The search results told me this is a new idea for discussion, though I hope I'm not the only one interested in this.

Once I was wondering if every country had an original sound in metal, and also realised there are always some bands that somehow stand apart from their fellow countrymen. It's not specifically about who can hide their accents better than the rest or something. Instead I'm asking if you have ever listened to a band and only later found out about their homeland and then felt really surprised. That could be because their metal represents a completely another style that their home country isn't known to produce (such as progressive metal from Finland) or they do something familiar in a different way which is more characteristic to a band from some other country. Probably the most obvious example is Agalloch who sound far different from a typical American metal band.

Of course this thread requires you to know something about different metal scenes around the world. No one can blame you for trying, however it would be a lot safer to talk about French metal bands (for example) only after you have heard enough French metal to say which band from there is or isn't exactly like the rest of their offerings. At first I was going to advise you to avoid making stereotypes, but then I thought it over again and decided that we might actually need them. After all, this is all about stereotypes. It will result in hurt feelings and angry PMs, but stereotyping seems to be something that will keep this discussion going. It would also be interesting to see what kind of images people have about foreign metal scenes (native ones too) in an international scale.

Now make this work.

I heard a Black Metal band called Dragonlord. They are pretty good, I thought they were from Norway or something. Then, I looked at the lyrics book and their names are Eric, Steve, Lyle, Jon, and Derrick and I was like "What the fuck?" They come from the USA.

I know something better.....the oh-so-scandalous Horde with that classical Norwegian BM sound and atmosphere was also thought to hail from Norway.....so imagine the surprise of people when it turned out that Horde is from Australia.....

This is exactly what I've been thinking for a very long time.
There are some bands that imo, in their sound, represent the culture of their country, this happens specially with melodic bands, for example: Epica - Holland. Kamelot - USA. Lacrimosa - Germany.
As for bands that sound nothing like where they're from, since I almost always know the country where they come from before having heard the band, it doesn't happen often, anyways, bands that was I surprised when I knew where they come from:

- After Forever: Imo, they sound like if they had an arabic/asiatic touch in their music, almost nothing to do with european music (Except metal of course)
- HIM: At first, they sounded to me like an emo band, something that I never thought could exist in Finland
- Avrigus: I always thought that they were european, maybe from Germany, Norway or Austria, because of they deep gothic that is common to find on these countries, but they're from Australia
- Closterkeller: I thought they were from Turkey, but they're from Poland

These are the bands I remember for the moment

When I first heard Queensryche, I thought they were from Europe, but then again, I was 13

Deathstars are from Sweden but they sound soooo German with their industrial and german vocal style. And Cthonic are from Taiwan (I think), something I never expected.

Angra sound very European rather than Brazilian. Leaves' Eyes could be from the Netherlands (After Forever, Within Temptation, Epica etc) but they're German. Hellfueled sound English rather than Swedish.

Written by Daru Jericho on 17.03.2007 at 01:29

Leaves' Eyes could be from the Netherlands (After Forever, Within Temptation, Epica etc) but they're German.

I'd think that they'd be from Norway rather than The Netherlands, of course they're similar to the bands you mentioned but since Liv is norwegian, and they have the nordic touch, for example: vinland saga, norwegian lovesong, new found land, etc

Written by Warman on 17.03.2007 at 00:37

Deathstars are from Sweden but they sound soooo German with their industrial and german vocal style. And Cthonic are from Taiwan (I think), something I never expected.

Well excluding the fact that they actually use an oriental instrument they dont sound oriental

I think Lordi would be a good example. I mean, a heavy metal band from finland? hehe. that's rare, at least for me.

Written by The Alchemist on 17.03.2007 at 04:52

Written by Daru Jericho on 17.03.2007 at 01:29

Leaves' Eyes could be from the Netherlands (After Forever, Within Temptation, Epica etc) but they're German.

I'd think that they'd be from Norway rather than The Netherlands, of course they're similar to the bands you mentioned but since Liv is norwegian, and they have the nordic touch, for example: vinland saga, norwegian lovesong, new found land, etc

But pure symphonic metal bands don't really come from Norway. Proper gothic metal bands do though. I was talking about the music rather than the Nordic lyrical themes which come from the fact that Kristine is from Norway.

Written by Daru Jericho on 18.03.2007 at 01:09

Written by The Alchemist on 17.03.2007 at 04:52

Written by Daru Jericho on 17.03.2007 at 01:29

Leaves' Eyes could be from the Netherlands (After Forever, Within Temptation, Epica etc) but they're German.

I'd think that they'd be from Norway rather than The Netherlands, of course they're similar to the bands you mentioned but since Liv is norwegian, and they have the nordic touch, for example: vinland saga, norwegian lovesong, new found land, etc

But pure symphonic metal bands don't really come from Norway. Proper gothic metal bands do though. I was talking about the music rather than the Nordic lyrical themes which come from the fact that Kristine is from Norway.

I understand your point, anyways, I still think that they have the norwegian touch

A band that totally surprised me was DragonForce who are actually from New Zealand! Before moving to UK and creating the band there, they came from New Zealand! From their sound I thought they were American, so it really surprised me! The founding members originally had a Black Metal band in New Zealand called Demoniac, something that also surprised me since their sound today has nothing to do with that! This band is full of surprises!

When "Poland" and "metal" are mentioned in the same sentence, the first thoughts I get from that are Behemoth and Vader. Therefore a band like Riverside totally surprised me. I haven't investigated the scene enough, so I was wondering, are there more progressive metal/rock bands in Poland? I hope it is just me. Norway also is mostly known for black and gothic metal, so the same thing once happened with Communic.

Also, Ajattara has never seemed like a traditional Finnish metal band to me. Yes, this must sound really really weird, because their lyrics are Finnish... but if I didn't listen to the words and only heard the music, I wouldn't be able to tell which country is in question. This never was a surprise to me though, because I always knew where Ajattara were from. Their style is just so different from other Finnish metal bands, actually not only that but from all metal bands as well.

I think The Absence is a good example. They play Gothenburg-like melodeath, yet they are from Florida.

Some bands that I'd like to mention regarding the topic are Absu and Nile.
I haven't heard of much BM bands from US, but I found out that Absu was a BM band from US (I think of death metal when I hear 'US metal scene'), and their lyrical themes include Celtic mythology as well. I thought that they were somewhere from Europe/
And Nile, I thought that they were probably from Egypt because of their lyrics based on Egyptian myth.

I have hard time to realize that Rotten Sound is from Finland. They sound so much like a typical american goregrind band for me.

Well, a rather obvious choice is Tuatha de Danann. Playing celctic metal would certainly make them seem from Great Britain or Ireland... When i found out they're from Brazil, i was astounded.

Written by iaberis on 22.03.2007 at 00:57

A band that totally surprised me was DragonForce who are actually from New Zealand! Before moving to UK and creating the band there, they came from New Zealand! From their sound I thought they were American, so it really surprised me! The founding members originally had a Black Metal band in New Zealand called Demoniac, something that also surprised me since their sound today has nothing to do with that! This band is full of surprises!

From memory it's only Sam and (I think) Herman who were in Demoniac/lived in NZ.

I was surprised when I heard that Summoning came from Austria. When you take into account the country's musical tradition, though, I guess it's a lot less surprising.

Written by UpTheIrons666 on 16.03.2007 at 22:35

I heard a Black Metal band called Dragonlord. They are pretty good, I thought they were from Norway or something. Then, I looked at the lyrics book and their names are Eric, Steve, Lyle, Jon, and Derrick and I was like "What the fuck?" They come from the USA.

Yeah, the lead singer is Eric Peterson from Testament. I have one of there albums.

Anyways I find Hardcore Superstars origin a little wierd, I thought they were from like hollywood or something, considering they have a real 80's glam metal sound, but it turns out there from Gothenburg. I found that a little wierd.

Written by UpTheIrons666 on 17.03.2007 at 00:09

When I first heard Queensryche, I thought they were from Europe, but then again, I was 13

Hahhaha me to I thought ist some kind a Iron maiden tour band soemwhere from London

Well, I knew before I first heard Agalloch, that they're from the US. Had I not known, I would have first guessed Finland, then maybe Sweden.

Oh yes there is more: once I found a band called Sonata Nocturna and listened to their song "The Darkest Winter". Pretty nice doomy gothic metal, something I might have expected to originate from a northern country perhaps... but then they turned out to be a Spanish band. I was like "yeah right, as if these guys know anything about winter"

The death metal band Aeon sounds extremely American, but they're from Sweden.

Kamelot sounds more like European, from Italy for example. HIM sounds like American, some Swedish BM bands have that Norwegian atmosphere.

I agree with Daru Jericho with Angra and Leaves' Eyes.

Written by Bitch Boy on 28.03.2007 at 19:44

Kamelot sounds more like European, from Italy for example

Quite interesting the way that a person perceives music. Imo, Kamelot sounds in most of the songs like typical american music, even if the band has european influences (Khan from Norway and Palotai from Germany)

@ The Alchemist: I think that they aren't that influenced by this US power school as other bands, for example Iced Earth, Nevermore, or even Symphony X.

Written by Bitch Boy on 28.03.2007 at 21:03

@ The Alchemist: I think that they aren't that influenced by this US power school as other bands, for example Iced Earth, Nevermore, or even Symphony X.

Yes, they don't sound like american power metal, what I mean is that the music itself sounds american, but that's only the way how I perceive the music

This thread made me remember an article one I read about Grunge, where the author said that the genre could be successfull only, and he meant ONLY in the US west coast... there are actually many countries that should be forbidden to play certain genres, for example Italians with extreme doom

Lacuna coil who is actually from Italy, i thought were from the U.S, and Gojira who i also thought were from the U.S are from France.