New Wave of British Heavy Metal

Unknown Soldier · 07-31-2011, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

So pleased you posted this and although they haven't made anything that comes close since, it is still essential and I am seeing them in a fortnight at a festival

I hope to see Tygers Of Pan Tang, Tank, Battleaxe,, Girlschool, Demon and Witchfynde in here too.

I personally would not have put Motorhead in here as they had been going for a few years beforehand and got lumped in with the scene even though they were not really a part of it.

Motorhead are like Judas Priest in that they were already established or in Judas`s case very well established before NWOBHM broke, but to totally exclude them seems like sacrilege as well, especially since the scene gave both groups some of their biggest commercial successes.

Most of the stuff that you hope to see will probably feature on here as well, what I'm going to do is increase the essentials from a top 10 list to a top 20 list, as its impossible to get everybody in. After about album 12 or so, I'm only going to feature albums that were released from 1982 onwards of which some of the bands you've mentioned put out their best albums.

Unknown Soldier · 07-31-2011, 04:24 PM

Eighth essential and one of my favourites, is this excellent album.

Tygers of Pan Tang Spellbound 1981

Tygers of Pan Tang despite having a very exotic sounding name, were another great band to also hail from the North East. The Spellbound album was the bands second studio album and one of two albums they put out in 1981, the other being Crazy Nights (not to be confused with the Kiss album) The Spellbound album covers a range of material, but the emphasis is always on melody first and heaviness second and with its killer tracks Take it, Silver and Gold, and Don't Stop By all making the album is a show stopper and the group even manage to put a couple of softer and more straightforward rock sounding tracks on the album as well. The singing shows a Rob Halford vocal style influence at times and I'm sure that Corrosion of Conformity must have been fans of this album as well, because this group's influence is on a couple of COC albums. After this album, Tygers of Pan Tang were on the verge of huge success which they had for a short time, but like so many other bands long term success was to elude them. The album cover is also a must, it looks like something you see hanging on the wall of an Indian restaurant, whilst tucking into a curry and larger.

almauro · 07-30-2011, 06:54 AM

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.

Unknown Soldier · 07-30-2011, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by almauro

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.

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.

Unknown Soldier · 07-30-2011, 02:40 PM

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

Venom Welcome to Hell 1981

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.

The Batlord · 07-30-2011, 11:03 AM

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Janszoon** · 07-30-2011, 02:53 PM

^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.

Unknown Soldier · 07-30-2011, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

^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?

**Janszoon** · 07-30-2011, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

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

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:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

And how do you rate that cover?

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.

Unknown Soldier · 07-30-2011, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

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.

The rockabilly sound is there, but whether its there by design or by accident is the big question.

You`re actually the first person to comment on that Samson cover, its a classic

07-30-2011, 06:54 AM	#3 (permalink)
almauro Way Out There Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 850	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. __________________ rock n music blog

07-30-2011, 02:53 PM	#7 (permalink)
Janszoon Mate, Spawn & Die Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Rapping Community Posts: 24,593	^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. __________________ A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man Time & Place 25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die last.fm

07-31-2011, 04:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
Unknown Soldier Horribly Creative Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: London, The Big Smoke Posts: 8,265	Eighth essential and one of my favourites, is this excellent album. Tygers of Pan Tang Spellbound 1981 Tygers of Pan Tang despite having a very exotic sounding name, were another great band to also hail from the North East. The Spellbound album was the bands second studio album and one of two albums they put out in 1981, the other being Crazy Nights (not to be confused with the Kiss album) The Spellbound album covers a range of material, but the emphasis is always on melody first and heaviness second and with its killer tracks Take it, Silver and Gold, and Don't Stop By all making the album is a show stopper and the group even manage to put a couple of softer and more straightforward rock sounding tracks on the album as well. The singing shows a Rob Halford vocal style influence at times and I'm sure that Corrosion of Conformity must have been fans of this album as well, because this group's influence is on a couple of COC albums. After this album, Tygers of Pan Tang were on the verge of huge success which they had for a short time, but like so many other bands long term success was to elude them. The album cover is also a must, it looks like something you see hanging on the wall of an Indian restaurant, whilst tucking into a curry and larger.

07-30-2011, 02:40 PM	#5 (permalink)
Unknown Soldier Horribly Creative Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: London, The Big Smoke Posts: 8,265	Seventh essential album is from one of the most influential metal bands ever. Venom Welcome to Hell 1981 Like Raven they hailed from Newcastle, but whereas Raven like most bands of their ilk were proficient musicians, Venom bordered on being just fuckin 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 fuck 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.