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14 Best German Metal Bands Of All Time


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    In this blog post, we mention some of the best German metal bands of all time. These are some of Germany’s biggest rock exports, featuring extreme-loving heavy metal industrialists who combine theatrics with power.

    1. Scorpions

    Scorpions is a rock band from Hannover, Germany that was formed in 1965. Best known for their 1982 hit “No One Like You” and the 1984 anthem “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” German rockers the Scorpions have sold over 100 million records, making them one of the most successful rock bands to ever come out of Continental Europe. Scorpions is one of the most successful acts in heavy metal and hard rock in history as well as, by far, the most successful German rock band in the U.K. and the U.S.

    • Band formation: 1965
    • Genres: Hard rock, Heavy metal, Glam metal
    • Best album: Blackout (1982)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 12 million

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    2. Rammstein

    Rammstein is a German metal band which was formed in 1994, in Berlin. The Neue Deutsche Härte band burst onto the international radar in the late ’90s with their breakthrough sophomore set, 1997’s Sehnsucht, and its accompanying hit single “Du Hast.” With their aggressive blend of heavy metal riffs, dramatic orchestration, and synth-forward electronic production, the band quickly evolved from a sonic novelty into a reliably hard-hitting machine that never shied away from controversy. The band is widely accepted as part of the Neue Deutsche Härte scene, alongside bands such as Oomph! and Die Krupps. Their songs are performed almost exclusively in German.

    • Band formation: 1994
    • Genres: Neue Deutsche Härte, Industrial metal, Gothic metal, Hard rock
    • Best album: Mutter (2001)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 8.5 million

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    3. Accept

    Accept is a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen (NRW), Germany and originally assembled in the early 1970s by Udo Dirkschneider. One of Germany’s earliest and best speed metal bands, their brutal riffs and aggressive tempos exemplified on the 1983 smash “Balls to the Wall.” Through the distinctive vocal stylings of Udo Dirkschneider, the band forged an instantly recognizable sound and were notorious as one of the decade’s fiercest live acts.

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    4. Helloween

    Helloween is a power/heavy/speed metal band from Germany founded in 1978 by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool, as Gentry. Alongside Switzerland’s Celtic Frost and Sweden’s Bathory, Germany’s Helloween are possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the ’80s. They crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal. The group hit their commercial peak in the late ’80s with the release of the two-volume Keeper of the Seven Keys, which helped make them the benchmark by which most every power metal band is measured.

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    5. Powerwolf

    Powerwolf is a German power metal band founded in 2003 in Saarbrücken by members of Red Aim. They combine high-speed guitar work and thundering drums with forceful vocals and dark fantasy themes — the Roman Catholic church, werewolves, and vampires are frequent topics. The band entered the official German charts for the first time in 2009 with their third album, Bible of the Beast.

    • Band formation: 2003
    • Genres: Power metal, Heavy metal
    • Best album: Bible of the Beast (2009)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 1 million

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    6. Blind Guardian

    Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld (NRW), Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. They emerged from western Germany in the mid-’80s with a style that fused gothic- and fantasy-tinged European power metal with the velocity and technical precision of speed metal. Since debuting in 1988 with the thrashy and raw Battalions of Fear, the band has become an institution in power, progressive, and neo-classical metal circles, delivering genre classics.

    • Band formation: 1984
    • Genres: Power metal, Symphonic metal, Progressive metal, Speed metal, Thrash metal
    • Best album: Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 850,000

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    Interview with Blind Guardian — “We wanted to define a new Blind Guardian sound.”

    7. Avantasia

    Avantasia, from Germany, is the side-project of Edguy singer Tobias Sammet, founded in 1999. He crafted the name by combining the words “avalon” and “fantasia,” which he described as “a world beyond human imagination.” Each album in the Avantasia catalog offers a different concept and narrative articulated by a core group and a plethora of guests. Avantasia’s always-sold-out tours are grand events utilizing not only a large cast of metal musicians, but also symphony orchestras and elaborate light and stage sets.

    • Band formation: 1999
    • Genres: Symphonic metal, Power metal, Progressive metal, Hard rock
    • Best album: The Metal Opera (2001)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 750,000

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    8. Kreator

    Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen (NRW), Germany. Originally started off under as ‘Metal Militia’, then as ‘Tyrant’ and later as ‘Tormentor’ before permanently deciding for Kreator in 1982. Kreator’s career also mirrored speed metal’s rising and waning fortunes: moving from strength to strength throughout the ’80s and culminating in two now-classic albums, 1989’s Extreme Aggression and the following year’s Coma of Souls. Initially playing a thrash metal with Venom influences, their style of music is similar to that of their compatriots Destruction and Sodom, which are considered the other two big teutonic thrash metal bands from Germany.

    • Band formation: 1982
    • Genres: Thrash metal, Speed metal, Industrial metal
    • Best album: Pleasure To Kill (1986)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 650,000

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    9. Edguy

    Neo-classical metal band Edguy were formed in Fulda, Germany in 1992 by then-students Tobias Sammet, Jens Ludwig, Dominik Storch, and Dirk Sauer. Although they were only 14 at the time, the young bandmembers worked on original material, and by 1994 they had released two demos. These early recordings were sent out to various record companies to no avail. They then self-released their debut album, Savage Poetry, in 1995. In 1999, Theater of Salvation was released. That same year frontman Tobias Sammet conceived the idea for the Avantasia project, a metal opera featuring well known vocalists and musicians from the rock and metal scene. Whilst Tobias focused on Avantasia, the band took the opportunity to re-record Savage Poetry, to make it widely available to newer fans, as the original had become a much sought after rarity.

    • Band formation: 1992
    • Genres: Power metal, Neoclassical metal, Hard rock
    • Best album: Mandrake (2001)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 400,000

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    10. Equilibrium

    Equilibrium is a metal band from Munich, Germany, founded in 2001. They released a very positively acclaimed demo at the beginning of 2003, which brought them a record deal with the label Black Attakk. The members of the band include René Berthiaume, Hati, Robse and Dom. From day one Equilibrium is known for melodic metal, powerful yet playful, heavy yet sensitive, inspired yet self-contained tunes.

    • Band formation: 2001
    • Genres: Symphonic black metal, Folk metal, Pagan metal
    • Best album: Sagas (2008)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 400,000

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    11. Warlock

    A German heavy metal music band from Düsseldorf, originally assembled in late 1982.
    Warlock spent most of the year of 1983 playing in different German clubs, eventually building a steady fan base. The music of Warlock was more heavy metal oriented in the beginning of the 80’s, with “Burning the Witches” album, but soon going more to a hard rock style after “Hellbound”. Their influences were from the 70’s hard/heavy metal, N.W.O.B.H.M. and German bands such as Scorpions and Accept.

    • Band formation: 1982
    • Genres: Heavy metal, Speed metal, Power metal
    • Best album: Triumph and Agony (1987)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 400,000

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    12. J.B.O.

    A satirical metal act from Erlangen, Germany, J.B.O. (originally known as the James Blast Orchester, but the band had to change its name to the abbreviated form due to a legal matter) formed in 1989. The band got its start and came to popularity with satirical and humorous cover versions of rock and disco. Their first major release Laut! was published in 1997. It climbed up to number 13 in the German LP-Charts.

    • Band formation: 1989
    • Genres: Comedy metal, Parody music, Heavy metal
    • Best album: Explizite Lyrik (1995)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 400,000

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    13. OOMPH!

    Oomph! is a German rock band from Wolfsburg, formed in 1989 who pioneered the Neue Deutsche Härte movement. Hailed as pioneers of the German “tanz metal” (dance metal) scene and heavily influencing late-’90s acts like Rammstein, Oomph! were arguably one of the most controversial, influential, and popular German goth-industrial bands to emerge in the early ’90s. In spite of their importance to the German industrial scene, however, Oomph! didn’t break into the mainstream until the early 2000s. OOMPH! know how to combine the cool electronic world with earthy Rock: a kind of human music machine with powerful and extremely varied arrangements.

    • Band formation: 1989
    • Genres: Neue Deutsche Härte, Industrial rock, Industrial metal, EBM (early)
    • Best album: GlaubeLiebeTod (2006)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 350,000

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    14. In Extremo

    In Extremo (Latin: At the Edge) is a German medieval metal band originating from Berlin. They deliver a powerful, melody-driven amalgam of folk and heavy metal that incorporates a standard hard rock lineup of vocals, guitar, bass, and drums, in addition to folk instruments from the middle ages like bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, harp, and shawm. Versions of well-known traditional/medieval ballads make up the main part of their repertoire, but the band has written an increasing share of original material in recent years. Their own material is written in German, whilst the traditional songs and cover songs are in a variety of languages.

    • Band formation: 1995
    • Genres: Medieval metal, Folk metal, Folk rock, Neo-Medieval music
    • Best album: Verehrt Und Angespien (1999)
    • Spotify monthly listeners: over 350,000

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