11 Of The Greatest Rock Bands From Europe

As the UK prepares to exit the European Union, we celebrate 11 of the greatest acts from the community we’re cutting off…

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So, it’s Brexit Friday. Er, hurrah…

There might be quite a few negatives from the UK deciding to separate itself from one of largest, wealthiest and most vibrant unions in human history. Aside from chucking away our own individual rights to work and travel freely across the continent, we’ve potentially made it harder for UK bands to tour abroad – and considerably less attractive for their European counterparts to cross the channel in the opposite direction. And that’s before we look at the exchange-rate on the old GBP.

We’ve commiserated enough already, however. Instead, we’ve decided to mark this Black Friday with a celebration of the best rock that the European Union has to offer. From Teutonic freaks and Belgian hard-nuts to Polish Satanists and Danish rockabilly enthusiasts, there truly is beauty in diversity. Populist politics be damned; we’ll all still get together under the banner of smashing beers and banging heads.

Brexit smegshit…

Rammstein (Germany)

There’s no shortage of great rock bands from Germany. From power metal (Blind Guardian) to thrash (Kreator) to hardcore punk (Beatsteaks) to straight-out rock (Scorpions), they’re perhaps the only country with a roster of bands that could hang tough with the torrent of UK/American output. No band better defines Germany, though, than Neue Deutsche Härte upstarts turned stadium-conquering industrial metal juggernaut Rammstein. Since their formation in Berlin in the mid-’90s, they’ve set the standard for machine-tooled musicality and high-octane showmanship. While most bands would grow rusty after a decade away, their return with last year’s daringly untitled seventh LP proved they’ve not taken a backward step.