All the way since the late 1960s and early 1970s heavy metal has been pissing off old people and conquering various new generations of younger music fans. Like anything else, the genre has evolved in various directions over decades but has always kept its main rebellious, loud, and aggressive core.

And even though the situation seemed kind of hopeless during the 1990s, metal music exploded again at the beginning of the 21st century. And now, 17 years into it, Loudwire has revealed the list of the most important metal bands of this era, which includes both the old ones who are still active and the new ones who will continue to carry the torch.

The list in alphabetical order awaits below: