The great state of New Jersey is among the more infamous of the 50 that populate the United States and is consistently the butt of many jokes cracked by all but the ones who live there — but they're the last ones laughing because the state is a hotbed for heavy music, leading us to rank New Jersey's 25 Best Rock and Metal Bands.

Not only is the "Garden State" flush with top-tier talent, there are great bands across a multitude of subgenres, meaning the state isn't just a prime attraction for one style, unlike San Francisco's Bay Area, which is synonymous with the early thrash breakout.

It's basically a guarantee that no matter what your stylistic preference is, New Jersey has a band you will love.

While the surrounding states may harbor animosity toward New Jersey, its residents having nothing but pride for where they come from and their blue collar ethos is positively admirable.

What is a tad ironic is that the state ranks third in the nation in public school quality (as of 2021), but it seems like its the place where the least amount of bands needed a genuine fallback option through education. Go figure...

So, here's to New Jersey — keep that chip on your shoulder and keep giving us amazing bands!

Now, let's get to Ranking New Jersey's 25 Best Rock + Metal bands, but first, some honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

Abazagorath, Armor For Sleep, The Atomic Bitchwax, Binary Code, Dim Mak, Dripping, E.Town Concrete, Funebrarum, Gridlink, Krieg, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Ripping Corpse, Ruby the Hatchet, Seven Witches, Swashbuckle, Whiplash

Ranking New Jersey's 25 Best Rock + Metal Bands

This should put an end to the New Jersey smack talk once and for all.

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