The Teutonic Terror tour is coming to Toronto next Wednesday, featuring Kreator and Accept.  Which got me thinking, who are the top Teutonic Terrors–the 10 best German metal bands?  Unlike, say, picking the top Japanese heavy rock bands or the best female-fronted doom troupes, there are a whole lotta options here.  I’ve even come across a couple Top 10 lists where I haven’t heard of 80 per cent of the entries…  Obviously, Germany is known for producing thrash bands in the 80′s and pumping out power metal today, but are there any German doom bands worthy of inclusion, for instance?  Well, I’ll be revealing my list over the next 10 days.  I’ve tried to keep it balanced while still highlighting the country’s strengths, but in the end, it really all comes down to personal preference.

10. Atlantean Kodex

9. Obscura

8. Tankard

7. Running Wild

6. Blind Guardian

5. Grave Digger

Another band that’s been around for ages, Grave Digger was formed in 1980, which makes them a couple years older than the monster truck of the same name.  Since then, they’ve put out 15 full-length albums, the most recent of which was released just a week ago.  But all these years later, their debut album Heavy Metal Breakdown remains a cult classic, and not just for its iconic cover art.  Some solid heavy metal in the vein of Scorpions, Running Wild and Accept, sometimes to the point of near-imitation (I’m pretty sure Grave Digger’s “Headbanging Man” and Accept’s “Flash Rockin’ Man” were cousins, while “We Wanna Rock You” sounds like a Scorps arena-rock anthem), this album announced the Grave Diggers’ presence on the international scene, distributed in Canada by the legendary Banzai Records.  Though the band went glam in the mid-80′s, ultimately changing its name to Digger, they reformed under their original moniker in the early 90′s, and have milked an epic, power-metal-tinged sound ever since.  But that’s not to say they don’t still bust out “Heavy Metal Breakdown”–here they are playing the title track at Wacken 2010: