Top Ten Rock/Metal Bands not from the United States or the UK

The Top Ten
1 Rush (Canada) Rush was a Canadian progressive rock band that was formed in 1968. The band has had an iconic lineup since 1975, which included Neil Peart (Drums, Percussion), Geddy Lee (Vocals, Bass, Keyboards), and the guitarist, Alex Lifeson. Peart passed away after a 3 year battle with brain cancer in January of 2020. Because of this, Lee says there are no plans to keep the band going, so Rush is most likely defunct. The band has become one of the most well-known progressive rock bands in the world, with such albums as "2112", "Hemispheres" and "Moving Pictures". More than half of their albums have gone gold or platinum, as certified by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America).

Canadian progressive rock band

2 Blind Guardian (Germany) 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 ...read more.
3 Scorpions (Germany) Scorpions are a German rock band formed in 1965 in Hanover by Rudolf Schenker. Since the band's inception, its musical style has ranged from hard rock to heavy metal.

German hard rock /heavy metal band

4 AC/DC (Australia) AC/DC are a Australian hard rock band, formed in November 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, who continued as members until Malcolm's illness and departure in 2014 . They were fronted by Bon Scott until his untimely death due to alcohol poisoning in 1979, after which they hired Brian Johnson ...read more.
5 Annihilator (Canada) Annihilator is a Canadian thrash metal band founded in 1984 by vocalist, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, engineer, producer, mixer and mastering engineer Jeff Waters and former vocalist John Bates.
6 Santana (Mexico) Santana is an American Latin rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1967 by Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana.

Mexican latin rock band

7 Opeth (Sweden) 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 ...read more.
8 Thin Lizzy (Ireland) Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their leader Phil Lynott was composer or co-composer of almost all of the band's songs, and the first black Irishman to achieve commercial success in the field of rock music. Thin Lizzy's most successful songs, "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back in Town", were all major international hits which are still played regularly on hard rock and classic rock radio stations.

Never listened, but they're amazing.

Irish hard rock band

9 Mercyful Fate (Denmark) Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen, formed in 1981 by vocalist King Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann.

Danish heavy metal band

10 Avantasia (Germany) Avantasia is a German supergroup rock opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy.
The Contenders
11 Rammstein (Germany) Rammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte and Industrial Metal band consisting of Till Lindemann (vocals), Richard Kruspe (guitar), Paul Landers (guitar), Oliver Riedel (electric bass), Christoph Schneider (drums) and Christian Lorenz (keyboard), that formed in 1994 in Berlin .

Rammstein is one of Germany's most successful music artists, and one of the few that gained notable chart success and fame internationally. Since their debut album "Herzeleid", Rammstein's music has often been used in well known movies, including "Lost Highway", "The Matrix" and "Nymphomaniac", the first of which is often credited as the movie that brought the group to international recognition. ...read more.
12 Nightwish (Finland) 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, ...read more.
13 Three Days Grace (Canada) Three Days Grace is a Canadian post-grunge/alternative rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario in 1992 with a line-up consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer and backing vocalist Neil Sanderson, and bassist Brad Walst. Their original name was Groundswell until they changed it to ...read more.
14 X Japan (Japan) X Japan is a Japanese heavy metal band from Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi.

Japanese heavy metal band

15 Hammerfall (Sweden) HammerFall is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden. The band was formed in 1993 by ex-Ceremonial Oath guitarist Oscar Dronjak.

Swedish Power Metal Band

16 Europe (Sweden) Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm in 1979 under the name Force by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson and drummer Tony Reno.
17 Hanoi Rocks (Finland)

Finish hard rock/glam metal band

18 Ghost (Sweden) Ghost is a Swedish heavy metal band that was formed in Linköping in 2008. The band consists of five masked instrumentalists known as the Nameless Ghouls, and a demonic anti-pope known as Papa Emeritus. They have released four studio albums, one live album, and two EPs. Each album introduces a new version of Papa Emeritus... read more
19 Los Saicos (Peru)

Garage Rock band from the mid '60s Peru

20 Golden Earring (Netherlands) Golden Earring were a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as The Golden Earrings. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs "Radar Love" in 1973.
21 Mayhem (Norway) Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, regarded as one of the pioneers of the Norwegian black metal scene. The band is also known for the infamous events surrounding them including the 1991 suicide of vocalist Dead (in which former guitarist Euronymous took pictures of Dead's ...read more.
22 Accept (Germany) Accept is a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled by former vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and bassist Peter Baltes.
23 Guess Who (Canada)
24 Los Bravos (Spain)
25 Pokolgep (Hungary)
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