Best European Metal Bands

The Top Ten
1 Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy Metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. The most critically acclaimed period for the band was from 1983-1989. With vocalist Bruce Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris, lead guitarist Dave Murray, rhythm guitarist Adrian ...read more.

Yes, no question it's Iron Maiden. Not only are they the most influential band, and are the inspiration for the guitar style of most good black metal bands out there, but they have the most "catchy" songs per album than any other band on earth. And because of the social structure of the music industry being what it is today there will probably never be another band like them again. I'm convinced Steve Harris' musical mind is actually blessed by God.

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.. ENOUGH SAID.
Children of bodom are good for 2nd
Opeth good for 3rd
Black Sabbath good for 4th..
Whatever how the list is ordered no better European band than Iron Maiden..
Up The Irons m/

2 Nightwish Nightwish is a symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and lead singer Tarja Turunen. It's currently formed by Tuomas, Emppu, lead vocalist Floor Jansen, bassist and vocalist Marco Hietala, multiinstrumentist and vocalist Troy Donockley, and drummer Jukka Nevalainen (currently on hiatus and replaced by Kai Hahto).

Great list this with my favourite 2 bands 1 and 2 respectively.Maiden are the greatest metal band of all time in my opinion who I've seen live 12 times but I'll vote for Nightwish as they deserve the 2nd spot and have realeased some superb albums. They were outstanding a few days ago when I saw them in Manchester.Download 2016 with these 2 top of the bill was the best festival I've been to.Priest are great to, Painkiller what an album

Only 1 band can rank higher than these and that's maiden. Holopainen and Harris are phenomenal songwriters and both have fantastic musicians in their bands and of course dynamic lead singers

Nightwish should be ranked higher. The awesome voices and the nice music.

3 Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive death metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by David Isberg, who invited Mikael Akerfeldt into the band as a bassist. Isberg ended up leaving the band, which lead to Mikael becoming the band's vocalist, guitarist, principal songwriter, and driving force. Along with Edge of Sanity, Opeth is credited with being the first progressive death metal band, although they now play progressive rock. Akerfeldt is good friends with Jonas Renkse of Katatonia, and Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.

Opeth has come with some of the best metal albums of modern era. Their songwriting and skills are beyond this world. They are one of the acts that every metal head should listen to.

Opeth is a band where you learn something new on every song.

4 Judas Priest Judas Priest are a British heavy metal band that formed in Birmingham, England, in 1969. They are often referred to as one of the greatest metal bands of all time, and are even commonly called “The Metal Gods”, after one of the songs on their 1980 album “British Steel”. ...read more.
5 Children of Bodom Children Of Bodom was a melodic death metal band from Espoo, Finland. Formed in 1993, the final lineup consisted of Alexi Laiho, Janne Wirman, Henkka Seppälä, Jaska Raatikainen and Daniel Freyberg.
6 Blind Guardian Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Heavily influenced by Queen, they use the technique of overdubbing. They also incorporate large amounts of orchestral arrangements. Hansi Kürsch creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping harmonies. Thanks to overdubs and numerous backing vocals Blind Guardian stand out with a very dense sound.

Oh come on 6th? Should be in number 2, behind Maiden. Seriously...

They certainly deserve to be much higher than #54...

7 Rhapsody
8 Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were a Heavy Metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1968 by guitarist and songwriter Tony Iommi, singer John "Ozzy" Osbourne, bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward.

The band became mainstream after improving after their debut album got panned. In 1978, Osbourne was fired and replaced with former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Who went to release 2 albums before leaving in 1983, only for Osbourne to return in 1992. ...read more.

Funny, that they are 6th, because most of the bands in the list probably wouldn't exist without Black Sabbath.

9 Meshuggah Meshuggah is a Swedish progressive metal band from Umeå, formed in 1987. They are often considered the fathers or founders of the djent metal sub genre due to their use of downtuned guitars. They are also known for their song “Bleed”, which is known for its extremely complicated instrumentation, ...read more.
10 Ensiferum Ensiferum is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal."
The Contenders
11 Amon Amarth Amon Amarth is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Tumba, formed in 1992. The band takes its name from the Sindarin name of Mount Doom.
12 Sonata Arctica Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal.
13 Stratovarius Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1984. Since their formation, they have released 16 studio albums, 4 DVD and 3 live albums.
14 Sabaton Sabaton is a power metal band from Falun, Sweden formed in 1999. The band's main lyrical themes are based on war and historical battles.
15 Within Temptation Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt.
16 Mercyful Fate Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen, formed in 1981 by vocalist King Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann.
17 Epica Epica is a Dutch symphonic metal band, founded by guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen after his departure from After Forever.
18 Vader Vader is a Polish death metal band from Olsztyn. Formed in 1983, the group was founded by then-bassist Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek and guitarist Zbigniew "Vika" Wróblewski. Starting as a heavy metal group, Vader eventually went to thrash, speed, and then in the late 1980s became a death metal band. The ...read more.
19 Gojira Gojira is a progressive metal band from Bayonne, France. The band was known as Godzilla until 2001. Gojira is composed of Joe Duplantier on vocals and rhythm guitar, his brother Mario Duplantier on drums, Christian Andreu on lead guitar, and Jean-Michel Labadie on bass.

For the record, I am adding them at #69, 4+ years after this list was created. This is pretty weird because they are one of the best bands.

20 Wintersun Wintersun is a metal band from Helsinki, Finland and was originally created by guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, songwriter and vocalist Jari Mäenpää as a side project to folk metal band Ensiferum for whom he was lead singer and guitarist.
21 Obscura Obscura is a technical/progressive death metal band from Germany, founded in 2002. The band became prominent when members of Necrophagist and Pestilence joined Steffen Kummerer to release the critically acclaimed second full-length album, Cosmogenesis. The band was named after the Gorguts album Obscura. ...read more.
22 Bullet for My Valentine Bullet for My Valentine are a Welsh metalcore band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is composed of Matthew Tuck (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Michael Paget (lead guitar, backing vocals), Michael Thomas (drums) and Jamie Mathias (bass guitar). Former members include Nick Crandle and Jason James; both were on bass. They were formed under the name Jeff Killed John and started their music career by covering songs by Metallica and Nirvana. Jeff Killed John recorded six songs which were not released; two of these tracks were reworked later in their career as Bullet for My Valentine. Financial difficulties dictated the name change, which was followed by a change in music direction. In 2002, ...read more.
23 Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen. Their style of music is similar to that of their compatriots Destruction, Sodom and Tankard; along with those three bands, Kreator has been referred to as one of the "big four" of Teutonic thrash metal, and they are often credited with helping pioneer ...read more.
24 Architects Architects is a British Metalcore band formed in 2004 in Brighton, East Sussex. Consisting of five band members, Architects' discography consists of seven studio albums and one split EP.
25 Motörhead Motörhead were an English heavy metal band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister, who was the sole constant member; guitarist and songwriter Larry Wallis; and drummer Lucas Fox. The band's harsh vocals and fast paced tempos helped inspire speed metal and thrash metal.

Yep motorhead

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