• Home
• Artists
• Punk
• Metal
• Video
• Classic Albums
• About

Irish Heavy Metal & Hard Rock Bands

Although Ireland can't really claim to be world leaders in heavy metal or it's many sub-genres, we simply don't have a huge number of big name metal bands, but none-the-less, Ireland has a thriving metal scene and a whole slew of excellent and unique metal bands even though many don't get the recognition or fame that they deserve.

Jump to the list of bands v

The Irish band that has had the biggest worldwide influence on metal is not even, strictly speaking, a heavy metal band - that's Thin Lizzy. But many of the major metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, etc. cite the Thin Lizzy influence as they were pioneers of the harmonised twin lead guitar sound. Iron Maiden, the quintesential heavy metal band, developed a twin guitar attack right out of Thin Lizzy's playbook and even cut a cover of the Thin Lizzy song Massacre as a tip of the hat to Thin Lizzy. Metallica, the most sucessfull metal band ever, covered their Thin Lizzy's version of Whiskey In The Jar and they were one of Cliff Burton's favourite bands. Kirk Hammet got into the wah-wah pedal after hearing Thin Lizzy, according to Hammet - "And Hendrix wasn't actually the first person I heard use a wah-wah pedal - that was Brian Robertson from Thin Lizzy! The first time I became aware of it was the song 'Warriors' on 'Jailbreak.'" Hammet was also a huge fan of Gary Moore and bought the 1959 Les Paul, previously owned by Peter Green that Gary played for 25 years. Other notable metal bands that paid homage to Thin Lizzy include: Anthrax covered Cowboy Song, Helloween (and also Sodom) covered Cold Sweat, Fu Manchu covered Jailbreak, Gamma Ray covered Angel of Death, Motörhead covered Rosalie and 'Are You Ready', Mastodon covered Emerald and High on Fire covered Vagabond of the Western World.

In addition to Thin Lizzy, two other Irish acts that are not metal but still are a huge influence on Irish metal and hard rock bands are Rory Gallager and Horslips. Gallagher is Ireland's own original guitar hero. And Horslips are the originators of Celtic rock and have inspired the Celtic metal scene that took hold in the 1990s.

The end of the 70s and early 80's was when metal really started taking off, lead by the NWOBHM scene. Ireland was't a huge part of this but definately had some good bands kicking around, especially in Northern Ireland. Top among these was Horslips and Rory Gallagher inspired Mama's Boys from Co. Fermanagh. Mama's Boys were the first Irish heavy metal band to achieve some international success. Some other 80's metal and hard rock bands include Casper from Co. Tyrone, Sweet Savage from Belfast, Archie The Leper from Co. Down, White Roxx from Co. Antrim, Purple Haze from Waterford/Wexford, Blackwych from Co. Kildare, Trojan, Assassin and Winter's Reign from Dublin. There were also a few Irish guitarists of note in the 80s metal scene - Gary Moore put out a string of excellent hard rock/metal albums, the most 'metal' of them being Dirty Fingers. Vivian Campbell from Sweet Savage went on to play with Dio (and later Whitesnake and Def Leppard), Bernie Tormé played in the band Gillan lead by Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame.

Moving into the 90's, Ireland's most commercially successful metal act was Therapy? from Larne. Their musical style fit right in with the 90s grunge/alternative rock/metal scene with big riffs and catchy hooks. They were one of the major alt-metal acts of the 90s. Other alt-metal/grunge bands that achieved some success in the 90s were Kilkenny's Kerbdog and Derry's Scheer.

In addition to the alternative metal scene another but very different scene that exploded in the 90s was extreme metal, including Death Metal and Black Metal. Ireland's Primordial were (and still are) a major act in that scene. Their original brand of 'pagan metal' was influenced by Bathory and the Norwegian black metal scene. A uniquely Irish scene that developed in the 90s is Celtic metal. Cruachan, formed in Dublin in 1992, were the first example of the sub-genre. Founder Keith Fay credits Horslips as being a major influence. Another Celtic Metal band formed in the early 90s was Waylander from Armagh. Primordial and Geasa are often described as Celtic Metal but folk music and traditional instrumentation such as tin whistles and fiddles is not in the forefront as it is with Cruachan or Waylander, so the 'Celtic' aspect in the music is more subtle. Later in the 90s Mael Mórdha were another band that became well known for their doomey take on Celtic metal. Aside from the Celtic Metal scene other prominent metal bands that developed in the 90s include doom/death metal band Mourning Beloveth from Kildare, death metal band Abaddon Incarnate from Dublin and Scald from Belfast.

Moving into the new millenium a huge number of new metal bands have come on the scene. A few of the those that have made a name for themseleves internationally include Altar of Plagues, Darkest Era, Gama Bomb and Old Season. A less well known but really bloody good band from that decade was Sirocco formed in Co. Waterford in the early 2000s. They called their brand of metal 'Celtic Thrash'. And So I Watch You From Afar from N.I. met with considerable internataional success with their captivating instrumental post-rock / math-rock. Another interesting instrumental math-rock group formed around the same time was Dublin's Adebisi Shank.

Bands formed in the 2010s that have rissen above the frae include sludge metalers Ten Ton Slug, black/death metalers ZOM and black/death metal super group Malthusian.

List of Irish Heavy Metal and Hard Rock Bands/Artists

Do you know of a noteworthy Irish metal or hard rocking act that is missing from this list? If so, you can add them: Add Artist To List

HAVE YOUR SAY

Who do you think are the most important irish heavy metal or hard rock bands/artists?

Home - Artists - Classic Albums - Video - About - Links - Search