Oct 01 2022
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14 Best Swedish Metal Bands Of All Time

By David Presley
14 Best Swedish Metal Bands Of All Time

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In this blog post, we mention some of the best Swedish metal bands of all time.  Some of them have pioneered the Swedish metal scene. Whether it’s Power metal or melodic death metal, they’ve helped establish the Swedish metal sound and feature some of their most adventurous music to date. Despite maintaining busy schedules with their respective bands, they’ve established a rabid fan base that have sustained them well over their music career.

1. Sabaton

Sabaton is a Swedish power metal band from Falun. The band’s main lyrical themes are based on war, historical battles, and acts of heroism—the name is a reference to a sabaton, knight’s foot armor. In 2002, a new album was recorded. Metalizer was supposed to be distributed by Underground Symphony as the band’s debut album, but after two years of waiting, during which the band held various performances across Sweden, the album was abandoned. The band became increasingly successful across Europe, witnessed on 2011’s live album, World War Live: Battle Of The Baltic Sea, featuring a dozen tracks and ten different countries.

  • Band formation: 1999
  • Genres: Power metal, Heavy metal
  • Best album: Carolus Rex (2012)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 2.6 million

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2. Amaranthe

Sweden’s Amaranthe is a metalcore band known for their mix of melodic pop and death metal. Formed in 2008, Amaranthe features several vocalists, with Elize Ryd and Jake E handling most of the soaring, clean vocals and Andreas Solveström taking care of the harsher, throatier vocal parts. In May 2009, the band was forced to change their name from Avalanche due to legal issues. The project took more shape when singers Elize Ryd and Andy Solveström signed on, as did drummer Morten Løwe Sørensen. The band’s debut album, Amaranthe’ was released in 2011 and reached a peak position of 35 in Sweden and 16 in Finland.

  • Band formation: 2008
  • Genres: Metalcore, Power metal, Melodic death metal, Symphonic metal, Pop metal
  • Best album: Amaranthe (2011)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 1.4 million

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3. Amon Amarth

Amon Amarth is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Tumba, Sweden and takes its name from the Sindarin translation of Mount Doom, a location in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. One of the most respected and consistent forces in the melodic death metal scene, Sweden’s Amon Amarth emerged in the early ’90s with a sound that infused traditional scorched-earth Scandinavian death metal with Viking history and lore.

  • Band formation: 1992
  • Genres: Melodic death metal
  • Best album: Twilight of the Thunder God (2008)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 1.3 million

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4. Arch Enemy

Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup from Halmstad. The band’s debut, entitled Black Earth was recorded at Studio Fredman. It obtained a fair amount of success in Japan, achieving MTV rotation with their first single “Bury Me an Angel”, as well as moderate success in Sweden. The band takes a straight-ahead approach to death metal reminiscent of Entombed or late-period Carcass, blending catchy, classic-style metal riffs with crushing grooves for an intense yet accessible sound.

  • Band formation: 1995
  • Genres: Melodic death metal
  • Best album: Burning Bridges (1999)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 1.1 million

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5. HammerFall

HammerFall is a heavy/power metal band from Sweden, formed by Oscar Dronjak and Jesper Strömblad, then members of Ceremonial Oath. One of the leading lights of the Euro-metal resurgence in the mid to late 1990s, Sweden’s Hammerfall helped to re-popularize melodic power metal. Their debut album Glory to the Brave proved a considerable success for the band, paving the way for later successes.

  • Band formation: 1993
  • Genres: Power metal, Heavy metal
  • Best album: Threshold (2006)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 1 million

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6. Soilwork

Soilwork is a Swedish melodic death metal band formed in late 1995, originally under the name Inferior Breed in Helsingborg, Sweden. Surfacing in 1997 with a five-track demo, In Dreams We Fall Into The Eternal Lake, Soilwork commenced with four individuals, expanding members prior to their first full-length release. Debuting in 1998 with the uncompromising Steel Bath Suicide, the group hit their stride in 2005 with the release of their metalcore-leaning sixth full-length effort, Stabbing the Drama, which saw them crystallize their sound and helped break them overseas.

  • Band formation: 1995
  • Genres: Melodic death metal, Alternative metal
  • Best album: The Living Infinite (2013)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 760,000

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7. Opeth

Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth’s driving force throughout the years. Since their arrival in 1990 as the self-proclaimed “most evil band in the world,” Sweden’s Opeth have become one of the most influential heavy metal groups in all of Northern Europe. As the group progressed, it was very common for an Opeth live set to fly in several different musical directions and an average song lasted no less than ten minutes. The name Opeth was taken from Wilbur Smith’s novel Sunbird, and derived from Opet, a city of the moon named in the novel.

  • Band formation: 1990
  • Genres: Progressive metal, progressive death metal, progressive rock
  • Best album: Blackwater Park (2001)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 743,000

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8. Meshuggah

Meshuggah, whose name is taken from the Hebrew and Yiddish word for “crazy”, is a five-piece band from Umeå, Sweden. They combine sweeping math rock, prog, syncopated polyrhythms, and chromatic harmonies drawn from jazz, technical death metal in polymetered compositions. They are both celebrated and maligned for the creation of the “djent” metal sound. Meshuggah’s most commercially successful album, Koloss, debuted at number 17 in the USA, with first week sales of 18,342 copies. In 2006 and 2009, the band was nominated for a Swedish Grammy Award.

  • Band formation: 1987
  • Genres: Extreme metal, Progressive metal, Avant-garde metal, Technical death metal, Groove metal
  • Best album: Nothing (2002)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 644,000

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9. Avatar

The Swedish metal band, Avatar was formed in Gothenburg in 2001 by drummer John Alfredsson and vocalist Christian Rimmi as Lost Soul. Avatar were born when John Alfredsson and Jonas Jarlsby decided that their then-current positions in Lost Soul were going nowhere, so they left and regrouped under their new moniker. Eventually, Alfredsson and Jarlsby would be introduced to Johannes Eckerström, and the core of Avatar would be in place. To round out the membership and roster, Henrik Sandelin and Simon Andersson joined the fold in 2003. Stronger material and greater musical ability and determination was the corner stone in creating an underground classic that became known as 4 Reasons to Die.

  • Band formation: 2001
  • Genres: Heavy metal, Groove metal, Melodic death metal, Progressive metal, Industrial metal
  • Best album: Hunter Gatherer (2020)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 565,000

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10. Sonic Syndicate

Sonic Syndicate is a Swedish metalcore band from Falkenberg. They were formerly influenced by Swedish melodic death metal bands such as In Flames and Soilwork and American metalcore bands like Killswitch Engage and All That Remains. The band continues to prove themselves with their high energy show in the national and local scene. Perhaps most notable was this years Sweden Rock Festival teaming up with bands such as Arch Enemy, Evergrey, Entombed, Def Leppard and many more.

  • Band formation: 2002
  • Genres: Metalcore, Alternative metal, Melodic death metal
  • Best album: Only Inhuman (2007)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 341,000

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11. Bloodbound

Bloodbound is 6 piece heavy metal band founded in 2004 by Fredrik Bergh and Tomas Olsson. Primary influnces include classic heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, and power metal bands such as Helloween and HammerFall. Bloodbound’s music has remained constant throughout their career, never straying very far from a traditional heavy metal base with power and symphonic metal accoutrements.

  • Band formation: 2004
  • Genres: Power metal, Heavy metal
  • Best album: Creatures of the Dark Realm (2021)
  • Spotify monthly listeners: over 300,000

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Honorable Mentions

  • Dark Tranquillity
  • Katatonia
  • Therion
  • Candlemass
  • Dissection
  • Bloodbath
  • At the Gates
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