Ronnie James Dio, one of heavy metal's most influential vocalists, was born Ronald James Padavona on July 10, 1942, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and raised in Cortland, New York. He first reached wide recognition fronting RAINBOW alongside guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, then stepped into BLACK SABBATH in 1979, replacing Ozzy Osbourne and reviving the band's fortunes with the classic albums "Heaven and Hell" (1980) and "Mob Rules" (1981). He later founded his own band, DIO, scoring platinum success with "Holy Diver" (1983) and popularizing the "devil horns" hand gesture across the genre. Renowned for his commanding four-octave range and medieval, sword-and-sorcery lyrical themes, Dio also reunited with SABBATH as HEAVEN & HELL in the 2000s. He died of stomach cancer on May 16, 2010, at age 67, having left an indelible mark on metal as both vocalist and songwriter.

English extreme metal band CRADLE OF FILTH released their eleventh studio album, "Hammer of the Witches," on July 10, 2015, marking their debut for Nuclear Blast Records after leaving Peaceville. Named after the infamous 15th-century witch-hunting manual "Malleus Maleficarum," the album continued the band's signature blend of symphonic black metal, gothic atmosphere, and theatrical horror imagery, with lyrics drawing on witchcraft persecution and occult mythology. It featured a stable lineup built around founding vocalist Dani Filth, guitarists Marek "Ashok" Smerda and Richard Shaw, and keyboardist Anabelle Iratni, delivering some of the band's most technically ambitious arrangements in years. Critics praised the record as a return to form after the band's more experimental late-2000s output, with reviewers highlighting its dense orchestration and Filth's distinctive rasping vocal delivery. "Hammer of the Witches" reinforced CRADLE OF FILTH's standing as one of extreme metal's most enduring and theatrical acts, two decades after their 1994 debut.

AVANTASIA, the symphonic power metal project created by EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet, released its debut album "The Metal Opera" in the United States on July 10, 2001, through Century Media Records, following an earlier European release via AFM Records. Billed as the first release to use the term "metal opera," the concept album drew its narrative from real witch trials held in Fulda and Mainz during the 16th and 17th centuries. Sammet assembled an extraordinary cast of guest vocalists to voice its characters, including Michael Kiske, Kai Hansen, Andre Matos, Timo Tolkki, David DeFeis, and Sharon den Adel. The album charted in Germany, Finland, and Sweden, and Metal Hammer later ranked it among the greatest power metal and symphonic metal albums ever made. "The Metal Opera" established the template for AVANTASIA's ongoing series of guest-heavy concept records, cementing Sammet's reputation as one of power metal's most ambitious songwriters.

Finnish folk metal band ENSIFERUM released their eighth studio album, "Thalassic," on July 10, 2020, through Metal Blade Records. Continuing the band's signature blend of melodic death metal aggression, folk-inspired melodies, and anthemic choir-style choruses, the album explored maritime and seafaring themes across its tracklist, including the title track and the multi-part epic "Rum, Women, Victory." "Thalassic" was recorded with the band's long-serving lineup built around founding guitarist and vocalist Petri Lindroos and guitarist Markus Toivonen, alongside longtime collaborators on violin, accordion, and additional folk instrumentation that gave the record its sweeping, cinematic character. Released amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the band to cancel its planned touring schedule, the album nonetheless drew strong reviews from the folk and power metal press for its songwriting consistency and production quality. "Thalassic" reaffirmed ENSIFERUM's status as one of the genre's most reliable and widely toured acts two decades into their career.

American industrial metal band STATIC-X released their seventh studio album, "Project: Regeneration Vol. 1," on July 10, 2020, their first new studio record in eleven years since "Cult of Static" (2009). The album built its songs around previously unheard vocal recordings by founding frontman Wayne Static, who died in 2014, completed and produced posthumously by longtime guitarist Tripp Eisen and bassist Tony Campos, with a new touring vocalist performing live under the alias "Xer0." Blending the band's signature "evil disco" groove with heavier, more aggressive riffing, the record served as both a tribute to Static's legacy and a continuation of the band's catalog, following the massive success of their 1999 debut "Wisconsin Death Trip." It was also the band's first release away from Warner Bros./Reprise, arriving instead via Otsego Entertainment Group through The Orchard. The project was announced as the first of a planned two-volume series completing unfinished material from the band's archives.

American melodic death metal band DARKEST HOUR released their fifth studio album, "Deliver Us," on July 10, 2007, through Victory Records. The record was produced by Devin Townsend at Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver, lending the songs a heavier, more polished production than the band's earlier metalcore-adjacent work. "Deliver Us" debuted at number 110 on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of roughly 6,600 copies, a career-best chart placement for the Washington, D.C. act at the time. It also marked the final album to feature lead guitarist Kris Norris, who departed shortly afterward. Critics responded warmly to the album's blend of Gothenburg-style melodic riffing and thrash aggression, with Alternative Press, Sputnikmusic, and Punknews.org all awarding it high marks. Fronted by vocalist John Henry, DARKEST HOUR had by then built a reputation as one of the American underground's most consistent melodic death metal acts since forming in 1995.

American metalcore band CROWN THE EMPIRE released the acoustic compilation "07102010" on July 10, 2020, through Rise Records, timing the release to the exact tenth anniversary of the date referenced in its title. That date marked the band's first-ever show, performed at Compass Church in Colleyville, Texas, in 2010. The collection reimagined songs spanning the band's catalog in stripped-down acoustic and alternative rock arrangements, blending their metalcore foundation with pop-rock sensibility, and included one previously unreleased track, "Everything Breaks," built from a demo frontman Andy Leo had recorded in 2018. Formed around vocalists Andy Leo and David Escamilla alongside guitarists Brandon Hoover and Benjamin Costello, CROWN THE EMPIRE had built a dedicated following through albums like "The Fallout" (2012) and "Retrograde" (2016). Framed by the band as a thank-you to fans for a decade of support, "07102010" showcased the songwriting versatility beneath the group's heavier studio output.

Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known as a longtime member of MEGADETH and co-founder of ANGRA, released his fifth solo album, "Open Source," on July 10, 2020. An entirely instrumental record, it showcased Loureiro's technical fusion of progressive metal, jazz, and Brazilian musical influences, following his 2012 solo effort "Sounds of Innocence." The album included the single "Overflow" and the track "Imminent Threat," which featured a guest appearance from former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman, linking two eras of the band's celebrated guitar tandem tradition. Loureiro had joined MEGADETH in 2015 following the departure of Chris Broderick, recording albums including "Dystopia" (2016) and "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" (2022) with the band while continuing to pursue instrumental solo work on the side. "Open Source" was praised within the guitar community for its technical ambition, further cementing Loureiro's reputation as one of modern metal's most versatile and accomplished lead guitarists.

On July 10, 2014, Canadian progressive thrash pioneers VOIVOD announced the second departure of bassist Jean-Yves "Blacky" Theriault, one of the band's four founding members from their 1982 formation in Jonquiere, Quebec. Theriault's dissonant chord work and unconventional tone had helped define the band's groundbreaking 1980s albums "Dimension Hatross" and "Nothingface," core texts of the sci-fi-tinged thrash sound VOIVOD pioneered alongside acts like METALLICA and CELTIC FROST. He first left the band in the early 1990s to co-found the avant-garde dance company The Holy Body Tattoo, returning to the fold in 2008 for a second run that produced the albums "Infini" (2009) and "Target Earth" (2013), on which he wrote much of the music. His 2014 exit was reported as a forced departure, and guitarist Dominic "Rocky" Laroche stepped in as his replacement, debuting on the 2015 single "We Are Connected" as VOIVOD continued its four-decade career.

Polish blackened death metal titans BEHEMOTH released "Demonica" on July 10, 2006, through Regain Records, a limited two-disc compilation issued as a 10,000-copy A5 digibook. Rather than new material, the release gathered demos and previously unreleased recordings spanning December 1992 through 2005, drawn from the band's earliest sessions including material connected to "...From the Pagan Vastlands" and "The Return of the Northern Moon," alongside re-recorded tracks from the band's later, more extreme period. Formed in Gdansk in 1991 by frontman Nergal, BEHEMOTH had by this point evolved from raw, traditional black metal into the blackened death metal style that would define landmark albums like "Demigod" and "The Apostasy." Critics gave "Demonica" a favorable reception, with AllMusic and Teraz Rock both awarding it 3.5 out of 5 stars, praising it as a valuable document of the band's formative old-school black metal years before their stylistic transformation.