Top 10 Best Groove Metal Bands

The Top Ten
1 Pantera Pantera was an American Heavy Metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul. The band started out as a Glam Metal act in the 1980s with little success. After discarding their original lead vocalist and enlisting Phil Anselmo, the band signed a major record deal with Warner Music Group via Atco Records. Around this time, Pantera would undergo a major change in their musical direction, discarding their Glam Metal image in favor of a more more Thrash Metal esque reputation. Their Thrash influences would eventually be seen as influences for Groove Metal ...read more.

Always will be #1. No band has achieved what they did with how heavy they got. Metallica (though not groove) got lighter with each album. Pantera got heavier each one and still maintained their groove bad-assery. Their riffs make ya move and are catchy as hell. Most real lyrical content. Vinnie's machine gun drumming and constant tempo grooves. Phil's intense and diverse vocal performance. Dime's soaring soulful guitar solos and skull crushing, gut-ripping riffs. Rex's perfect tone and support over Vinnie's drumming and under Dime's guitar wizardry. Pantera were not the the blueprint for groove metal but all of modern metal. No one comes near as close to them. Getcha pull. Pantera forever m/.

How great it is to see Pantera first again. They own Lamb of God and every other groove metal band, just because they INVENTED IT. Exhorder might have invented the sound, but Pantera shaped it and made perfect. Also they never sold out, and all of their groove albums were good (excluding Reinventing the Steel).
Besides, Machine Head should be above LoG. I like LoG but come on! Machine Head kicks asses while LoG is leaning towards metalcore (read: music for 15 year old girls who want to say they listen to metal)

I am an all-time Die Hard Pantera Fan. And I approve this amazing band. With Phil's amazing vocals, Dime's astonishing guitar riffs, Rex's bass riffs and Vinnie's drumming, it all makes up songs that define Groove Metal. Each song has a remarkable meaning.
Rest In Peace Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. You and your legendary reputation live in another dimension.

Come on, they're ten times better than Lamb of God. They might have gotten their inspiration from Exhorder, but Pantera took groove metal into the mainstream, and flew it to new heights. From Cowboys to Vulgar to Far to Great to Official to Reinventing, they were giants.

2 Lamb of God Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1994, the group consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler.

Don't get me wrong pantera is awesome. But I think LoG over took them. they have stayed true to their sound for two decades now. All a person has to do is die and they get thrusted to the spotlight. look at MJ he was regarded as a creepy pedo his whole life. once he died you don't hear jokes cracked as much any more and mostly good now.

I do acknowledge that Pantera is the one who brought groove to popularity, but I have one word for you--Ruin. The energy of that song at the live shows, or even listening to it at home with headphones on is unbelievable, especially after Chris' god-like drum fill, and the tempo just ramps up. I have many many Pantera songs in my library, but personally, I feel that the energy of Pantera doesn't match that of LoG. Just my opinion.

What is slipknot doing on this list? Their a great band and I love them to death but they are NOT groove metal, that retard needs to learn he's music. Oh and Lamb Og God and Devildriver are the best I voted for LOG because I have been listening to them longer than devildriver. Bot are amazing bands. In no particualr order these are the best in groove metal

1. Lamb of god
2. Devildriver
3. Machine head
4. Pantera
5. Damageplan

This is my first groove metal band.. Don't know about pantera.. And all below... The vocals and the drum work is different and amazing.. Guitar riffs makes you jump like anything.. Try out their "walk with me in hell" for vocals and guitar
And try "laid to rest" for drum work...

3 Machine Head Machine Head is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California. Formed on October 12, 1991, the group was founded by vocalist and guitarist Robb Flynn and bassist Adam Duce. They have received great critical success especially for their album "The Blackening" which is considered a modern metal masterpiece.

You know, Pantera created Groove Metal but Machine Head took it to another level. You can't compare 'The Blackening' or 'Burn My Eyes' albums with any other groove metal albums.

"Burn my Eyes"
"Unto the Locust"
"The Blackening"
"Supercharger"
It is one of several bands whom I really like listenning to. They are tought and melodic at the same time. Unbeliavablelylely cool

All these top ten bands are very good metal bands, but the blackening album has pushed it to the next stage

Probably better than lamb of god but I love both.

4 Sepultura Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Their first album, Morbid Visions presented a proto-black metal sound with Wagner Lamounier of Sarcófago. Sepultura's sound varies by the album, from thrash metal, groove metal, and even death metal.

Sepultura is SO much better than most of these bands. Pantera is awesome. Lamb of God us deathcore, Machine Head is technical thrash, DevilDriver is cool, and 5FDP is metalcore.

Ridiculously groovy, fantastic lyrics, great energy, the Cavalera brothers take name, and set the bar for many bands to come.

With or Without Cavalera Brothers, still the best! I really like Derrick Green! Can't say the same of the drummers after Igor...

All hail the Calavera brothers! I agree with the guy who said that Sepultura isn't Sepultura anymore, I miss the days of Roots Bloody Roots...

5 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.

This is the band that got me into metal music. As much as I respect other death/groove metal bands (the subgenres that seem to appeal to me the most), I have to say Gojira is my favourite by far. I like them better than Pantera and Lamb of God, for example. Their rhythm is as good as flawless and their style is unique, heavy and very technically advanced for just four people in my opinion.

This by far one of the best metal bands of all time. The guitar is meticulous as is the double bass drums, amazing band, and the sound that comes from only 4 band members, simply addicting, I can listen to every album every day and still shake my ass to them, From Mars to Sirius and L'Enfant Sauvage are the top 2 in my opinion, but love all of the same. No other band comes close to their sound either.

My brother listened to metal all his life and I just couldn't understand it. One day I accompanied him to a Metallica concert where Gojira was the opening for Metallica. Gojira was so awesome that now I can't stop listening to them and my appetite for groove metal keeps increasing everyday. Gojira best band ever.

Groundbreaking and brave. Super tight live and combines a lot of elements from my already favourite bands. Mario is an absolute machine on the drums and joe is a monster frontman. The albums are transcending and beautifully recorded. If you haven't heard from mars to sirius. You must. Simple.

6 Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, often shortened to Five Finger or Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada. Formed in 2005, the band's name comes from the kung fu movie The Five Fingers of Death.

My favorite metal band ever. They manage to be fast and heavy and still vary their music every few seconds. They also manage to be on the heavier side of metal without resorting to screaming through every song. Ivan Moody's incredible vocals are what set FFDP above bands like Sepultura and DevilDriver...in my opinion. He screams when it counts, and only when it counts. That combination of fast, hard, varied metal and mix of screamed/sung vocals is also the recipe that sent Pantera and Slipknot (sorta) to the top of the heap. I wish more 'any'-core metal bands would take notice and produce recognizable vocals.
And a final note: nearly all 3-4 minute songs. Not 5-6. It's wonderful.

Does this band compare to other amazing groove metal bands like Pantera or Lamb of God? Nope. But are they still one of the best groove metal bands out there? Hell yeah. Sure, they may have lost some of their groove metal edge with later albums, but I still really enjoyed them. But it was songs like "Never Enough", "Under and Over It", "Hard to See", and "Lift Me Up" that signified them as a great groove metal band. And like I said, they may not compare to others like Pantera or Lamb of God and they sort of did lose their edge at later albums, but I think they do deserve the #5 spot.

You can type in Five Finger Death Punch and no matter what song pops up... I personally guarantee that you'll love it. Ivan's vocals are supernatural. His range between his brutal screams and his melodic clean vocals is truly pure talent m/

One of premiers in the field of groove metal. American Capitalist has taken Groove metal to the next stage. It's an album which can be listened to over and over again.

7 Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band that was formed in 1989. During the band's career, it has released nine full-length albums and has evolved through a succession of styles, including industrial metal, death metal, groove metal, and thrash metal.

Awesome band. Reinvented metal in the 90s, bludgeoning a stagnant scene. Between FF, Sepultura and Pantera, the genre we all love has been given New life.

They are just an awesome band, full of heavy riffs, and skullcrushing drums and base.

One of the best in my opinion.

8 Black Label Society Black Label Society is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1998 by Zakk Wylde.

I like Pantera a lot, but they're way overrated. BLS is definitely my fave groove metal. And they excel at bluesy stuff too.

The ultimate groove metal band. Should be number one, they are in my book.

9 DevilDriver DevilDriver are an American heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, guitarists Mike Spreitzer and Neal Tiemann, bassist Diego "Ashes" Ibarra and drummer Austin D'Amond.

One of the most underrated bands among the heavy guns... They are newcomers compared to other established metal bands; but they're grooves are so edible and they never lack the punch!

Dez Fafara and his brotha are amazing the way they play slow to heavy metal, listening DD its like you're unleashing something that will destroy others.

Awesome Brutal Drumming
Heavy Riffs and awesome brutal solos
Great vocals...
All over one the of most brutal stuffs in groove metal

Newer albums lack the grit of the older ones, I recommend starting with The Fury of Our Makers Hand.

10 White Zombie White Zombie was an American heavy metal band that formed in 1985. Based in New York City, White Zombie was originally a noise rock band, and was known for its later heavy metal-oriented sound.

People like to say that Exhorder were the first groove metal band. And while they had demos in the 80s, they didn't get into the groove metal style into the 1990s. Hell I could barely call their first album groove metal. White Zombie had a EP release in 1989, a year before Exhorder's first album.

I believe putting this band below FFDP is a true sin. Satan is disappointed... or something like that. At least make this band higher than Rob, since this IS his band-

I believe Rob Zombie and or the White Zombie is the standard for this genre.

Uhh... They 1988 EP was the first groove metal album in my opinion. They should be in the top 3 no matter what.

The Contenders
11 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, especially the drumming. They released their most recent album, “The Violent Sleep of Reason” on October 7th, 2016. Meshuggah's line-up consists of founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, who joined in 1990, rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who joined in 1992 and bassist Dick Lövgren since 2004.

This list is so bad, why is slipknot on the list. They are just a scene band that inspired from the worst genre of music, crossover thrash and then made it worse by adding emo lyrics and ripped off korn and sepultura.
However these guys are the most technical out of the lot, I will have to admit that LoG and Fear factory are heavier because they inspired off death metal but these guys and Pantera influenced off thrash metal which is far superior.

Really underrated they should be in top tens amazing drum skills and guitar lines and the vocals are awesome! But lamb of god is my favourite groove metal band and gojira comes to 2nd place pantera is too overrated for being best groove metal band.. And also Slipknot ain, t Groove metal they are Nu-metal and Heavy Metal..

Is everyone who voted on this list completely daft? Meshuggah plays some of the hardest, bone breaking grooves I have ever heard. Listen to "The Demons Name Is Surveillance" then get back here and change your vote.

Top 3 bands.
1. Meshuggah
2. Gojira
3 Lamb of God
I love tomas haake's drumming, especially in Koloss. Why aren't they at the top?

12 Corrosion of Conformity Corrosion of Conformity is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina formed in 1982. For almost the majority of its existence, the band has consisted of guitarist Woody Weatherman, bassist Mike Dean, drummer Reed Mullin and vocalist and rhythm guitarist Pepper Keenan.

Most awesome old school band ever! And their album Animosity sounds so original and vocals sound amazing

13 Volbeat Volbeat are a Danish heavy metal band formed in Copenhagen in 2001. They play a fusion of rock and roll, heavy metal and rockabilly.

Really they are growing in desert of metal music... whatever, now all metal fans need to new creation in music composing, I know that Volbeat stoles many riffs from other metal monsters, but they did the best with them... I hop see them greater than now, because they can do that;)
Lovely band with nice vocal... hail Polsen

Sounds like Elvis and Johnny Cash meets Metallica. Great use of harmonies vocally and instrumentally. Has a classic rock and metal fusion sound that can't and shouldn't be ignored.

I like Volbeat but to have them in the top 10 Groove Metal bands sounds ridiculous. Again I'm not saying they suck or anything because they are a good hard rock band

I don't mean to sound like a dick, but volbeat is as metal as linkin park. They have good song but saying there #1. Terrible review

14 Chimaira Chimaira was an American alternative metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1998, the group was a notable member of the New Wave of American Alternative Metal scene.

Chimaira features energizing and neck-breaking grooves as well as recognizable influences from thrash metal in most of their songs, which makes them a god-tier groove metal band.

Simply amazing. Perfect groove metal band. No one got even close to them. Question should be "Best 9 groove metal bands after Chimaira".

Chimaira are simply beast. If you're looking for the best brutal groove metal band, you have found them!

My favorite band

15 Nevermore Nevermore is an American progressive metal band from Seattle, Washington. Formed in 1991, they are known to incorporate elements from various styles such as power metal, modern hard rock, classic heavy metal and technical thrash metal. The band has been on hiatus since 2011, due to personal issues between the band members.

Warrel Dane is one of the best metal vocalists to grace this earth in recent years. Jeff Loomis is a monster at guitar. What more needs to be said? Nevermore should be on this list.

16 Byzantine
17 Exhorder Exhorder is an American metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana. They are credited as the purveyors of the groove-oriented thrash sound later made famous by bands such as Pantera, Lamb of God, White Zombie, and Machine Head.

I absolutely agree, Exhorder should definitely be #1 with Pantera and Fear Factory as # 2 and 3 in that order. The song (Cadence of) The Dirge from The Law 1992 was ahead of its time and still blows my mind... I truly regret that there won't be a new Exhorder album this year. Exhorder was ahead of its time period, they could have definitely become one of the greats. In my opinion they still are for founding the genre and feel.

Exhorder should be #1, or at least in the top 5, though I can see why they're not. unfortunately, not a lot of people have heard them, so the cowboys from hell get the spot, which I can't get mad at

Exhorder for the Real Metal Heads.
Others for Posers or Doesn't know the roots.

Half of the people who voted above shouldn't even be allowed to listen to music. FFDP...Really?

18 Crowbar Crowbar is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana, characterized by their extremely slow, low-keyed, heavy and brooding songs that also contain fast hardcore punk passages.
19 Hellyeah Hellyeah is an American heavy metal supergroup, consisting of Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray, former Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell, bass player Kyle Sanders, guitarist Christian Brady and former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul.

HellYeah 's Blood For Blood is some of the best I've heard since Pantera's Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display Of Power. Chad Gray can scream like no other, and his vocals have grown tremendously since Mudvayne. HellYeah puts on a kick ass live show! They should definitely be in the top 10!

Blood for Blood is out of control. Nothing like Demons in the Dirt. Scratch a lie off Undeniable is also kick ass. They should be top 10. They are my number 1.

Way, way too low. Easy top 10 its Chad Grey & Vinnie Paul (rest in peace) for Christ sake!

I love hellyeah but I think hellyeah is more hillbilly metal? Or country metal as weird as that sounds

20 Mastodon Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in early 2000 and composed of bassist Troy Sanders, guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor.
21 Helmet Helmet is an American alternative metal band from New York City formed in 1989. Founded by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamilton, Helmet has had numerous lineup changes, and Hamilton has been the only constant member.
22 Prong

Prong was first jackass

The original inventor of groove metal, everyone else followed

23 Anthrax Anthrax is an American thrash metal band from New York City, formed in 1981 by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker.
24 Slipknot Slipknot is an American metal band formed in Des Moines, Iowa in 1996. The band is best known as one of the pioneers of the New Wave of American Alternative Metal during the late 1990s - 2000s and are distinguishable by the band's clothing choices, consisting of black/red jumpsuits and horror inspired masks. ...read more.

Perosonally I like Slipknot I love the crunchy sound, the aggressive lyrics and vocals, they write their songs angry, they record the songs angry. But they also have a softer sound showed in Snuff, Vermillion PT.2 and If Rain Is What You Want. BUT...they aren't really groove metal. They are one of the best Nu Metal bands out there like Disturbed, System of a Down, A Perfect Circle, Cane Hill, Deftones, Tool(they're alternative progressive metal and nu metal is a derivative of alternative metal so it counts) and Rage Against The Machine(that's right I said they're nu metal sue me).

Slipknot, pioneers of groove metal? Best band in the world? You must've been born after 1999, slipknot is pop nu metal, and corey taylor is a diva, and they don't even belong a mention on this list, never mind in the top 20, gimme a break... some peoples' kids

Slipknot is the best groove metal group they should be on top. They are one of the pioneers of this genre. They are one of the definitions of this genre.

What. Who said that Corey tyler is a diva. you must have not heard his brutal metalic voice. He screams like a Godzilla. He even knows fast paced rapping too. He is an awesome singer.

25 Primus Primus is an American funk metal band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander. Les Claypool is regarded as one of the best bassists of all time for his slap-bass ability in notable songs like "My Name Is Mud", "The Toys Go Winding Down", and "Jerry Was a Racecar Driver".
8Load More
PSearch List