Am I Evil? - The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Thread

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Every year or so I fall down the NWoBHM rabbit hole and it's right about that time again. A blend of low-fi, DYI, punk rock aggression mixed with the riffs and guitar solos of 70's Heavy Metal. It only lasted a few years and only a few bands like Iron Maiden and (sorta) Def Leppard blew up but there were tons of bands that put out cool singles and debut albums before breaking up or changing their style to try and fit in with a more mainstream sound (alienating their fans in the process). I'd like to post a song everyday this month or until I lose interest featuring some of these largely forgotten bands.

Today's band is Aragorn. They never really even got off the ground with only a couple single's and aborted album attempts. You can get pretty much everything on Noonday - The Aragorn Anthology. Their best known song is probably 'Black Ice' but my favorite song by them is 'Tickets On The Wall'. There are a few versions of this song and unfortunately the best one isn't on youtube but this one is still pretty great.

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Today's band is Tygers of Pan Tang. They released several albums throughout the 80's and had some videos on MTV and it was all pretty awful. However their early singles and first album had an entirely different feel in no small part thanks to vocalist Jess Cox. His delivery was sort of a proto Mark Arm. Their first and only album with Cox was 1980's Wildcat. It's a classic top to bottom but today’s song is the one that typically appears on various NWoBHM compilations and for good reason.

[Jammer XCI]

Cool topic. I feel like nobody beats Iron Maiden, Judas Priest or Motorhead as far as this era of metal goes though.

[surfndestroy]

Cool topic. I feel like nobody beats Iron Maiden, Judas Priest or Motorhead as far as this era of metal goes though.

Is Judas Priest properly included in NWoBHM?

I know NWoBHM coincides with the British Steel release and that was their big break through album in North America but they do have quite the catalogue prior to that album.

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I'd say no to Priest and Motorhead. They both pre-date NWoBHM though I would say Motorhead definitely has a lot of the hallmarks and was the one band the punks and the metalheads could agree on so I imagine they were a major influence.

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Today's band is Diamond Head. Probably one of the saddest tales of NWoBHM movement. Great band undone by poor management (one of the guy's mom for Christ sake), waiting for the perfect record deal killing momentum and then eventually signing to a label that wanted them to change their sound. They managed to have a bit of a second life thanks to several of their songs being covered by Metallica. They probably could have been as big as early Maiden or Def Leppard if they had better luck. Their first two releases Lightning To The Nations also known as The White Album and Borrowed Time had remasters in 2011 and 2018 respectively and contain plenty of amazing early single's and bonus tracks. For some reason the Borrowed Time remaster doesn't have the extended version of Dead Reckoning. WTF? You can pass on their third album that's when the label got involved. There's also Anthology - Am I Evil if you just want an overview. They have so many great songs it's hard to pick just one.

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The Thrash Metal genre owes a huge debt to the NWoBHM band Blitzkrieg and the self titled B-side off their 1980 Buried Alive single. Raw, low-fi and heavy as hell.

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Scottish band Holocaust released the NWoBHM classic The Nightcomers in 1981. Heavy Metal Mania was the single (and it rocks) but today let's check out Death or Glory. Great album.

[BurtReynolds]

Timely thread. A few weeks ago I made a couple of radio stations on Spotify that have been recommending some great stuff. I'm not as big a fan of the thrashy stuff, but there are a lot of good unknown bands from this era.

[arthurdent]

All the classic Metallica covers rock

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Frequent line up changes and copyright fights with a U.S. band with the same name plagued Black Rose for much of their run. This B-side from their 1982 debut single shows their initial promise.

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In 1980 Def Leppard alienated many of their NWoHM fans who felt the band was trying too hard to break through in America. Thing was the band (still teenagers at the time - drummer Rick Allen was only 15!) weren't satisfied being big fish in a small pond and never made any allusions to wanting to be anything less than the biggest band in the world. You could argue they made that wish come true by '87/'88 with the pop metal classic Hysteria and ensuing tour. Still their early singles/EPs and albums were solidly NWoBHM as this blistering live version of Wasted from 1979 illustrates.

[50 Million Feet of Earth...]

In 1980 Def Leppard alienated many of their NWoHM fans who felt the band was trying too hard to break through in America. Thing was the band (still teenagers at the time - drummer Rick Allen was only 15!) weren't satisfied being big fish in a small pond and never made any allusions to wanting to be anything less than the biggest band in the world. You could argue they made that wish come true by '87/'88 with the pop metal classic Hysteria and ensuing tour. Still their early singles/EPs and albums were solidly NWoBHM as this blistering live version of Wasted from 1979 illustrates.

This is a pretty kick ass early Leppard tune as well. Definite Thin Lizzy vibes on this one.

[surfndestroy]

All the classic Metallica covers rock

I think the Metallica covers all kill because they thickened up the guitars.

[bada]

In 1980 Def Leppard alienated many of their NWoHM fans who felt the band was trying too hard to break through in America. Thing was the band (still teenagers at the time - drummer Rick Allen was only 15!) weren't satisfied being big fish in a small pond and never made any allusions to wanting to be anything less than the biggest band in the world. You could argue they made that wish come true by '87/'88 with the pop metal classic Hysteria and ensuing tour. Still their early singles/EPs and albums were solidly NWoBHM as this blistering live version of Wasted from 1979 illustrates.

This is a pretty kick ass early Leppard tune as well. Definite Thin Lizzy vibes on this one.

Yes! That's a great EP. They re-recorded all those songs I'm more used to the other versions. It was only within the last few years I was able to find it. The EP versions are much rawer and cooler. I still don't have the First Strike EP.

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The Newcastle trio Raven led by brothers bassist and vocalist John and guitarist Mark Gallagher had three wildly influential independent releases between 1981-1983. Often dressing in sports gear and dubbing their sound "athletic rock" it's hard not to imagine their cassettes making their way into the hands of another future brother led band The Darkness. Another band with too many songs to choose from we'll go with one of their most well loved singles.

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Featuring members that would go on to play with Def Leppard and LA Guns London band Girl sounded more 80's Sunset Strip than 70's industrial England.

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1981 NWoBHM classic from Savage.

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Saxon became one of the more successful bands to come out of the NWoBHM movement. Their breakthrough album Wheels of Steel came out in 1980 but it's their second release in the same year Strong Arm of the Law that features this call to arms.

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Before joining Iron Maiden Bruce Dickenson power-vocaled for Samson.