New Wave of British Heavy Metal: 6 Influential NWOBHM Bands

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal, often abbreviated as NWOBHM, was a musical movement of the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s in which heavy metal bands in the United Kingdom embraced the tempos and energy of punk rock and new wave music. The term dates to a 1979 article by journalist Geoff Barton in the UK publication Sounds. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement catapulted many English bands into the international spotlight, including Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Motörhead, and Judas Priest.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal began when traditional metal bands took a turn toward punk, post-punk, and new wave music.

• Traditional metal roots: Heavy metal took root in British subcultures as early as 1970 when Birmingham hard rockers Black Sabbath issued two seminal records: their self-titled debut album and the follow-up, Paranoid. Guitarist Tony Iommi's detuned guitars and bluesy riffs created incredibly heavy sounds, but the group's tempos were somewhat slow and lethargic. Ultimately, Black Sabbath’s music led to subgenres like stoner rock, doom metal, and forms of black metal.
• High-energy riffing: The early 1970s also saw the rise of UK hard rock bands like Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Judas Priest. With faster temps than Black Sabbath, these bands helped to inspire punk rock music.
• Punk and metal: By the end of the 1970s, new bands began combining the heavy sounds of Black Sabbath with the cascading riffs of Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple and the energy of the new punk rock scene. The combination of these elements was the formation of the New Wave of British heavy metal. Diamond Head, Venom, Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang, and Blitzkrieg were among these new bands, and existing bands, like Judas Priest, adjusted their sound to align with the NWOBHM genre.
• Mainstream success: In the early 1980s, some NWOBHM bands began getting mainstream attention. Def Leppard teamed with South African hitmaker Robert "Mutt" Lange for a series of hits, and Iron Maiden gained a mainstream following beginning with 1983's The Number of the Beast, bringing Bruce Dickinson, a former member of the band Samson, to the fold.
• NWOBHM bands: The new wave of British heavy metal also spawned many bands that did not enjoy mainstream success, but drew dedicated followers within the hard rock community. Such NWOBHM bands included Venom, Diamond Head, Saxon, Samson, Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang, Jaguar, White Spirit, Praying Mantis, Tank, Pagan Altar, Vardis, Angel Witch, Witchfynde, Witchfinder General, Blitzkrieg, Demon, Holocaust, Sweet Savage, and Grim Reaper. While obscure to the general public, they greatly inspired fledgling thrash metal bands of the 1980s, including Metallica, Megadeth, and Pantera.
• The next generation: For most NWOBHM bands, life in the spotlight was short. Many enjoyed their most prominent legacy by inspiring a new generation of heavy metal bands, such as Metallica.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal is defined by several core traits:

1. 1. Roots in hard rock and traditional heavy metal: NWOBHM bands largely came of age in the early 1970s UK with hard rockers like Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. These groups helped inspire the NWOBHM approach to music, particularly on the guitar.
2. 2. Punk rock energy: In the mid-to-late 1970s, many heavy metal bands adopted punk's unbridled energy. The punk scene gave way to post-punk and new wave, continuing to inspire some British metal bands.
3. 3. Aggressive lyrics: Songs by groups like Judas Priest and Motörhead frequently have lyrics about aggressive conquest. Other groups, such as Iron Maiden, delve into progressive rock themes of literature, history, and science fiction. Bands like Diamond Head and Venom bump up against the edge of black metal.
4. 4. A mixture of pop and heaviness: Much like the new wave music that concurrently emerged, the NWOBHM makes room for pop hooks. Groups like Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest provide equal attention to hyper-charged guitar riffing and catchy vocal melodies.

Many significant bands came out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, including:

1. 1. Iron Maiden: Of all the NWOBHM, Iron Maiden has most successfully straddled the line between pop melodies and a heavy guitar. Bassist and chief songwriter Steve Harris is known for progressive rock epics, which are counterbalanced with shorter, poppier hits, often penned by guitarist Adrian Smith. The group initially presented a punk rock veneer thanks to the sound of original singer Paul Di'Anno. When the group replaced Di'Anno with Bruce Dickinson (nicknamed "the air raid siren"), its focus shifted to ambitious heavy metal epics.
2. 2. Judas Priest: Judas Priest formed as a hard rock band in 1969 and dabbled in different forms of heavy metal and progressive rock throughout the 1970s. On the 1980 album British Steel, the group streamlined its sound and enjoyed mainstream hits like "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law."
3. 3. Def Leppard: Unlike many other NWOBHM bands, Sheffield's Def Leppard embraced glam rock and was rewarded with many mainstream hits, particularly from the album Pyromania (1992). The band would go on to inspire hair metal acts like Poison and Mötley Crüe.
4. 4. Motörhead: Some critics credit Motörhead with inventing speed metal, which was popularized with early Metallica and Megadeth albums. The group, led by the energy of singer and bassist Lemmy Kilmister, enjoyed modest hits with songs like "The Ace of Spades" and "Overkill."
5. 5. Girlschool: The new wave of British heavy metal was largely dominated by male groups, except for the all-female Girlschool, which has been active since 1978. Girlschool partnered with Motörhead for the 1981 EP St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
6. 6. Diamond Head: Diamond Head is largely unknown outside the world of heavy metal, but the band helped to bridge the gap between early '70s hard rockers like Led Zeppelin and the thrash metal of the 1980s. The group's best-known song is "Am I Evil?" thanks to cover versions by Metallica.

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