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Heavy Metal Thunder NWOBHM

Genres Heavy Metal NWOBHM

NWOBHM

Britain at the end of the seventies, rebuilding metal with punk’s urgency and none of prog’s patience. Twin guitars, cheap records, songs that ran.

Peak years
1978 – 1992
Origin
UK
Family
Heavy Metal Origins
Bands here
14

Start here

Four records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. The Number of the Beast Iron Maiden, 1982 The landmark

    Bruce Dickinson's first album with the band and the moment Iron Maiden became the biggest metal band in the world. Galloping bass, twin harmonised leads, and choruses written to be shouted back by twenty thousand people.

    Listen to The Number of the Beast

  2. Wheels of Steel Saxon, 1980

    The most working-class record in metal. No mysticism, no fantasy — lorries, motorbikes and a chorus you can shout in a pub.

    Listen to Wheels of Steel

  3. Lightning to the Nations Diamond Head, 1980

    Seven songs, recorded almost by accident, and Metallica covered four of them. The riff-writing here is the missing link to thrash.

    Listen to Lightning to the Nations

  4. Black Metal Venom, 1982

    Barely competent and completely essential. It gave a genre its name and half of Scandinavia its blueprint.

    Listen to Black Metal

What it sounds like

Twin lead guitars, playing harmonised lines together. That is the sound, and once you have noticed it you will hear it in half the metal made since. The tempos are up on the seventies — punk had happened in between — but the songs are still tuneful, with big clean choruses and a singer reaching for the high notes rather than shouting. Production is thin and bright by modern standards, because most of these records were made cheaply and quickly. Gallop rhythms, one of Iron Maiden's trademarks, come from here. Compared with the thrash that followed, nothing is muted or percussive: the guitars ring out, and the point is the melody rather than the attack.

  • Heaviness 3 out of 5
  • Speed 3 out of 5
  • Aggression 3 out of 5
  • Technicality 3 out of 5
  • Darkness 2 out of 5
  • Melody 4 out of 5

Where the name came from

Coined by journalist Geoff Barton in the May 1979 issue of Sounds magazine, deliberately borrowing from the French New Wave cinema movement (Nouvelle Vague). Used to describe a new generation of British bands combining metal's heaviness with punk's energy and D.I.Y. ethics.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Iron Maiden UK
  • Saxon UK
  • Diamond Head UK
  • Venom UK
  • Angel Witch UK

And 9 more

  • Tygers of Pan Tang UK
  • Girlschool UK
  • Tank UK
  • Samson UK
  • Raven UK
  • Praying Mantis UK
  • Holocaust UK
  • Witchfinder General UK
  • Blitzkrieg UK

Where it happened

Counting this genre and everything descended from it.

  • London / UK New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) 3 bands

What it led to

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.