What are the best Italian metal bands, and how’s the Italy metal scene? I’d say it’s pretty damn healthy, and there’s also top-tier bands in many different genres. Here you can find my picks for the best Italian metal bands, focusing on underrated/underground bands in my preferred genres. Thanks a lot to Alessandro Sforza (involved in several of the bands featured in the article) for helping me out with some advice!
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- Stefan Nordström
- Musician, songwriter, content creator, digital freelancer
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Bands: Desolator, Soliloquium, Ending Quest, Ashes of Life, Trees of Daymare, The Ashen Tree
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Famous Italian metal bands
As I want to focus on the more underground side of the Italian metal scene, let’s get the famous bands out of the way first:
- Fleshgod Apocalypse
- Forgotten Tomb
- Graveworm
- Lacuna Coil
- Rhapsody of Fire
I don’t listen much to this bunch, except the early Forgotten Tomb albums, which I hold in quite high regard. Fleshgod are obviously sick musicians, but I’m not much for the opera gimmick or the self-indulgent technicality. Anyway, if you don’t know these, it might be good to check them out. But let’s fast-forward to the more important part: the Italian metal underground!
Best Italian metal bands
Here is my list of the best Italian metal bands. Huge focus on doom metal and death metal, but that’s how I roll. Sorry, not sorry!
Italian doom metal bands
Italy is a gold-mine for doom metal and doom-ish bands. Here you will find some long-running classics, as well as underground bands.
(Echo)
(Echo) is a solid melodic death/doom metal band that’s been around since 2007. Quality-guarantee band that will definitely please fans of that particular style.
Listen: “Chemical”
Ars Onirica
The Italian scene is filled with great doomy bands, and let’s be alphabetical and start with Ars Onirica. This band goes all-in on atmosphere, with album two being a big improvement over the first already good one, in my opinion. Really nice dynamics and vocal variety, but the big win is the amount of emotion in the music.
Listen: “Daydream”
Doomraiser
We can’t go through the doom metal category without some traditional doom metal, right? Well, here we have it! Doomraiser is definitely the Candlemass of Italy. Really great stuff with solid heaviness and vocals in an old school style.
Listen: “Dark Omens”
Ghostheart Nebula
Another banger underrated doom metal type band. Massive sound with nice low end and large amounts of melancholy. Second album “Blackshift” recently came out and improved on the already lovely sound. Highly recommended band!
Listen: “The Opal Tide”
How Like A Winter
This gothic doom metal band released one highly praised album in 2003. It can be especially interesting if you’re a fan of The Foreshadowing, as their vocalist is featured.
Invernoir
Invernoir is another band involving Ars Onirica mastermind Alessandro Sforza. If you like the sounds of classic 90’s doom metal, look no further. It’s super well-written stuff with plenty of doom and gloom for everyone.
Listen: “Desperate Days”
MMXX
Not sure if I could fully call MMXX an Italian band, given that it’s an international collaboration, but I’ll include the project anyway. The project sees Andrea Chiodetti (The Foreshadowing) collaborate with two members of Daylight Dies, bringing in several excellent guest vocalists. It sounds just as good in the speakers as it does on paper.
Listen: “Perdition Mirror”
Novembre
Novembre is one of the most popular death/doom metal bands of all time for good reason. Lovely atmospherics and a unique Mediterranean feel to the music I can’t really put my hands on. If you haven’t heard them before, I highly recommend “The Blue” (2007).
Listen: “Anaemia”
Shores of Null
Shores of Null is one of Italy’s most popular atmospheric metal bands, blending influences from meloblack, melodeath and doom into a nice dark mix. Solid stuff that’s bound to please any fan of the style(s).
Listen: “Destination Woe”
The Foreshadowing
The Foreshadowing is one of my most listened Italian metal bands of all-time. Their brand of gothic doom with huge riffs and baritone vocals is right up my alley, and the band has proved very consistent over the years. I love everything they have released, not to mention that their live show is excellent.
Listen: “Lobbies”
Veil of Conspiracy
Are you into Scandinavian progressive/doom crossover, like Katatonia, Opeth and so on? You can find a solid fix of that in Italy, too!
Listen: “Cold”
Death metal bands from Italy
Italy has a great death metal scene, especially when it comes to the more technical and brutal side of things.
Hideous Divinity
Vocal professor growler Enrico Di Lorenzo is equal parts mega-talent and great dude, and seeing Hideous Divinity live is truly an experience. Just a super-talented band both technically and atmospherically that no death metal fan should miss out on. Not to mention that their music videos are absolutely sick!
Listen: “The Embalmer”
Hour of Penance
Hour of Penance is probably my favorite Italian death metal band, especially “The Vile Conception” (2008) and “Paradogma” (2010) which I used to listen like crazy during my more extreme days. These albums are amazing if you’re looking for a combo of hyper-aggressive and hyper-technical, and the rest of the band’s releases are also quality.
Listen: “Absence of Truth”
Husqwarnah
If you go to such lengths as naming your band after a Swedish sowing-machine, you are surely doing something right. And just like a sowing-machine, this band uses the good old Boss HM-2 pedal to obliterate you in the style of Dismember and Entombed.
Listen: “Tower of Suicide”
Marcio Dentro
If you want to dive further into the Rome death metal underground, Marcio Dentro is a good tip. It’s as brutal as it comes, featuring ferocious high and low screams all over the place.
Listen: “Rancore”
Other metal bands from Italy
Let’s dive into a mish-mash of other Italian metal bands, from black metal to post metal and other hard-to-define stuff.
Mater Infecta
Diving deeper into the underground, there’s also interesting black metal to be found in Italy. I ran into this band from Foggia and they’re definitely a cool example. Very ferocious vocals and overall nice aggression.
Listen: “Ligeia”
Najing
Italy also delivers solid instrumental post metal in shape of Najing. Very underrated band with nice sludge and black metal undertones.
Listen: “Nerocolore”
Notturno
If you’re looking for atmospheric black metal, Notturno is a good choice. Super-dark, borderline DSBM sound with full focus on emotion and atmosphere.
Listen: “Autumn Leaves”
Obsolete Theory
Genre-mixing is definitely a big thing in Italian metal bands, and looking at Obsolete Theory’s genre-shifting on Metal Archives is quite wild. Anyway, the song I’m linking below is prime atmospheric metal, including a cool violin guest performance.
Listen: “Onirica”
Otus
I always love me some Cult of Luna-ish atmospheric sludge/post metal whatever, and Otus delivers hard. Their nice live show convinced me to check out their studio material, and I’m definitely not disappointed. Really good band that will probably grow more famous in the future.
Listen: “Through the Flesh”
Ponte del Diavolo
Not sure how to genre-define this band, and I guess that’s a good thing. But they sure are great! I’m glad to see Ponte del Diavolo get the deserved hype early on, because the debut album kicks ass, and so does the live show.
Listen: “Covenant”
Raspail
Another wild, genre-agnostic project with full focus on atmosphere. Raspail is something like a drone/doom/black metal band. The 2016 album “Dirge” is heavily underrated, as it’s a both interesting and unique listen.
Listen: “Dirge”
Svnth
Svnth is yet another hidden gem from the Italian metal scene, a really nice crossover between atmospheric black metal and post metal/post rock.
Listen: “Sons of Melancholia”
Don’t forget about the atmospheric rock music from Italy
Yes, Italy certainly has lot of doom metal, death metal and other similar music to offer, but for me the best Italian band is not a pure metal band; I’d say Klimt 1918. They’re a very special band, and the others bands on the list are underrated heavy hitters as well.
Arctic Plateau
There is something about Italian bands and emotion, and that spills right into the softer atmospheric bands, too. This band has just the kind of happy-sad melancholic feeling that totally catches me.
Listen: “Song of Shame”
Death Mantra for Lazarus
For fans of post rock, Italy has this local, super-underrated band to offer. It’s always fun to discover bands you have no idea about through random live shows, and this is one of those cases.
Listen: “Beatrice”
Klimt 1918
“Klimt 1918 is a wonderful band”, is a phrase I’ve said to hundreds of people at this point. They’re one of my top bands at all time, combinining several different music styles into an emotional sound that speaks to me like nothing else. If you haven’t heard them, I really recommend to give them a shot.
Listen: “Comandante”
Rome in Monochrome
Not sure whether to put RiM in the doom metal category or this one, as they’re borderline metal, but not really. Stupid genre-gatekeeping aside, this band is a really emotional and special one. The second album is especially good, improving further on the already solid debut release.
Listen: “Stains”
Room with a view
Italian atmospheric rock is very good, so here is another example. Yet another super-underrated band that fans of emotional music need to know about.
Listen: “Friction”
Still Wave
Haven’t had enough of the voice of Rome in Monochrome? Well, then you’re in luck, since the vocalist Valerio is singing in this band as well! This one has more of a gazey crossover direction, including some screams and blastbeats. Quite an interesting listen.
Listen: “Spaceman (With a Gun)”
Best Italian metal bands – summary
I hope you found some cool Italian metal bands that you didn’t previously know. There’s a lot to explore, and I also found some new favorites while researching for this blog post. The scene is plentiful and filled with good people, so I’d recommend a deep-dive! And if I’m missing any bands, please get in touch with me (Facebook, Instagram) and have me check them out. I’m always looking to listen to more stuff!
If you want to experience the local Italian metal scene in a great way, try Frantic Fest, a small cozy festival on the East Coast. I attended in 2024 and had a lovely time. Highly recommended!
Summary – Italian metal bands and metal scene
I hope you enjoyed my deep-dive into Italian metal bands and the Italy metal scene. As you can see, there’s a lot to find. Hope you found some new favorites in the article. Creating content like this is part having fun and discovering/sharing metal bands, and part promoting my own music.
If you want to support me and increase my ability to put time into passion-projects like this, please check out my progressive death/doom metal band Soliloquium and buy the digital music or merch from Bandcamp.
If you want to keep up with what I’m doing, the best bet is to follow me on Instagram, where I’m most active. Cheers!
Guides for other countries
So, if you enjoyed this one, why not try my guides to:
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