By Greg Maki
Mercyful Fate and King Diamond aside, Denmark never has been what one might consider a hotbed of heavy metal or rock music in general. It’s no small feat then that Volbeat has tallied 11 number 1 songs on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, the most ever for a band based outside North America. As impressive as that is, the band is even bigger throughout Europe, routinely packing arenas and headlining some of the biggest metal festivals in the world. While the band’s influences are obvious to almost anyone with ears—Metallica and Elvis Presley immediately come to mind—singer/guitarist/songwriter Michael Poulsen pulls them together in a way that’s become uniquely Volbeat through tales of gangsters, cowboys, love, murder and heavy metal’s old reliable, the devil. With the band’s new album, “God of Angels Trust,” set for release on June 6, 2025, join Live Metal as we look back through Volbeat’s rich catalog and tackle the difficult task of ranking its first eight records.
8. “Rewind, Replay, Rebound” (2019)
It says something about a band when its “worst” album contains some of the best songs in its repertoire. “Rewind, Replay, Rebound” is a nostalgia-laced rock record with metal relegated to the late album track “The Everlasting” and a Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer) guitar solo in “Cheapside Sloggers.” No surprise that those songs are two of the highlights, along with “Pelvis on Fire,” a raucous round of rockabilly; “Die to Live,” with its early rock ‘n’ roll stylings and guest vocal by Neil Fallon of Clutch; and the spooky “Sorry Sack of Bones,” which finds Volbeat going full-on psychobilly. But much of the album borders on pop-rock, a sensibility that the band always has had but typically in smaller doses than we get here. There’s nothing inherently wrong with tracks like “Last Day Under the Sun,” “Cloud 9,” “Maybe I Believe” and “7:24,” but Volbeat is at its best when it contrasts its more accessible material with a chunkier metallic assault.
7. “The Strength/The Sound/The Songs” (2005)
If “Rewind …” suffers from a bit of sameness across much of its running time, a similar problem plagues Volbeat’s debut—in the opposite direction. “The Strength/The Sound/The Songs” is the band’s most consistently heavy album—the aggressive riffing is thrash-worthy at times—but with 15 songs running 55 minutes, it starts at some point to feel like too much of a good thing. While there are some wrinkles that hint at the expansive sound soon to come—the ‘50s influence on “Soulweeper,” a cover of the 1963 Dusty Springfield classic “I Only Want to Be with You”—there isn’t a lot of variation from to song to song, in the instrumentation or Poulsen’s vocal attack. A mix that’s light on bass further dilutes the power of the recording. Even so, there’s a lot to like about “The Strength …” “Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza” is a monster of a track that has remained a live staple throughout the band’s career, while Poulsen’s penchant for storytelling first rears its head with the tragic tale of Danny and Lucy, which would be continued on the albums to come.
6. “Seal the Deal & Let’s Boogie” (2016)
Volbeat’s sixth studio album found the band firmly in the hard rock category while showcasing some of its finest songwriting. “The Devil’s Bleeding Crown,” “Black Rose” (featuring Poulsen’s single greatest vocal performance) and “Seal the Deal” quickly emerged as classics, but the real jewel here is “For Evigt,” unfortunately released in North America in 100-percent English form as “The Bliss.” The rest of the world got the version featuring singer Johan Olsen of Danish rock group Magtens Korridorer—his second collaboration with Volbeat following “The Garden’s Tale” in 2007. It was even the first single released internationally, and its emotional power easily bleeds through any language barrier. Two cover songs—“Rebound” by Teenage Bottlerocket and “Battleship Chains,” made famous by The Georgia Satellites in 1986—is an odd choice. And if you’re a pure metalhead, this is the album where Volbeat might have started to lose you with the volume not exactly cranked up to 11 on songs such as “Goodbye Forever,” “The Gates of Babylon” and “You Will Know.”
5. “Servant of the Mind” (2021)
After the mostly mellow “Rewind …” in 2019, Volbeat brought the thunder and lightning back on its eighth album. “Servant of the Mind” was the heaviest the band had been in years and is loaded with highlights. A four-song stretch in the record’s first half—“The Sacred Stones,” channeling Dio-era Black Sabbath; the chugging “Shotgun Blues”; the psychobilly-flavored “The Devil Rages On”; and the Metallica-indebted “Say No More”—holds up against any batch of tunes in the band’s career. Volbeat’s gonna Volbeat, though, so along with the heavy we get songs like “Wait a Minute My Girl,” which plays like a sequel to the previous album’s “Die to Live” with its piano and saxophone, and the sunny pop rock number “Dagen Før.” For longtime fans, “Servant …” served as a comforting reminder of where the band came from and assurance that it never will abandon its roots completely.
4. “Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies” (2013)
For Volbeat’s first album following its North American breakthrough behind singles “A Warrior’s Call” and “Still Counting,” Poulsen turned to the Old West for inspiration, weaving tales of outlaws, gunslingers and other figures of dubious reputation. It’s also the band’s first record with a bonafide lead guitarist, adding a whole new dimension to its sound. Former Anthrax axeman Rob Caggiano came onboard as a co-producer before becoming a band member, and he makes his presence known throughout the record. The wide-ranging material includes some of Volbeat’s heaviest tracks (“Dead but Rising,” “Room 24” featuring fellow Dane King Diamond and “The Hangman’s Body Count”), some of its best hard rock songs (“The Nameless One,” “Lola Montez”), an old-school country tune (“The Lonesome Rider”) and the absolutely epic “Doc Holliday.” “Outlaw Gentlemen …” is Volbeat asserting itself in a major way in the international metal/hard rock scene—and doing it completely on its own terms.
3. “Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil” (2007)
Here’s where things get tough. The top three albums on this list are incredibly close, and quite frankly, their order could change by the day. Volbeat’s sophomore record seizes the potential of its debut and improves upon it in virtually every way. Meatier production and mixing create a far heftier sound, while the songwriting pushes the band further in multiple directions as it all comes together in a cohesive whole. “Sad Man’s Tongue” draws inspiration from Johnny Cash, punk rock and metal to become the classic of all Volbeat classics; “Radio Girl,” too, draws influence from decades of rock ‘n’ roll and comes out sounding vintage and modern simultaneously; “The Garden’s Tale,” featuring Johan Olsen, is the band’s first arena-worthy anthem; “Mr. & Mrs. Ness” continues the story of Danny and Lucy—one could single out something notable about every track here. With 11 songs running 42 minutes, “Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil” is Volbeat’s shortest album, and it gains much of its power from being so lean. This is the record where Volbeat forged its identity, becoming the band we know today.
2. “Beyond Hell/Above Heaven” (2010)
The band’s North American breakthrough, “Beyond Hell/Above Heaven” is full of arena-ready bangers while staying true to Volbeat’s metal roots. The record features some of its best-known songs and live staples, including “A Warrior’s Call,” “Fallen,” “Heaven nor Hell” and “16 Dollars,” along with fan favorites such as “The Mirror and the Ripper,” “Evelyn” (featuring a vicious guest vocal by Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway) and “7 Shots” (with a guest spot from Kreator’s Mille Petrozza). Pulling inspiration from classic metal, thrash metal, death metal, hard rock, punk rock and rockabilly, “Beyond Hell …” is the perfect place for a Volbeat newbie to start, summing up its sound better than any other entry in its discography.
1. “Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood” (2008)
There might be some personal bias here as this was my personal introduction to Volbeat. After coming into its own on 2007’s “Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil,” the band followed with this ambitious effort a mere 19 months later. Half of the album’s 14 tracks tell a story that would be continued on subsequent releases, while the sound continues to go further in every direction. The metal aspects are heavier, the rockabilly and country influences are more pronounced, the anthems are more … anthemic. The track list is one classic after another, with standouts including the title track, “Mary Ann’s Place,” “Maybellene i Hofteholder,” “Still Counting,” “Wild Rover of Hell” and “A Broken Man and the Dawn.” This is Volbeat in its purest form, the culmination of the early part of its career and a milestone it may never exceed.