And the hit parade continued full steam ahead with 2019’s Rewind, Replay, Rebound, as its revved-up, Misfits-esque standout, “Die to Live,” gave the group their eighth No. airwaves, by which point Poulson’s formative demonic bellow had smoothed into a radiant, radio-ready voice perfectly suited to open-sunroof anthems like “Fallen.” Volbeat have continued to hone their finely tuned formula of hooks and heft to even greater stateside success, with 2016’s Seal the Deal & Let’s Boogie cracking the Billboard Top 5 thanks to the punchy power pop of “Black Rose” (a duet with kindred Canadian rocker Danko Jones). With Volbeat, however, he pursued a bold new sound that fused his love of double-kick-drummed thrash with the outlaw spirit of early rock ‘n’ roll-and, let’s face it, few artists with his black-hooded pedigree would dare introduce their new band with a riff-ravaged cover of the Dusty Springfield standard “I Only Wanna Be With You.” As Volbeat became a chart-topping force in Denmark, an invite from Metallica to open their 2009 North America tour helped push the group’s fourth album, Beyond Hell/Above Heaven, onto U.S. Strength was never going to be a problem for this band: Singer/guitarist Michael Poulson cut his fangs in the death-metal outfit Dominus. Copenhagen hard-rock quartet Volbeat debuted in 2005 with the rather cockily titled album The Strength / The Sound / The Songs, but their track record has proven they can back up that claim on all three counts.

Volbeat album covers