Certain music resonates with certain people. Throughout history, different countries or even cities have become concentrated incubators for different kinds of music, and heavy metal is no exception.

Throughout the '70s, a majority of the world’s mostly successful and influential metal bands hailed from the U.K.; then, in the ‘80s, American hair metal took the world by storm; later on, distinct movements took root in specific countries, like death metal in Sweden or black metal in Norway.

But when it came to ‘80s thrash, there was but one country capable of challenging America’s supremacy, and that was Germany, home to crucial contributors like Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and many more.

So many more, in fact, that it wasn’t long before this national phenomenon was given its own denomination – Teutonic Thrash* – and credited with spearheading the music’s evolution towards future offshoots of metallic extremity.

Looking back now, one can clearly recognize the massive importance of these German groups, and so we give you this gallery of the Top 10 Teutonic Thrash Metal Albums You Should Own. Prepare for joyous violence!

* Teutonic is a medieval term used to describe the Germanic peoples.

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