Best NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) Bands
The top ten best New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands. A full list can be found here.I just recently got into Iron Maiden. I started at their debut album 'Iron Maiden", which is where everyone should. Work up to the acclaimed Number of the beast. Their first 2 with Paul Di'anno are very good. Bruce Dickinson era is great also but don't not listen to their first 2 albums just because he is not lead singer. Iron Maiden is the overall flagship band of the NWOBHM and always will be.
The Trooper, number of the beast, Run to the hills, Hallowed be thy name, Aces high, Powerslave, Iron Maiden, Prowler, Fear of the dark, Wasted Years, Ghost of the navigator, Can I play with madness, Still life, 2 Minutes to midnight. Long live Eddie the Head! Up the Irons!
Judas Priest actually wasn't really a NWOBHM band. They are credited to being sort of the leaders of the second wave after Zeppelin, Purple, and Sabbath had already established the genre earlier. Priest jumped on the NWOBHM band wagon by polishing their sound and struck it big on 1980s British Steel.
The very band that inspired Maiden. They have more diversity between albums, better guitarists and overall much more melody and songwriting talent. With that said, Maiden does indeed have better live shows and I like Bruce Dickinson slightly more than Halford; not to mention that BD's aged a bit better than Halford.
Trust me, Maiden was my Champion for many many years, and the still make the shortest of short lists (Murray and Harris are still the gold standard for their respective instruments)... Priest grew on me over time, but they weren't my favorites during the heyday, they just didn't resonante with me like Maiden / Saxon / (love to add an oblique angle like an Armored Saint, but they are not Brits)... But year in, year out, decade in, decade out... in the final analysis, after tens of thousands of listens to the complete comprehensive catalogues, other bands just play classic British Heavy Metal; SAXON IS BRITISH HEAVY METAL
Without Motorhead there would be no thrash metal, and no Ace of Spades. Go listen to Overkill and tell me if they know how to make music.
Motorhead and Venom were very influential in the creation of Thrash, Speed, Death, and Black Metal
Venom singlehandedly invented not one, but two new music genres out of their first two albums alone. Without them, Thrash Metal wouldn't exist and neither would black metal. They should be #2 after Maiden of course.
Their 1st album is very good and is literally guitar riff heaven. But they sort of fell off a cliff after their debut. They changed styles within and album and their debut is the only one in their discography to sound so amazing.
Should be joint first with the Leps and Maiden - sorry but Priest and Motorhead were NOT NWOBHM bands - whoever voted for them doesn't knows what NWOBHM was!
Underrated amazing band, way more people should listen to them
Their first album is a must hear for any metalhead. Without a doubt in the same league with Iron Maiden, just far less successful comercially.
Any fans of this band would also enjoy Blitzkrieg and Blind Fury, both composing of some of Satan's members at the time they released their debuts.
Listen to "Straight from hell".
One of my favourite bands!
So underrated..
The first two albums were definitely top tier speedy NWOBHM. A real shame these guys sold out afterwards.
Highly influential Great Talented Band but inconsistent probly why they were never huge.
They shouldn't have been lumped in with the movement, they were separate from it. Then again hard rock and metal were considered almost the same back then.
Definitely Leppard take a lot of crap for leaving the NWOBHM, their producer (mutt lange) glossed up their production and rounded off their rough edged sound. Their 1st 2 albums, On through the night, and High n dry are extremely good. They were one of the leaders of the NWOBHM at this time but then thing happend.
Soviet Invasion is the single best NWoBHM of all time!
Really wish we saw more of these guys.
Steve Grimmet is a beast, finally able to utilize his amazing vocal abilities to their full potential, unlike in Chateaux.
An absolute classic band with some top tier NWOBHM material. Unfortunately, they released their debut when the movement was practically dead.
The first 3 albums are killer. One of the loudest and most fun bands to see live. Riot are as well
Although on the softer side of the NWOBHM spectrum, they make for some of the best melodic heavy metal/hard rock found throughout the movement.
Brilliant guitar playing on their first two full length albums. Just listen to, If heaven is hell"
All chicks playing metal in the same vain as Motorhead. What else do you need?
They are more like new wave of american heavy metal.
It sounds more british than american.
Demons first two al;bums are classic NWOBHM fayre, and are two of the best records of that era. Then we get to their classic material The Plague, Breakout, British Standard Approved etc, mixing the classic NWOBHM sound with what would laterly be called prog metal. Demon have to be one of the most influential bands of the whole era (and remember people NWOBHM was a movement NOT a genre - and yes Priest and Motorhead are great bands, but they are NOT NWOBHM.. Both were well established before the term was coined (by Sounds writer Malcome Dome) in March 1979)
Tony Iommi was the producer of their first album as well as a big fan of theirs. That's how you know they gotta be good.