Originally Posted by
Devek
People always think whatever it is they happen to listen to that it is world known :/
The band Shadowstalker named are relatively popular on the metal scene. the only one I didnt know was Dimmu Borgir, but I would probably not know everyone in a list of "10" popular NA metal band.
Sonata Arctica, Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Stratovarius are also popular band. All those EU band mentioned did tour in NA, japan, EU, so they are still popular enough to have fan everywhere.
If by "popular", you mean stuff you hear about on MTV then it's true none of those (beside Iron maiden) are "popular", however, that's slightly biased imo.