europe), MTV Adria (the MTV subsidiary covering the former Yugoslavia), MTV Brand New, MTV Portugal, MTV Finland, MTV Arabia, MTV Norway, MTV Sweden, MTV Denmark, MTV Greece, MTV Türkiye, MTV Israel, MTV Hungary and MTV Japan. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987,[1] playing heavy metal and hard rock music videos late at night, from both well-known and more obscure artists. The show offered (and became famous because of) a stark contrast to Top 40 music videos shown during the day. However, with the mainstream rise of alternative rock, grunge, pop punk and rap music in the 1990s, the relevance of Headbangers Ball came into question, and the show was ultimately canceled in 1995. Over eight years later, as new genres of heavy metal were gaining a commercial foothold and fan interest became unavoidable, the program was reintroduced on MTV2. It has remained in varying degrees on the network's website, but is no longer shown on television. Many of the videos that aired on the first incarnation of the series would find a home on the similarly themed Metal Mayhem on sister channel MTV Classic.

Swedish death metal greats Arch Enemy deliver a powerhouse performance in this concert that was filmed live in England at the London Forum, 17 December 2004. Selections include "Enemy Within," "Silent Wars," "Dead Bury Their Dead," "Instinct," "Savage Messiah," "The Immortal," "Snow Bound," "Ravenous," and more.

Tyrants of the Rising Sun is a DVD+CD set of Arch Enemy, released in Europe on November 24, 2008 and in North America on November 25, 2008 via Century Media. The DVD contains a live show filmed in Tokyo in early 2008, an in-depth 40 minute road-movie feature, and all promotional videos that have been shot for the band's latest studio album, Rise of the Tyrant.