10 Greatest U.K. Metal Bands [Watch]

The United Kingdom may be the world’s greatest territory for metal music, so here are our picks for the best of the best metal bands from the U.K.

For such a small country, England is disproportionately awesome when it comes to music. The country that gave us the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and countless other legends, has also been the world’s leader in heavy metal, giving birth the genre in 1970 with the almighty Black Sabbath.

Metal only expanded from there, delivering Judas Priest and Motorhead just a few years later. Once Iron Maiden came into the fold in the early ‘80s, England’s fate as metal’s most important country was sealed in granite, never to be touched even when America flourished in the ‘80s with thrash and death metal.

Extreme metal’s corpseflower also bloomed in the U.K. with Napalm Death and Carcass innovating the sound of grindcore. Of course, we wouldn’t have the term “black metal” without the iconic Venom, who personified the vision of evil within heavy metal, opening doors for fellow extreme pioneers like Cradle of Filth down the line.

The U.K. has such a storied history with heavy metal, but only 10 bands could make the cut! Check out the 10 Greatest U.K. Metal Bands in the Loud List above!

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