The Teutonic Terror tour is coming to Toronto TONITE!!!, 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. 
1. Accept
Hailing from Solingen, a knife-manufacturing city in Western Germany, Accept burst onto the scene in ’79 with a self-titled album clearly inspired by AC/DC. But they broke out with ’81′s Breaker, and paved the way for thrash metal with the double-kick drumming of “Fast as a Shark” on their Restless and Wild album. After Balls to the Wall broke big in ’84, they went towards a more commercial sound, which led to the band’s downfall in ’89, though they’d reappear once again in the early 90′s. After a few on-and-off reunions for festival gigs and the like, pint-sized singer Udo Dirkschneider bowed out of the band, to be replaced by American Mark Tornillo–and they hardly missed a beat. Their comeback album, Blood of the Nations, released in 2010, is one of this decade’s finest examples of traditional heavy metal, and follow-up effort Stalingrad sure ain’t too shabby either, though IMO it lacks a fist-raising anthem like its predecessor’s “Teutonic Terror,” a song so good, they named the tour after it. Here’s the music video to getcha in the mood for tonite…
