A Brief Guide To NWOBHM (With Recommendations)

Every person into Heavy Metal knows what New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was. Even the less-informed know about it because of the movement's association with Iron Maiden. Needless to say, every person begins his/her journey to the ocean of bands and genres related to Metal with Iron Maiden.

NWOBHM is often associated with Diamond Head, Venom, Grim Reaper, Angel Witch, Raven, Motorhead, Tank and Saxon, apart from Iron Maiden, but this movement was as big as Swedish Death Metal scene in the 90s, and a lot of bands died unnoticed and are still probably unknown. I will now list some bands that you need to listen to, with a short description of their sound.

1. Tytan - My personal favourite from this movement. The band chose a less raw and aggressive sound, settling for a 70s Judas Priest-like sound, with a more Hard Rock-oriented sound than Punk-oriented, which most bands chose.

Album : Rough Justice

2. Wolf - Not to be confused with the Swedish heavy metal band with the same name. Wolf was formerly known as Black Axe and released a single called "Highway Rider". It was rough, it was raw and totally metal. Wolf's album Edge Of The World is just a follow-up, with more songs. Awesome band.

Album : Edge Of The World

3. Atomkraft - One of the earliest bands to have a much more aggressive sound. Their sound can be described as Speed/Thrash Metal, with songs like "Demolition" containing fast riffs and thrashy drumming.

Album : Anthology

4. Blind Fury - Closely Related to Satan and Angel Witch, the band was weaker compared to both the bands in terms of sound, but that doesn't change the face that they made really good Heavy Metal. Their songs are a standard fare, nothing unique, but still worth checking out.

Album : Out Of Reach

5. Tysondog - Speedy riffs akin to Raven and high register vocals. Though the band hardly qualifies as Speed Metal, it is still close to that. The drumming is continuous and not very notable, but still adds to the "fast" sound the band aims for.

Album : Beware of the Dog

I cannot think of more at the moment, but will keep updating this list.

Time Is Up - Havok - Album Review

Time is Up, by all American Thrash Metal outfit, Havok is a very nostalgic yet mad-mad release, people! Yes, where all the star bands sold out, Havok still sticks to its roots, you might call it a tribute band or a keeper of thrash metal. Not to forget, CHECK OUT that artwork, it's just MAD!
 
The album starts with 'Prepare For Attack', a hardcore thrash metal song with cutthroat riffs and solid solos, followed by 'Fatal Intervention' which has sufficient groove, pounding drums and hyperactive solos similar to the first track. You should totally check out that scream in the third track 'No Amnesty'(you'll know what I am talking about when you actually hear it!), thrashy as expected. The fourth track 'D.O.A' is comparatively melodic and it totally reminds me of Slayer, very catchy tune, and then Tom Araya's screams! Killer riffs. 'Covering Fire' is another track where you should totally check out the solos and the chops, the crispiness of the sounds followed by 'Killing Tendencies' which is very much on a similar note, layered vocals, razor sharp riffs and chops. It does sound very Iron Maiden or Slayer-ish though, but then that's how it is.The next track 'Scumbag In Disguise' is tilted a bit to power metal, with more instrumental sections in between and master solos! 'The Cleric' is the 8th track of the album, and is a very general thrash metal track, the melodies and leads are pretty predictable, it's not as speedy as the rest, chops are noticeably okay. 'Out Of My Way' makes you get hooked on to their music all over again, it's chuggy, it's aggressive, it's old-school like the way you want it to be, riff-crazed, it's the kind of track that gives you major adrenaline rush! The last track is the title track, 'Time is Up' which sums up the album, in-your-face kinda thrashy sounds, speedy percussion's overall, love it.

The album was thoroughly not a disappointment at all, they started out as a steel guardian as thrash and they are keeping that title to themselves, and 'Time Is Up' is one of their very mature releases with all the melting leads and exceptional solos, pummeling rhythms. I dare you to head-bang to this!
 

Black Autumn (Ger) - Rivers of Dead Leaves - Album Review

Combining Black and Doom metal has always been a challenge for musicians and the output is usually very interesting. The same applies to Michael Krall's solo project, Black Autumn. Even though Black Autumn was intended to sound something in the vein of Norwegian Black Metal, and the album preceding to Rivers of Dead Leaves, ie, Ecstasy, Nightmare, Doom had a thin sound and typical Depressive Black Metal atmosphere, this album shows a change in sound as Black Autumn takes a more Doom Metal-oriented sound.

The experience of listening to Rivers of Dead Leaves can be described as taking a walk along the coast in a cold, foggy morning. The sound of the album, rather than being outright depressing, or having a feeling of impending doom, has a serene and mellow feeling to it, despite its basic genre, which is a combination of Depressive Black Metal with layers of thick guitar sound akin to Doom Metal. Don't get me wrong, the riffs generally play a melancholic pattern in all but one song, and the lyrical themes, though atypical, do not deal with anything bright or shiny or colourful. Yet, its not the usual tremolo-picked riffs and high-pitched wails deal here. The vocals are rather drowned and rasped, or whispered. The drum machine never sounds annoying, even though it plays a rather repetitive pattern, thanks to the fact that it is mostly hidden beneath the bassy, thick guitar riffs so it doesn't grab any more attention than needed. The songs always maintain their pace, but the variations in the riffs are enough to keep a person listening to it and avoid redundancy. One of the few downs in the album is that certain songs are not very notable or memorable, but songs like the title song, A 1000 Years In The Water, Oath and Ophelia are highly memorable songs, which still brings us a good ratio of 4:6. Another down is that the album takes some time to grow into You might feel like skipping a few songs when they're halfway over, unless you take time to listen to each one carefully.

The album has it flaws, is not perfect, and its sound may not be what people expect from it, but from my side, Rivers of Dead Leaves is a great effort by Black Autumn and is definitely up there among my favourite Black Metal releases.

(No CD available at Amazon.com, and the title is sold out. Buy other Black Autumn titles from http://www.wrecked-up.net/blackautumn/distro/

If you like Black Autumn, check out Gris)

Dystopia - Human = Garbage - Album Review

They say Black Metal is the most hate-driven genre is music. They're wrong, and Dystopia is the reason why. Crust/Sludge giants Dystopia have released numerous EPs and Splits and one full-length throughout their career, but their 1994 compilation is the high point.

Human = Garbage consists of 12 hateful Crust Punk tracks taken from 2 of their earlier splits and the EP titled the same. The amount of misanthropy and hate filled in this release is evident from the first track itself, with an intro in which the vocalist recites his disgust with the modern society in a frustrated voice, and a straight-forward crust song follows. The band doesn't stick to the usual punk formula of writing a single riff and playing it through a 1-minute track, but instead varies the riffs and speed, occasionally slowing down and becoming sludgy. There are samples scattered throughout the songs, and used very well and fit the mood of the songs, especially songs like Sanctity and Love/Hate.

 

After track 6, the band gets into a full Crust Punk mode and all songs after that are much faster and aggressive, sometimes as brutal as Grindcore with blast-beats and super-fast riffs in Slaved Chain and Ruptured Silence. These songs explore the less sludgy sound of the band. Throughout the compilation, the vocals are the main feature of interest, as all 3 members of the band handle the vocals, and each one of them has a different vocal style, so there's a good amount of variety to them. The frustrated high-pitched vocals, and hardcore screams and angry growling, all perfectly suit the lyrical themes of the band. There is a slight drop in aggression level with like Green Destroyed and Weed of Wisdom have a catchy groove to them despite some grind parts while Broken Shell is a slower, sludgier song but still has a catchy sound to it. The relentless crust assault keeps going with the song Sleep, which is taken from their split with the Sludge band Grief, and work very well as a closing song due to the memorable acoustic passage accompanied by sludge riffs near the end of the song after 2 and half minutes of destructive crust punk assault.

The compilation is recommended for Metal and Punk fans alike, and Dystopia is undoubtedly one of the most hateful and aggressive band one would ever come across.