New Wave of British Heavy Metal
 

The NWOBHM was without doubt one of the most important movements in the history of metal. It emerged in the late 1970`s as a reaction to the decline of traditional hard rock and metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, leaving music at the heavier end of the spectrum being represented mostly by bands such as AC/DC, Judas Priest and Scorpions etc. Judas Priest were essentially the flag bearers of British metal throughout the 1970`s and the NWOBHM owes so much to them.

The NWOBHM basically built from the Judas Priest sound and incorporated elements of punk and altogether gave metal a much tougher sound and image. Music wise most of the bands had great vocalists such as Paul D`Anno, Bruce Dic(K)inson and Bill Byford to name just a few, the guitar solos on most of these albums were the stuff of legend and the album covers a major image factor as well (Iron Maiden cracked that one early on) The bands image wise quickly became associated with the hard living life-style and plenty of denim, leathers and chains. This movement included bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Saxon and DEF Leppard, but some of the best albums were put out by some of the lesser known bands such as Samson, Angel Witch and Diamond Head etc.

The impact of the NWOBHM was simply amazing and changed metal forever and imo the only other metal movement that has had the same impact was the San Francisco thrash movement several years later. The NWOBHM was a major influence on bands such as Metallica and Megadeth who constantly namecheck a whole host of bands from this era as influences. By the mid 1980`s the movement had seriously declined, as a most of the bigger bands had targeted a more radio friendly sound for the US market and other bands had simply failed to build upon their initial successes.

Over the next several days, I`ll put up 10 or so of the essential albums of this movement and a bit about them, but everybody feel free to post their best albums, songs and opinions etc.

actually, I'm more interested in bands that slipped under the radar like Warfare and Blitzkrieg rather than the big names (whose albums I already own nearly all of) and the seminal influential bands like Venom and Diamond Head

For that exact reason I started the thread, to talk about and review both the big bands and also THE LITTLE/FORGOTTEN ONES as well, so stop complaining;)

^^just stating my preference

What I`ll do is alternate the albums between 1 well known and 1 not very well known.

okies, you don't have to bow down to my demands

:beer:

The definitive years of the NWOBHM were 1979-1982 when nearly all the bands put out their best material, but it 1980 that was the killer year!!! The amount of great metal that came out that year is legendary. The first essential listen really needs to start with one of the best known albums and bands and that is the Iron Maiden debut and a great place to start.


The band needs no introduction but the Paul D`Anno era with the band was unforgettable, the band were raw and hungry and their later efforts never quite matched that hunger. Paul D`Anno unlike a lot of metal vocalists had a real guttural punk sound as opposed to the more soaring vocals of other metal vocalists. It was also on this album that bass player Steve Harris quickly started to emerge as the leading songwriter of the band. The album is littered with power chord tracks and sees the birth of the Iron Maiden stage favourites and epics such as Remember Tomorrow, Running Free, Phantom of the Opera and Charlotte the Harlot, but the whole track listing on the album is superb and a must hear. This ranks without a doubt as one of the bands best albums and will always be a my personal favourite from the band and no NWOBHM collection is complete without it.

White Spirit's one & only album better be on here then.

The second essential listen is this album by Samson.


Samson were headed up by guitarist Paul Samson and they released three studio albums between 1979-1982, but it is the second of those three albums Head On that was the pick of the bunch with its guitar solos and high octane feel as the band got it together over 10 songs. The biggest highlight of the album though, is Bruce Dic(k)inson on vocals in his pre-Iron Maiden days!!! He actually featured on two of these three Samson albums and Just a couple of years later he would be fronting Iron Maiden. At times this album can sound dated, but after each listen you know that you`ve listened to an essential album from the NWOBHM. Finally, the tacky and menacing album cover always reminds me of the Manhunt video-game (I`m sure video gamers will know what I talking about there;)

I was toying with the idea of putting that album on the list anyway, but now that you`ve mentioned it I may well include it. ;)

In regard to your Samson post.
You can buy their first album now with extra bonus tracks of Bruce Dickinson singing the songs off it.
I believe they were considering re-releasing the album with his vocals but decided against it for whatever reason.

Just saw that on wiki, to be honest I don`t remember too much about the "Survivors" album as its yonks ago that I heard it.

I only downloaded it for 'I Wish I Was the Saddle of a Schoolgirl's Bike'

I'm assuming of course that Venom and Raven will make it onto the list? *shakes fist threateningly*

Of course both are already pencilled in and I wouldn`t miss out Venom, especially with that crappy sounding production of theirs!

This thread better have some Raven love.

This is one of my very favorite albums evar, i'd consider a definitive album for punk/metal/punkmetal .

Raven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEEAAAARRRGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree .

The third essential release has to be this Saxon album, which is also featuring now in Metal Wars so place your vote. BTW I`m posting these albums in no particular order of preference.


Saxon were fronted up by Bill Byford "Biff" one of the most impressive, evocative and charasmatic vocalists of the whole scene and he was blessed with a great raw but melodic voice, and along with guitarist Paul Quinn has been ever present in the band and in Peter Gill they had a diamond of a drummer as well, before he jumped ship to Motorhead. The band were one of the biggest and most important of the NWOBHM movement and despite being huge here in the UK and Europe, they never quite achieved the same success in the USA. The Wheels of Steel album was one of two stellar albums that the band released in 1980, with the other being Strong Arm of the Law. Both albums are pretty essential but this album takes it and its littered with killer tracks covering great metal fanfare such as motorbikes. Essential songs to listen to are Motorcycle Man, 747 (Strangers in the Night), Wheels of Steel and Freeway Mad. If ever an album was designed for cruising a chopper down a freeway then its this album.

I came across this compilation album the other day and never knew that it existed. Its basically a compilation album of songs by bands from the NWOBHM between 1979-1981 and was put together by Lars Ulrich and Kerrang founder Geoff Barton in 1990 and I`d say its great listen for somebody wanting to hear a whole load of bands from that era and genre.


This is the track listing for the 30 songs on the CD.
New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

^^yeah I came across it, too, but i have most of the songs on other compilation albums except that Tygers of Pan Tang track

The fourth essential listen is this Raven album and I know there are a couple of Raven fans on this thread who`ll like this Raven debut album.


Raven were one of a number of very good 3-piece bands in the genre and they hailed from Newcastle. It was surprising just how many good metal bands of this movement came from Newcastle and the North East in general. They were headed up by the Gallagher brothers (not to be confused with those twats from Manchester:p: Putting on this album for the first time, will send thrash lovers into ecstasy with its rawness and speed, combine this with the solid guitar riffs of Mike Gallagher and John Gallagher`s wild sounding Rob Halford type voice, all being backed up by Rob "Wacko" Hunter on drums and you`ve got a must have album.

^**** the hell yeah. At first All for One was my fav due to it's harder edge and heavier production, but with time, this has become my favorite Raven release. It's just so raw and just about to go off the rails.

I bought this when it came out.
If anyone wants it i'll up it at the weekend.

upload or put it on e-bay?

I haven`t checked its availability but is it hard to get hold of?

i have no idea, but it was sold here, so it's not that rare

It's yours for £10,000 cash

In another year or so, that'll be a bargain!

No NWOBHM thread is going to be complete without a Motorhead album, so this album is the fifth essential to have.


Like Iron Maiden Motorhead need no introduction and this group were the dirtiest, meanest and toughest hard rock, heavy metal, revved up rock n roll or whatever you want to call them band around. "Los Tres Hombres" Lemmy Kilmister, Philthy Animal Taylor and Fast Eddie Clarke just didn`t give a f*uck, they`d step up, plug in and play away. The Ace of Spades was one of a number of shiiiiiit kicking albums they put out in the 79-82 time period and it came off the back of the Overkill and Bomber albums of 1979. The album is loud, fast and furious and helped to lay down the foundations of the future thrash sound, but it was Lemmy who was the beast`s engine with his high octane vocals and that dirty sounding bass and he was f*ucking horrible!

One of the first albums I ever bought, and it still rules. Ugly music for ugly people.

Sixth essential album has to be this and IMO its also one of the very best recorded by any NWOBHM band.


Angel Witch in essence were very different to the other metal bands that have been posted so far, besides relying on a dark intense feel to their sound they were also extremely melodic, more melodic than any band featured so far and they were full of great dark lyrical content, they basically covered a musical territory that only Diamond Head would also tread. They were another 3-piece band like both Raven and Motorhead and they were fronted up by guitarist and vocalist Kevin Heybourne and in their early years often co-headlined with Iron Maiden. Not only would this album appeal greatly to metal fans but punk and new-wave fans would also be sure to enjoy this gem as well. The group though, were the prefect example of being a one-album wonder as their second release didn`t come out until 1985, 5 years later and by this time their flame had long gone out.

I was waiting to see if you'd include this, and you didn't disappoint. It's got a very raw sounding production like Maiden's debut, yet very melodic, very well thought out and at times both catchy and complex. From what I gathered, they weren't very good live because they were led by a lead guitarists who also did the lead vocals, and brilliant as he was, couldn't handle both choirs very well in concert.

Another great choice. I think I can sum up my feelings about Angel Witch by saying this: YOU'RE AN ANGEL WITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE AN ANGEL WITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe it was for the reasons that you have suggested, that they decided to hire a vocalist for their second album 5 years later, but by then it was really too late for them.

Seventh essential album is from one of the most influential metal bands ever.


Like Raven they hailed from Newcastle, but whereas Raven like most bands of their ilk were proficient musicians, Venom bordered on being just f*uckin useless, so to hide this deficiency, they played super fast to cover up their inabilities. Lemmy accused them of faking it, Henry Rollins called them and their stage show just hilarious and they even had portable stand up fans on-stage to make their hair blow, hell! they even made Manowar look good! As for the production on this album, it didn`t just sound like a demo, but it sounded like a really bad demo....so what the f*uck is this band even doing on this list! Well, they almost single-handedly created the extreme metal genres of thrash, black and death metal and inspired thousands of bands. So just take the album for what it is and that is a fast, furious piece of metal with evil lyrics to die for. Hell!.....this band had some real balls to get up on-stage and do what they did, and for that reason alone they`re essential.

^I like that album a quite bit actually. I've always thought it had an interesting style with, oddly enough, a slight hint of rockabilly in the mix. They're also the only other band I can think of that I listen to when I'm in the kind of mood that makes me want to listen to Motorhead.

You can hear hints of rockabilly through that production!!! Wish I had your ears.

And how do you rate that cover?:laughing:

Heh. I know it sounds funny but in some weird way I feel like both the vocals and the drums have this very subtle rockabilly thing going on here and there. "Live Like an Angel, Die Like a Devil" is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about:



As far as the godawful album covers from this era of metal go it's far from the worst offender. At least they tried to go kind of an iconic/minimalistic route with it instead of something as atrocious as that Samson cover you posted earlier. :laughing: