10 Best Metal Bands Of The Last 10 Years

Aside from the pop-cultural juggernaut Ghost, Code Orange are the only band on this list to have been nominated for a Grammy Award. And while many metalheads reading this don’t give two sh*ts about the Grammy’s, the fact that even an institution as mainstream and un-metal as that is acknowledging the brilliance of this American quartet shows just how impactful and amazing Code Orange are.

While every band on this list has been truly impactful in their own, unique way, Code Orange are the only name here to have singlehandedly resurrected and redefined a subgenre. Before these gritty rabble-rousers, the realm of ‘90s-style metallic hardcore in the 2010s was one reserved for Converge, Hatebreed and… no, that’s about it. But since these pioneers hit the scene, metalcore has witnessed its stock rise all over again, especially in the UK and the US. And we’re not talking about your teenage-girl-drawing, pop-infringing knock-off metalcore, either: we’re talking about the punkish mayhem of Polaris, Currents, Loathe, Cane Hill and Sink the Ship.

Code Orange are mavens, tried and true. Their insane anthems may be experimental at times, but they’re also always primal and direct, with enough muscularity behind every single, solitary second to get crowds leaping and moshing all over the planet.