Choose German Metal

I'm on a classic heavy metal tip here, with a couple of more extreme examples thrown in for good measure. German metal has always been a bit of an anomaly. However, bad pronunciation, generic lyrics, bad coiffure and scary facial hair have never managed to obscure some great heavy music produced in the land of the Teutons.

Here's a pair of tunes by Accept. The band was founded in the mid-seventies and enjoyed their biggest success with 1983's album Balls To the Wall. Here's the brilliant title track:

Accept - Balls to the wall (320 kbps)

And here's one from their 1982 semi-masterpiece album Restless & Wild:

Accept - Ahead of the pack (192 kbps)


There's no argument the Scorpions were one of the biggest metal bands of their heyday. Many people only seem to remember their somewhat repulsive power ballads such as Wind of change and Still loving you, but to me their best songs are the rougher rockers from the late seventies and early eighties. Here's an example:

Scorpions - Another piece of meat (320 kbps)

I can't help it, this song still gives me goosebumps:

Scorpions - Bad boys running wild (320 kbps)

In the next one, Klaus Meine occasionally screeches like a deranged warthog. Which is nice.

Scorpions - Can't get enough (320 kbps)


And so we sail on towards more extreme waters. Essen's Kreator have released an extensive catalogue of thrash madness over the years. This tune is from Kreator's second album Pleasure To Kill, released in 1986.

Kreator - Ripping corpse (192 kbps)


Finally, one of my all-time favourite thrash metal bands, Destruction. Their EP called Mad Butcher (released 1987) included this wicked tune:

Destruction - Reject emotions (192 kbps)