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Introduction

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal ( often abbreviated as NWOBHM ) was a

musical movement that started in the late 1970s , in Britain , and achieved international successby the early 1980s . The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy

metal bands such as Deep Purple , Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath . NWOBHM bands toned

down the blues infleunces of earlier acts , incorporated elements of punk , increased the tempo ,

and adopted a tougher sound . The era is considered to be a major foundation stone for the

extreme metal genres : acts such as American metal band Metallica cite NWOBHM bands like

Saxon , Motorhead , Diamond Head and Iron Maiden as a majore influence on their musical

style .

The NWOBHM came to dominate the heavy metal scene in the early-mid 1980s. It was

characterized by fast upbeat tempo songs , power chords , fast guitar solos and melodic ,

soaring vocals , with lyrical themes often drawing inspiration from mythology and fantasy

fiction . Many of the bands of this era were signed to Neat Records.

1. History

The Welsh group Budgie are considered precursors to the movement for they have been

cited as a seminal influence on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Also Judas Priest and

Motorhead , while pre-dating the movement by several years , would later become part of it .The early movement was associated with acts such as Iron Maiden , Def Leppard ,

Saxon , Angel Witch , Raven , Girlschool , Diamond Head , Samson , Jaguar , Avenger , White

Spirit , Tank and many more . The image of bands , such as Saxon , consisting of long hair ,

denimjackets , leather and chains , would later become synonymous with heavy metal as a

whole during the 1980s . Some bands , although conceived during this era , saw success on an

underground scale , as as the with Venom and Quartz .

2. Bands

There are some representative bands of the NWOBHM , and even though not all of the

gained mainstream success , they would eventualy be a major influence for the bands that

succeded them , and some of these band will even create new subgenres of heavy metal .

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden are one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all times and almost any band

that would come after them cited Maiden as one of their minor or major influence . Over the

years they started to develop into a cult band and now they are dubbed as the the cornerstone

band of an entire musical genre.

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Iron Maiden was formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris in

Leyton , east London. Since their debut , they released thirty-six albums : fifteen studio albums ,

eleven live albums , four EPs , and six compilations . Pioneers of the New Wave of British

Heavy Metal , the band achieved success during the early 1980s . After several line-up

changes , the band went to release a number of severl U.S. and U.K. platinum and gold albums

including the 1982s The Number of the Beast , 1983s Piece of Mind , 1988s Seventhson of Seventh son and many more .

Considered one of the most succesful heavy metal bands in history , Iron Maiden have

sold over 85 milion records worldwide with little radio or television support . In the last 30

years , they have been supported by their famous mascot Eddie , who was appeared on almost

all of their album and single covers , as well as in their live shows.

Venom

Venom are a heavy metal band formed in 1979 in Newcastle upon Tyne . Coming toproeminence towards the end of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Venoms first to

albums Welcome to Hell ( 1981 ) and Black Metal ( 1982 ) are considered a major

influence to thrash and extreme metal in general. Venoms second album proved influential

enough that its title was used as the name of an extreme metal subgenre : black metal .

Diamond Head

Diamond Head are an English heavy metal band formed in 1976 in Stourbridge ,

England . The ban dis recognized as one of the leading members of the New Wave of BritishHeavy Metal an dis acknowledged by later bands like Metallica and Megadeth as an early

influence.

Judas Priest

Judas Priest are an English metal band from Birmingham , England , formed in 1969.

They have been cited as one of the most influential heavy metal band . Their popularity and

status as one of the definitive heavy metal bands , has earned the nickname Metal Gods from

their song of the same name. They have sold over 50 million albums worldwide. They werenamed the 78th greatest artist of all time by VH1 in 2010 and 2nd Greatest Metal Band by MTV

( after Black Sabbath ). The band got its name from the Bob Dyland song The Ballad of

Frankie Lee and Judas Priest , according to original vocalist Al Atkins.

These four bands are the most influencial and the most representative for the

NWOBHM , because of their impact on the musical culture .

To see how much those bands really influenced their successors lets take for example

the most recognised metal band in history : Metallica . Without Diamond Head , Venom or Iron

Maiden there would be no Metallica .

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In an interview from 1990s , Metallicas drummer Lars Ulrich said : We used to gather

up in a room or something and bring tons of beer and literally we thrashed the place while

listening to Venom .

James Hetfield , lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Metallica said that the song

Jump in the fire from their 1983 debut album Kill em all was written during a time when

Iron Maidens song Run to the Hills was very popular thus influencing Dave Mustaine , leadguitarist at that time for Metallica , to compose the song.

Metallica used to cover Diamond Heads song Am I Evil? several times during their

live performances , also on a 2010 tour along with Megadeth , Anthrax and Slayer , when the

four bands played the song live at the same time in Sofia , Bulgaria.

NWOBHM was practically the start of the heavy metal movement as we know it today .

From NWOBHM new genres developed over time .

For this , Venom are credited as the creators of a new extreme metal genre : black metal.

Venom were the first to use Satanic lyrics and imagery thus influencing new artists on

experimenting .

3. Legacy

During the late 80s and early 90s extreme metal genres developed from the NWOBHM

appeared and attracted more and more the public , somehow because they were even louder and

faster than the NWOBHM movement .

Extreme metal genres developed from NWOBHM are faster , more aggresive , abrasive

or heavier and lyrics deal with more darker or sensational topics . Vocals often use

guttural , harsh or abrasive singing and bands often use stage demeanor ( using corpse paint ,

Satanic or occult imagery ) .

Doom metal

Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal that typycally uses slower tempos , low

tuned guitars , and a much thicker or heavier sound than other metal genres. Both the music

and the lyrics intend to evoke a sens of despair , dread , and doom. The genre is strongly

influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath .

During the first half of the 1980s a number of bands from England ( Pagan Altar ,Witchfinder General ) defined doom metal as a distinct genre.

Speed metal

Speed metal is a genre of heavy metal that originated in the late 1970s form of

NWOBHM and hardcore punk roots , blending them . It is described as extremely fast ,

abrasive and tecnhically demanding .

English band Motorhead is often credited as the band who invented speed metal.

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Thrash metal

Thrash metal is a genre of heavy metal characterized usually by its fast tempo and

aggression . Songs typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with

shredding-style . Lyrics of thrash metal songs often deal with social issues , often using directand denunciatory language.

Even though the genre is a direct descendant from the NWOBHM movement , it wasnt

created by a british band . The creators and developers of the genre are the four bands :

Metallica , Megadeth , Anthrax and Slayer from the United States of America , often called

The Big Four of Thrash Metal . The british band Venom is often credited as thrash metal by

todays standards and bands such as Megadeth , Metallica or Slayer cited Venom as a primary

influence.

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme genre of heavy metal . Common traits include fast tempos ,

shrieked vocals , highly distorted guitars with tremolo picking , blast beat drumming , raw

recording and unconventional song structure .

During the 1980s several metal bands across the world from the so-called first wave

developed the genre but the main creators are the british band Venom with their 1982 album

Black Metal. A second wave would later follow in the Scandinavian area which will define

the genre as a whole new style of metal.

4.Fashion

The clothing associated with heavy metal has its roots in the biker ,rocker, and leather subcultures.

Heavy metal fashion includes elements such as leather jackets; hi-top basketball shoes (more common

with old school thrash metalheads); blue or black skinny fit jeans, camouflage pants, shirts, jackets or

shorts, and denim jackets or kutte vests, often adorned with badges, pins and patches. As with the

bikers, there is a fascination with Germanic imagery, such as the Iron Cross.

Distinct aspects of heavy metal fashion can be credited to various bands, but the band that takes themost credit for revolutionizing the look was Judas Priest, primarily with its singer, Rob Halfored. Halford

wore a leather costume on stage as early as 1978 to coincide with the promotion for the Killing

Machine (Hell bent for leatherin the USA) album. In a 1998 interview, Halford described the leather

subculture as the inspiration for this look. Shortly after appropriating the leather look, Halford started

appearing onstage on a roaring motor bike. Soon, the rest of the band followed.

It was not long before other bands appropriated the leather look; Iron Maiden 's original singer Paul

DiAnno began wearing leather jackets and studded bracelets,Motorhead innovated with bullet belts,

and Saxon introduced spandex.

The studded leather look was extended in subsequent variations, to the wearing of combat boots,

studded belts and bracelets, bullet belts, spiked gauntlets, etc. The codpiece, however, appears to havebeen less popular among the general public

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5.New Wave Of British Heavy Metaltoday

Today the NWOBHM is still active even though the cultural movement is long gone.

Old bands such as Iron Maiden , Judas Priest or Venom still play and have an enormous success

on the metal scene worldwide and not only as they manage to gather a crowd of 20.000+

persons easily and they will always be hailed as the creators of a new musical genre or for

popularising the metal genre.

NWOBHM movement is also played by bands that do not come from Great Britain , but

their musical style can be easily defined as NWOBHM , thats why the NWOBHM ceased to be

only a cultural and musical movement and became a self standing distinct musical genre . Such

a band for example is the romanian heavy metal band Trooper founded in 1997 in Trgovite .They are one of the most successful metal act of the romanian scene along with Negur Bunget

or Iris and even their name comes from an Iron Maiden song The Trooper . They have cited

Iron Maiden as their main influence and they have been cited as influence by many many

romanian metal acts .

NWOBHM is also a leading genre in the matter of commercial succes , even today when

the musical industry is overloaded by low-quality pop songs or other low-quality rap and R&B

artists that produce an album with a 4-chord based pattern such as : Am F C G . But still ,

the NWOBHM , or better the whole rock , punk or metal scene ( because NWOBHM draws

influences from all of them ) , will always be more beautiful in the underground .

This musical genre only survives today in the mainstream because old bands , that have

performed for more than 30 years are still active ,but the new bands that rise nowadays rarely

manage to exit to mainstream because radios and television is not so interested in the metal

genre . Neither the big record companies.