The highlight of NWOBHM and rock in general was 1980 , the very best albums were released in that year and there were a lot of them . Some of those bands continued into the late 1980's releasing great music . 1980 was an astounding year !
Hi Alan another interesting video cerebral fix was another uk thrash act from this time period who were good but late to the party 2nd album tower of spite from 1990 is recommended keep up the great content my friend
Hi Alan, really enjoyed the video. The band Cathedral and the album Forest of Equilibrium in particular from 1991 (still the best Cathedral album) had a big impact on me and got me more interested in exploring Doom Metal.
Glad you enjoyed the video natekix! I remember when 'Forest' came out, it was a really big deal and got a lot of promotion. And yes, it's definitely the best Cathedral album!
I think that there was a big move towards quality hard rock, after the success of 'Hysteria'. Loads of UK bands did pretty well in that arena. As you suggest, the bands over here were always well behind, in terms of the heavier stuff.
My favs post-NWOBHM/Speed Metal are Atomkraft, Warfare, Blood Money, etc. And the Thrash/Death Metal bands like Warhammer, Xyster, Antichrist and Deathchamber.
Another great video, was fun to watch this! A few things I wanna add: - I'd say NWOBHM lasted between '79 -' 82. 1983 was the year it fizzled out. I remember Classic Rock Magazine did a NWOBHM Special issue a few years ago and most of the musicians agreed that it died around '83. There are a few reasons for that, one of it being the attitude of the British Music Press. After' 82, music press shifted their attention away from the HM scene & started to focus on the emerging Synth Pop and New Romantic movements. Heavy Metal was (once again) looked down by the Music press as 'dinosaur music'. - The bands you mention from '85/'86 are mainly left-overs from the NWOBHM scene , but there are no "waves" around them. They are just bands playing Trad Metal. I'd also add brilliant albums by Grim Reaper(Rock You To Hell' 87)and Demon (Breakout '87, Taking The World By Storm' 89)to your list. - Your analysis of the British Thrash scene is spot-on. I'd add Acid Reign's The Fear('89)to your list of notable thrash albums from the UK. - Another album I wanna mention is Excalibur's "One Strange Night", great Melodic Metal stuff. - Lastly, even tho Black Sabbath was not "the flavour of the month" in the late' 80s, I remember that they were on the cover of Magazines (Kerrang, Metal Hammer etc) and their albums sold pretty well. Hard'n Heavy crowd still supported them. Thanks for the video 🤘
Thanks for the great, detailed comment! I can see why folks pick 83-84 as the end of the NWOBHM and you're right, the bands going in 85-86 were mostly older bands soldiering on. Very good point about the press moving on to the next musical movement by the mid 80s! I forgot about that but it was a factor. I should have mentioned Grim Reaper- I forgot 'Rock You to Hell' came out so late. Should have mentioned Acid Reign too. Good insights into Black Sabbath's coverage in the latest 80s. I don't remember seeing them get any attention BUT I was just getting into metal at that time.
Nice video Alan! Along with Motorhead/ Onslaught/Venom the likes of English Dogs, Discharge, Amebix blurred the lines at points between Metal/Punk. I was spinnin' the Marionette record Blonde secrets and dark bombshells recently. A snotty punk/glam album that featured Ray Zell (Kerrang mag fame) and a member from Chaos UK from 85. Not a bad listen really, it has its charms. By the end of the 80s bands like Cloven Hoof and Marshall Law couldnt get a look in with the British press, later ridiculed as 'Gumby Metal' ha!The Metal Hammer's Best Of British comp from 89 gives a decent peek into some of the uk scene then (featuring mostly Thrash and Glam acts) before the Grind/Death/Doom/Gothic/ Metal started getting more attention.
Thanks for the great comment! I'm glad you mentioned those bands blending metal and punk. I'm not very familiar with any of those (have heard some English Dogs but that's about it) so I didn't bring that up but it deserves mentioning for sure.
Another interesting topic Alan. Don't know if you're familiar with these but the first two hellbastard albums are great. Those are 88 and 90. The first is a little crusty but if you haven't checked these out its worth a listen. Great video.
Thanks Festered! Someone else also mentioned Hellbastard in their comment. I've never heard of them so I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the recommendation!
I do feel a bit sorry for some of these NWOBHM wannabies that were just too late to the party to garner any success. 40 years on they are all the rage as it doesn't matter if a NWOBHM sounding album came out in 85 or 86 as long as it's good metal. There were a lot of UK thrash bands at the end of the 80s but, most again were reacting to the US wave so arrived to late to make any impact on the decaying scene. Also the record companies treated them little more than potential support bands for touring US bands to keep costs down so they didn't get any investment or promotion.. I'd recommend getting a copy of Contract in Blood: A History of UK Thrash Metal by Ian Glasper, it's a great read about the UK thrash scene. Another great video Alan, keep 'em coming!
Thanks Andy! I'll keep an eye out for that book, sounds cool! Very good point about the poor label support for bands during that time. You can tell labels were cutting corners on artwork, production, promotion, etc. Makes you wonder why they even bothered signing bands if they didn't wanna do anything for them. On a different topic, Marty and I are gonna start doing some pre-recorded streams in the near future and we'd love to arrange times to record with you as a guest if you're interested. By not doing the stream live we can be more flexible in picking a good time to record with folks like you and others in the UK, Europe, etc who aren't able to join us for the Friday night live streams we've been doing. If you'd be interested in joining us for an episode please let me know and we'll figure out the details.
@@metalmogul Great! We typically let the guest come up with a topic they'd love to talk about Our schedules are pretty jumbled for a week or two but I'll get back to you in Sept so we can figure out the details.
You make an interesting observation about the album charts these days. It's probably more important to track the Spotify analytics these days. Hysteria was the album I really got into right before I discovered the heavier acts like Metallica and Megadeth. I probably wore my copy of that cassette out! So many hits on that record. It's probably time to track another copy down for nostalgia! First Hydra Vein album cover...very bad. Second Hydra Vein album cover...much better. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
it really is bizarre how late those Cloven Hoof albums were. The debut really feels like it should have been 1982, Dominator totally feels like '84 and Sultan's totally feels like an '86 album.
Good video Alan and you make fair points about the UK bands. The thrash scene over here was always trailing behind (well behind infact) America and Germany. Also what they did which you may or may not have picked up on, Lots of them used humour in both the music and their branding and I think it came from a lack of confidence in what they were doing. They were no match for the Bay Area stuff technically and I think in America the attitude might be “give it a try you can do this” whereas in the the UK there’s a distinct lack of support for the arts and these bands will have been ridiculed by families and friends for even trying. That’s why this country doesn’t excel at anything. Acid Reign are a great band worth checking out, very much the UK answer to Anthrax. Enjoyed this !
Thanks! I'm glad you and some of the other UK metal folks enjoyed this video, I was a little worried y'all might call for me to be tarred and feathered for bollocksing it up :) That's interesting about the attitude towards trying/lack of support. So many cool music scenes came out of the UK that it seems like a rather creative place, so it's interesting to hear how little support there is. Makes those musical achievements all the more impressive! I can see where the thrash bands would have felt a bit odd coming out in the wake of the Bay Area scene. How do you follow that up? SO adding a bit of a nod and a wink makes sense. I forgot about Acid Reign! My bad; haven't heard that name in awhile. Another commenter brought them up too. I'll have to revisit their catalog. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hi Peter- The orig is the Hot, hard, and Heavy press. It has the woman on the cover and the purple border on the sides of the front cover. It's a pretty cool record; I only have one of the other pressings (Black Dragon)
Very late reply here and perhaps this band has already been mentioned: English Dogs, anyone? Especially their second and their albums should fit the bill, even though they also had a fair bit of punk/hardcore heritage.
@@letstalkmetalIt’s for sure one of those band that straddles the line and doesn’t get much attention from neither metalheads nor punks. I think it’s an interesting hybrid and their aesthetics are pretty cool as well. Oh, I forgot to mention that I really like your videos alot! Turns the daily commute into something that’s actually quite enjoyable. 🤘
@@johanpettersson1423 Thanks! Glad you enjoy the :) ED does seem to get overlooked. Most people who know about the see to like them. I guess their records have gotten a bit hard to find over the years.
Good point. There are some bands here and there that followed the NWOBHM template later on, such as SLANDER. I supposed some of the NWOTHM bands come close.
The highlight of NWOBHM and rock in general was 1980 , the very best albums were released in that year and there were a lot of them . Some of those bands continued into the late 1980's releasing great music . 1980 was an astounding year !
Hard to argue with that! :)
Hi Alan another interesting video cerebral fix was another uk thrash act from this time period who were good but late to the party 2nd album tower of spite from 1990 is recommended keep up the great content my friend
Thanks Robert! Can't remember if I've heard that Cerebral Fix album or not, I'll keep an eye out for it!
Hi Alan, really enjoyed the video. The band Cathedral and the album Forest of Equilibrium in particular from 1991 (still the best Cathedral album) had a big impact on me and got me more interested in exploring Doom Metal.
Glad you enjoyed the video natekix! I remember when 'Forest' came out, it was a really big deal and got a lot of promotion. And yes, it's definitely the best Cathedral album!
I think that there was a big move towards quality hard rock, after the success of 'Hysteria'. Loads of UK bands did pretty well in that arena. As you suggest, the bands over here were always well behind, in terms of the heavier stuff.
But then you got way ahead on the grind stuff... it's like the UK decided to mostly skip thrash and go for something more over the top right away :)
My favs post-NWOBHM/Speed Metal are Atomkraft, Warfare, Blood Money, etc. And the Thrash/Death Metal bands like Warhammer, Xyster, Antichrist and Deathchamber.
I forgot about ATOMKRAFT! Used to see one of their albums on sale lists all the time!
Raven ‘Nothing Succeeds Like Success’ great NB album 🤘
Nice call! I don't know my mid-80s RAVEN well at all, I need to fix that when I get time to.
Another great video, was fun to watch this! A few things I wanna add:
- I'd say NWOBHM lasted between '79 -' 82. 1983 was the year it fizzled out. I remember Classic Rock Magazine did a NWOBHM Special issue a few years ago and most of the musicians agreed that it died around '83. There are a few reasons for that, one of it being the attitude of the British Music Press. After' 82, music press shifted their attention away from the HM scene & started to focus on the emerging Synth Pop and New Romantic movements. Heavy Metal was (once again) looked down by the Music press as 'dinosaur music'.
- The bands you mention from '85/'86 are mainly left-overs from the NWOBHM scene , but there are no "waves" around them. They are just bands playing Trad Metal. I'd also add brilliant albums by Grim Reaper(Rock You To Hell' 87)and Demon (Breakout '87, Taking The World By Storm' 89)to your list.
- Your analysis of the British Thrash scene is spot-on. I'd add Acid Reign's The Fear('89)to your list of notable thrash albums from the UK.
- Another album I wanna mention is Excalibur's "One Strange Night", great Melodic Metal stuff.
- Lastly, even tho Black Sabbath was not "the flavour of the month" in the late' 80s, I remember that they were on the cover of Magazines (Kerrang, Metal Hammer etc) and their albums sold pretty well. Hard'n Heavy crowd still supported them. Thanks for the video 🤘
Thanks for the great, detailed comment!
I can see why folks pick 83-84 as the end of the NWOBHM and you're right, the bands going in 85-86 were mostly older bands soldiering on.
Very good point about the press moving on to the next musical movement by the mid 80s! I forgot about that but it was a factor.
I should have mentioned Grim Reaper- I forgot 'Rock You to Hell' came out so late. Should have mentioned Acid Reign too.
Good insights into Black Sabbath's coverage in the latest 80s. I don't remember seeing them get any attention BUT I was just getting into metal at that time.
Nice video Alan! Along with Motorhead/ Onslaught/Venom the likes of English Dogs, Discharge, Amebix blurred the lines at points between Metal/Punk. I was spinnin' the Marionette record Blonde secrets and dark bombshells recently. A snotty punk/glam album that featured Ray Zell (Kerrang mag fame) and a member from Chaos UK from 85. Not a bad listen really, it has its charms. By the end of the 80s bands like Cloven Hoof and Marshall Law couldnt get a look in with the British press, later ridiculed as 'Gumby Metal' ha!The Metal Hammer's Best Of British comp from 89 gives a decent peek into some of the uk scene then (featuring mostly Thrash and Glam acts) before the Grind/Death/Doom/Gothic/ Metal started getting more attention.
Thanks for the great comment! I'm glad you mentioned those bands blending metal and punk. I'm not very familiar with any of those (have heard some English Dogs but that's about it) so I didn't bring that up but it deserves mentioning for sure.
Another interesting topic Alan. Don't know if you're familiar with these but the first two hellbastard albums are great. Those are 88 and 90. The first is a little crusty but if you haven't checked these out its worth a listen. Great video.
Thanks Festered! Someone else also mentioned Hellbastard in their comment. I've never heard of them so I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the recommendation!
I do feel a bit sorry for some of these NWOBHM wannabies that were just too late to the party to garner any success. 40 years on they are all the rage as it doesn't matter if a NWOBHM sounding album came out in 85 or 86 as long as it's good metal. There were a lot of UK thrash bands at the end of the 80s but, most again were reacting to the US wave so arrived to late to make any impact on the decaying scene. Also the record companies treated them little more than potential support bands for touring US bands to keep costs down so they didn't get any investment or promotion.. I'd recommend getting a copy of Contract in Blood: A History of UK Thrash Metal
by Ian Glasper, it's a great read about the UK thrash scene. Another great video Alan, keep 'em coming!
Thanks Andy! I'll keep an eye out for that book, sounds cool!
Very good point about the poor label support for bands during that time. You can tell labels were cutting corners on artwork, production, promotion, etc. Makes you wonder why they even bothered signing bands if they didn't wanna do anything for them.
On a different topic, Marty and I are gonna start doing some pre-recorded streams in the near future and we'd love to arrange times to record with you as a guest if you're interested. By not doing the stream live we can be more flexible in picking a good time to record with folks like you and others in the UK, Europe, etc who aren't able to join us for the Friday night live streams we've been doing. If you'd be interested in joining us for an episode please let me know and we'll figure out the details.
@@letstalkmetal Sure Id be interested if you think there is a topic I can add some value too.
@@metalmogul Great! We typically let the guest come up with a topic they'd love to talk about Our schedules are pretty jumbled for a week or two but I'll get back to you in Sept so we can figure out the details.
You make an interesting observation about the album charts these days. It's probably more important to track the Spotify analytics these days. Hysteria was the album I really got into right before I discovered the heavier acts like Metallica and Megadeth. I probably wore my copy of that cassette out! So many hits on that record. It's probably time to track another copy down for nostalgia! First Hydra Vein album cover...very bad. Second Hydra Vein album cover...much better. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
'Hysteria' was HUGE when I was in middle school. is it a great metal record? No. Is it a huge part of the soundtrack from my youth? Absolutely :)
it really is bizarre how late those Cloven Hoof albums were. The debut really feels like it should have been 1982, Dominator totally feels like '84 and Sultan's totally feels like an '86 album.
I agree Michael, it always throws me off that the debut isn't from about 1982- I never remember that it came out so (relatively) late.
Killer!!!
Good video Alan and you make fair points about the UK bands. The thrash scene over here was always trailing behind (well behind infact) America and Germany. Also what they did which you may or may not have picked up on, Lots of them used humour in both the music and their branding and I think it came from a lack of confidence in what they were doing. They were no match for the Bay Area stuff technically and I think in America the attitude might be “give it a try you can do this” whereas in the the UK there’s a distinct lack of support for the arts and these bands will have been ridiculed by families and friends for even trying. That’s why this country doesn’t excel at anything. Acid Reign are a great band worth checking out, very much the UK answer to Anthrax. Enjoyed this !
Thanks! I'm glad you and some of the other UK metal folks enjoyed this video, I was a little worried y'all might call for me to be tarred and feathered for bollocksing it up :)
That's interesting about the attitude towards trying/lack of support. So many cool music scenes came out of the UK that it seems like a rather creative place, so it's interesting to hear how little support there is. Makes those musical achievements all the more impressive!
I can see where the thrash bands would have felt a bit odd coming out in the wake of the Bay Area scene. How do you follow that up? SO adding a bit of a nod and a wink makes sense.
I forgot about Acid Reign! My bad; haven't heard that name in awhile. Another commenter brought them up too. I'll have to revisit their catalog. Thanks for the recommendation!
@@letstalkmetal Shameless plug... ruclips.net/video/ZnRWzkwsHCQ/видео.html
Hello Alan! I found a copy of explorer " symphonies of steel" but I need to know what's the label of the 1st press?? I've never seen this record
Hi Peter- The orig is the Hot, hard, and Heavy press. It has the woman on the cover and the purple border on the sides of the front cover. It's a pretty cool record; I only have one of the other pressings (Black Dragon)
@@letstalkmetal oh this was a roadra er reiss from 86 I think!
@@peterbrickley6041 still a cool fine!
Very late reply here and perhaps this band has already been mentioned: English Dogs, anyone? Especially their second and their albums should fit the bill, even though they also had a fair bit of punk/hardcore heritage.
Good call! I like ED but I do tend to forget about them, my bad. The punk edge they had worked well for their stytle
@@letstalkmetalIt’s for sure one of those band that straddles the line and doesn’t get much attention from neither metalheads nor punks. I think it’s an interesting hybrid and their aesthetics are pretty cool as well.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I really like your videos alot! Turns the daily commute into something that’s actually quite enjoyable. 🤘
@@johanpettersson1423 Thanks! Glad you enjoy the :)
ED does seem to get overlooked. Most people who know about the see to like them. I guess their records have gotten a bit hard to find over the years.
hiho ,alan,
Pariah Blaze of Obscurity
· Russell Tippins
put it on,
grrrreeeetiiings, gunnar
I've never checked out that Pariah release, just heard of it by reputation.. Thanks!
I'm surprised their has never been a nwobhm revival
Good point. There are some bands here and there that followed the NWOBHM template later on, such as SLANDER. I supposed some of the NWOTHM bands come close.
Hydra vein deathwish and axe grinder and perhaps grave new world by discharge
I haven't heard that Discharge, only a couple of their other releases.
@@letstalkmetal that's their heavy metal opus!
@@peterbrickley6041 and album who loved by old metalheads and super hated by punks:)