Tuatha de Danann, period. One of the most talented, brilliant and innovative folk rock/metal bands of the last twenty years.

Funeral Depression from Poland, too.

Ha ha!

Great band, very rough and chaotic they must be taken in small doses.

Ragnarok (the Norwegian black metal band) comes in my mind, they've made 6 great albums and are indeed overlooked.

..Zzzzzzz..

DEATH ANGEL. ACT 3 IS SO FUCKiNG GOOD, also Iced Earth is very underrated.

Fleurety and December Wolves, IMO. Both were a lot more "commercial" than some of the bands mentioned in that they had better distro and what not, but Fleurety did the pretentious black metal thing first and frankly better than most of the modern acts. December Wolves made one of the most intense records ever as their finale and had some amazing raw black metal preceeding it.

What...? How?

Glad to see some recognition for them. I'm only familiar with their neofolk influenced stuff but have been meaning to check out the earlier music starting with In Melancholy.

I want to add Aethra from Mexico to this thread, fantasy themed symphonic power metal...if you are into this style you WILL like them!! Check out their demo Tales From Distant Skies And Far Beyond

Come on, they are one of most known and respected heavy metal bands, anybody who isn't into metal for a month has at least heard of them.

Gwydion

Iced Earth? Manila Road? Type O Negative? Death Angel? Ragnarok?
I think some people need to refamiliarize themselves with the definition of "underrated".

Are we discussing bands that lots of people in the metal community know that don't get their just-do's or bands that aren't very well known at all and are really good because if so, Draumar.

Some people...like you?

Yes, can't really mention any other band but Hades on par with Aeternus from "And So The Night Became" era. Not sure if underrated though, more like overlooked.

I second Fleurety. They were really one of the first bands to take black metal outside the box. And that unbelievable, inhuman, eagle-esque shrieking on their early material is still the most incredible, outrageous, and extreme vocal performance I've ever heard. They're known within the underground metal community, but they are more well known for those insane vocals than their music, which is too bad, 'cause the music is damn good.

I love you, sir.

Dark At Dawn. Their album Of Decay And Desire is one of the best power metal albums I've heard and I think it has some crossover appeal for fans of the more heavy metal oriented gothic metal albums. I was listening to Senteced's Amok last night and thought of this album. It's a shame they disbanded after their 4th album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zykCdWC4VM

Man, Dark At Dawn are awesome too.

Of Decay and Desire is so cool. It's such an odd little album. The short songs, the odd sense of melody, the deep vocals...nothing else really sounds like it. Personally I think it's the best they ever did.

Hieeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

I never see a lot of love for Fenriz's sideprojects Neptune Towers and Storm to be precise.

Agreed. No one ever talks about Fenriz's work outside Darkthrone. Pretty much all of his side projects are solid.

I thought that Isengard and Storm are well known and quite appreciated by the viking/black fans. The problem it's not the quality, it's the fact both are dead since mid 90's, leaving a very limited output.

I'm not sure if they are underrated, but Desire (prt) deserves more attention. I believe they are one of the best within their genre, both musically and lyrically, also I've heard just great comments about them from funeral/death/doom fans alike, so I'm not sure how 'overlooked' they are.

I didn't say these bands are underrated, I'm quoting others.

I think he actually thinks you are wrong for saying they are not underrated.

I'm actually on your side, these bands might be "underrated" by pop music standards, but they all have got recognition by pretty much anyone who is into metal for more than say, 2 years. I think the "underrated" term when it comes to metal should be more reserved to mostly the typical one obscure album/demo/ep then disband type bands.

Dark Angel

There is nothing limited about them, Neptune tower's material is being reissued, plus both names being attached to the Darkthrone banner would more or less make them at least something glanced over once or twice. I also forgot to mention Holy Terror more people should know about Mind wars, easily the greatest thrash album of all time in my opinion.

Dark Angel are not underrated I feel they are just unknown.

Bulldozer (Ita) is very underrated. A great blend of extreme and traditional metal. Such an awesome band and their last album was really good.

They are pretty famous here actually, or at least they are well-known. Probably it is not the same worldwide, but they would share this with the 99% of the bands in the whole Italy apart from acts such as Forgotten Tomb, Lacuna Coil, Rhapsody of Fire and.. few others

The True Werwolf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rG8NSJMRWo
Vetala.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JaxYrpyXSw

Acid Death. released an amazing death metal album 'Random Manifest' waaaay back in 2000. Then they just kind of disappeared, and people forgot.

P.H.T.O. Are an excellent band that more people should check out.

"Count Nosferatu Kommando", now named the "Cosa Nostra Klub" i think are terribly underrated, if i recall correctly CNK was one of the first metal bands i discovered by myself some 10 years ago and have loved them ever since, ill always have time to listen to the CNK i would seriouslt recommend checking thee french metallers out!!

Runemagick definitely. They're one of the best Death/Doom bands out there with a bunch of top notch releases.

SODOM, they are a German thrash metal band and they've been around since the 80's. When most people think of German thrash metal, they think of Kreator, they are good, but I think Sodom is miles better, and shouldnt be in Kreator's shadow.

Sodom have some amazing material, they may have some forgettable stuff, but they have so many good albums, that the bad are pretty few and far between. Below are some of their albums well worth checking out:

Sodom...underrated? Really?

Yeah, they deserve way more recognition. They are even better than Kreator in my opinion. I think they have had better albums over their career

Crystal Eyes and Nightmare are two of my favorite bands and they are so overlooked, it's quite sad really, they are both amazing bands.

I agree, while you might enjoy Sodom over Kreator I wouldn't call them underated, they are pretty well known and an awesome band. I think they are as well known as Kreator, but maybe I'm wrong.