2023-09-27 16:48
Not the motor racing circuit in Kent – this Brands Hatch were around for a while back in the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days. As was another band with the same name who r… Read More
Blog Directory > Arts & Entertainment Blogs > Music Blogs > New Wave Of British Heavy Metal music Blog >
New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Blog
newwaveofbritishheavymetal.com
Tags:
british heavy metal
ancient mistakes
stonewashed
tantrum
studio album
phantasm undercover
jethro tull broadsword
alan
thunderstick
jethro tull
News, reviews and recollections frrom the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Classic Rock. NWOBHM
2023-09-27 10:10
Stonewashed was a short-lived band from (I think) Germany back in the 1990s. Way of Thorns is their sole album which was issued in 1995. After that they disappeared. I bought it recently whe… Read More
2023-09-26 10:15
Time is Made of Gold is the second album from former long-time Hawkwind bassist Alan Davey. The debut album goes back to the turn of the start of the century. This follow-up was issued in 20… Read More
2023-09-23 16:40
The countdown to the release of the new album by Thunderstick – Lockdown – is smoothed with the release of a second single from it on October 6. Here’s the media rele… Read More
2023-09-17 09:22
Zandar Zan were around for a few short years in the 1980s attempting to make their mark on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene. They were one of many NWOBHM-related bands based up in t… Read More
2023-09-13 10:00
Thunderstick has a new album due to be released on 20th October. It is titled Lockdown. First album from the Stick and his band for a few years. Here’s the press release I’ve rec… Read More
2023-09-11 09:50
Here’s yet another “lost” New Wave of British Heavy Metal gem somehow unearthed by Cult Metal Classics as they keep doing. This time the band is Phantasm. A short-lived pro… Read More
2023-09-09 09:33
Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland – otherwise known as Hats Off Gentlemen it’s Adequate – have a quite superb new album out named The Light of Ancient Mistakes. I wasn&rsqu&hell…Read More
2023-09-04 09:39
Broadsword and the Beast – Tull album from 1982 – becomes the latest of Tull’s back catalogue to get the big box anniversary set treatment. This one being the 40th annivers… Read More
2023-09-03 18:08
Another Life is the second album from Scottish rock band Tantrum (great name, right?) and was released a couple of months ago in July 2023. The band’s vocalist, Mark Reid, got in touch… Read More
2023-08-23 12:56
In October 2020, Rob from Squib Kick Records got in touch and sent me a copy of the debut album from his project Rich Kid Express. Rob said he created Rich Kid Express as a fun, solo project… Read More
2023-08-18 11:35
Hellanbach was one of the many New Wave of British Heavy Metal era bands from the NWOBHM “hot bed” around the north east of England all those years ago. And one of the many who w… Read More
2023-08-07 11:09
Edward’s first solo album in many a year is a massively dramatic and sweeping epic of epic scale. A good old fashioned concept album based around a second “big bang” and ho… Read More
2023-08-06 16:54
I hadn’t come across High Spy until a few days ago when a friend suggested I check them out and in particular their latest album Human Geometry. So I duly hunted out their BandCamp pag… Read More
2023-08-02 13:23
Former Blue Oyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard draws his expansive Imaginos trilogy now closing out the random access myth where everything happens all at once with Imaginos III Mutant Refo… Read More
2023-07-31 09:59
Marquis de Sade were first around in the early 1980s being one of many bands hoping to make their mark as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal took off. Back then they didn’t last long… Read More
2023-07-28 16:28
The mighty Girlschool return with a new album some ten years after their last one. And a welcome return it is as WTFortyfive is classic Girlschool retaining all the power, attitude and swagg… Read More
2023-07-23 13:27
Guns for Hire is the debut album from Tailgunner. It’s a proper cracker. Fresh, brash and pounding heavy metal with melodic elements and something of a retro feel to it incorporating s… Read More
2023-07-20 12:16
Mythra go all the way back to the late 1970s and back then were at the head of the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Their Death and Destiny EP a bona fide NWOBHM classic. How I wish… Read More
2023-07-13 10:23
The late, great Ronnie Montrose formed Gamma a few years after Montrose spilt. Gamma released three albums in reasonably short order between 1979 and 1982 without unfortunately achieving too… Read More
2023-07-01 16:45
Raven’s All Hells Breaking Loose is another winner from brothers John and Mark Gallagher who have kept the show on the road for approaching fifty years now. Going all the way back to 1… Read More
2023-07-01 11:07
Dave Russell was the vocalist for a band named April 16th. They were active for a few years from the mid-1980s until the early 1990s chasing the rock star dream as it remained generally out… Read More
2023-06-27 10:27
Veteran German progsters Eloy led as always by main man Frank Bornemann complete their trilogy based on the life of Joan of Arc in fine style with Echoes from the Past. Joan of Arc has a spe… Read More
2023-06-17 10:01
The excellent White Spirit have issued a special edition of their Right or Wrong album – the original of which was of course their triumphant return after some four decades following t… Read More
2023-06-11 10:29
Dragonfly had a brief career back in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal days – though what a band they were. They had something that little bit different to offer. In true NWOBHM styl… Read More
2023-06-07 11:24
Weapon keep the recent run of excellent new offerings from New Wave of Heavy Metal era bands keeping the flag flying joining the likes of Trespass and Millennium who all remain active and re… Read More
2023-06-06 09:52
Millennium go back to the early 1980 and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal heydays. After a fine debut album things didn’t take off for them and the disbanded towards the end of that… Read More
2023-06-05 15:50
Back in October 2021 I came across Eld Varg’s One Man Army describing the album as: “a first class storming album of brutal riff-based heavy/power metal with a top slice of mysti… Read More
2023-06-02 10:06
Five years after the excellent Footprints in the Rock, New Wave of British Heavy Metal survivors Trespass come back with Wolf at the Door. Original member Mark Sutcliffe still around on guit… Read More
2023-05-28 11:02
One Night Stands is the fourth album from Canadian hard rockers Teaze originally issued back in 1979. The 1970s/1980s was something of a golden era for Canadian rock with so many excellent b… Read More
2023-05-21 17:10
Ajren Lucassen – the man who has brought us over the years a never ending stream of some of the most impressive, imaginative and bombastic prog/metal projects such as the multi-guest c… Read More
2023-05-21 10:41
Falcon’s Easy Prey is another one from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal days in the 1980s re-discovered by those top people at Obscure NWOBHM Releases and put out on one of their li… Read More
2023-05-20 10:06
It’s been a long time since the 1970s when Yes were untouchable in delivering an unending master class in high class, inventive and timeless progressive rock. Albums such as Fragile, C… Read More
2023-05-18 16:35
Denigh appeared back in the late 1970s and were from the south east England. Just like many rock bands at the time, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal tag was applied as Denigh set out to m… Read More
2023-05-15 09:04
Titan, not to be confused with Tytan, were from Lincolnshire here in the UK forming in 1981and like many at the time wanted to make their mark on the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Met… Read More
2023-05-13 16:07
Uriah Heep’s Wonderworld (1974) and High and Mighty (1976) get the picture disc reissue treatment. Different in style as you could say the albums form a sort of transitional period for… Read More
2023-05-10 17:47
With Fearless, Canadian duo Crown Lands come up with an album of bombastic classic progressive rock and then some. Sure, the Rush influences smack you right in the chops and Crown Lands pull… Read More
2023-05-06 09:47
I go all the way back with the Tygers to their origins at the start of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the late 1970s/early1980s. All the classic early stuff with the likes of Jon Syk… Read More
2023-05-05 10:03
Sphinx were a German-Italian band formed in the late 1970s lasting a few years without too much success. However, their album Here We Are from 1981 is a stone cold, done deal classic mixture… Read More
2023-04-29 10:41
Hawkwind’s The Future Never Waits is, remarkably, their thirty-fifth studio album and with the constant presence of Dave Brock at the helm approaching his 82nd year on the planet. Thin… Read More
2023-04-26 12:28
Arkeyn Steel Records have pulled another metaphorical rabbit out of the hat. Along with their recent re-issue of Phantom Reign’s No Hope for the Future (review here) they’ve now… Read More
2023-04-23 16:20
Whilst I like my heavy stuff, not least NWOBHM of course, I don’t mind a spot of classy melodic rock. Rocky Road by Bite the Bullet certainly squarely hits the spot as that classy melo… Read More
2023-04-23 09:44
Phantom Reign originated in Illiniois back in the late 1980s. Their sole album – No Hope for the Future – is one which can properly have the “lost classic” tag applie… Read More
2023-04-21 10:26
Had word via Soldier guitarist Ian Dick that the band are to re-release a remixed and remastered version of their Dogs of War album which will include two new bonus tracks. Soldier of course… Read More
2023-04-20 14:29
Big news for Uriah Heep fans including yours truly – Wonderworld and High and Mighty to be released as picture discs on 26th May. Just received a press release about it. Here’s t… Read More
2023-04-09 10:16
A busy few weeks ahead for us New Wave of British Heavy Metal aficionados with a slew of new releases to look forward to through to the end of June. Albums are due from (in no particu… Read More
2023-04-08 16:45
Steve Thorne isn’t a name I’m familiar with. I bought the album after being attracted by the spectacular art work – which gives something of a non-too subtle hint as to wha… Read More
2023-04-01 15:33
New Wave of British Heavy Metal veterans Saxon come at us with More Inspirations. Their second album of covers in short order just a couple of years since Inspirations in 2021. Whilst I&rsqu&hell…Read More
2023-03-28 14:09
A bit of a special one here. From the Fjords is the sole album from Legend originally released back in 1979. The band, from the USA, wasn’t around long however From the Fjords is jaw-d… Read More
2023-03-25 11:44
Nik Turner, best known of course for his various stints in Hawkwind, sadly died towards the end of 2022. That roughly coincided with this deluxe version re-issue of this Space Ritual 1994 li… Read More
2023-03-19 11:39
Hear Us Out is the debut album from The Flood. The band consists of Chris Ousey (Hartland, Snakecharmer), Jim Kirkpatrick (FM), Didge Ditital (ex-FM), Nigel Glockler (Saxon) and Billy Sheeha… Read More
2023-03-17 15:35
Downfall is Ark Ascent’s debut album which was released back in 2019. I picked it up recently after hearing one of the songs and being impressed enough to hit the button. The band has… Read More
2023-03-12 17:54
Running from the Law is the sole album from Orphan Allies originally released back in 1986 to little fanfare. The band were from the Chicago area and with Running from the Law had an album o… Read More
2023-03-11 16:29
IQ’s The Wake is an album I’ve been meaning to get my hands on for a few years after being repeatedly told it’s a 1980s stone cold prog rock classic. Finally got around to… Read More
2023-03-09 11:29
Here’s another fine box set which Cherry Red Records do so very well. This time it’s a triple set featuring Warfare, of who Lemmy was a big fan. Warfare formed in the early/mid-1… Read More
2023-03-05 16:38
Going for Gold was the second album from Maineeaxe back in the mid-1980s at the height of the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days. The follow-up to their debut album – Shout… Read More
2023-03-05 10:28
With A Gallery of the Imagination, Rick’s done something a bit different from what you may be have been expecting. His previous album- The Red Planet – was a glorious return to h… Read More
2023-03-04 16:39
Shout it Out was the debut album from Maineeaxe – a Yorkshire based band forming in the mid-1980s to ride the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. And they made a pretty good go at it with… Read More
2023-02-19 17:31
Tora Tora’s debut album from 1989 – Surprise Attack – remastered and re-issued with four bonus tracks. A fine album of hard, energetic, fresh yet melodic sort of hair metal… Read More
2023-02-18 18:37
Emolecule is a collaboration between Simon Collins and Kelly Nordstrom with the result being this debut album titled The Architect. It’s not the first time they’ve worked togethe… Read More
2023-02-16 18:58
Spanish vocalist Gabrielle De Val has her first solo album with Kiss in a Dragon Night. It’s a full-on slab of high class hard edged melodic rock/metal and a fine showcase for Gabriell… Read More
2023-02-15 12:02
Tokyo Blade’s first three albums from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal years in the early 1980s issued in one of those excellent box sets which Cherry Red do so well including a fou… Read More
2023-02-13 14:25
Return of the Lydia is The Tirith’s third album and one I took a flyer on after hearing the superb title track. The band go all the way back to the early 1970s when named as Minas Tiri… Read More
2023-02-12 17:52
Evership’s The Uncrowned King spans two albums (Act 1 and Act 2) based around the book by Harold Bell Wright. A proper, good old-fashioned, expansive progressive rock concept piece of… Read More
2023-02-08 11:45
Holocaust go back to the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days being formed in Scotland in the late 1970s. They were quite prolific back then and whilst flying a bit under the NWOBHM… Read More
2023-02-04 15:58
Obscure NWOBHM Releases hit the spot once again somehow finding another one from the good old New Wave of British Heavy days which might otherwise have remained hidden. This time the band is… Read More
2023-02-01 18:23
The Heavy Metal Kids’ glorious first three albums from the mid-1970s get the Cherry Red box set treatment as the label does so well. Here in the usual solid clamshell box we have the K… Read More
2023-01-31 12:48
The sixteenth studio album from Ten – Something Wicked This Way Comes – is another slab of what Ten do best. Classy melodic rock of the highest order with that familiar symphonic… Read More
2023-01-28 17:45
Chaos and Colour is the mighty Uriah Heep’s twenty-fifth studio album. And it’s right up there with the best of the previous twenty-four showing what a pedigree they still have t… Read More
2023-01-26 17:46
Skin weren’t around for too long in the 1990s though what a band they were. Thunderous “proper” hard rock songs with a bluesy edge to them built around the lung-busting voi… Read More
2023-01-25 11:30
The mighty Girlschool, at their heyday at the height of the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days and forever associated with it, have an excellent box set issued covering a career r… Read More
2023-01-22 10:45
Stonebolt were a Canadian band. They put out for albums between 1978 and 1982 with New Set of Changes being the third of the quartet. Now, I’ve had a bit of a soft spot for Canadian ba… Read More
2023-01-14 11:32
Vantage Point hail from Edinburgh. Towards the end of 2020 the band got in touch asking if I’d review their Demonic Dinner Dance II album. You can read that review here. It’s ver… Read More
2023-01-13 12:52
At the Circus is the third Album from German multi-instrumentalist Mikey Wenzl’s Starquake project. The first two (Times that Matter and Time Space Matter) were both excellent homages… Read More
2023-01-07 17:38
Airforce is a band with a strong New Wave of British Heavy Metal connection whether or not they’d be hit with the NWOBHM tag. The brief history is that drummer Doug Sampson had left an… Read More
2023-01-01 18:35
Original Sin plied their trade from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s as yet another band in the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days trying to make a name for themselves. Unfortunate… Read More
2022-12-24 17:45
Black Rose’s second album – Walk it How You Talk it – from 1986 gets a welcome reissue on a limited CD run of 500 copies and includes the band’s Nightmare EP an… Read More
2022-12-14 17:15
Douglas Docker’s massive Mystic Technocracy project moves on with the release of Season 2: The Age of Entropy. It’s been a while since Season 1: The Age of Innocence and most cer… Read More
2022-11-19 17:00
The always excellent and inventive Gandalf’s Fist come at us with a stunning album of progressive rock – with the emphasis on the rock part – titled Widdershins. As is gene… Read More
2022-11-09 12:25
A friend put me on Midnight Rider somewhat cryptically suggesting I’d like them. Duly listened to one of the songs. Immediately impressed. Without knowing anything about the band and a… Read More
2022-11-01 16:30
Powerzone is the second album from powerhouse vocalist Chez Kane following up here eponymous debut album from around eighteen months or so ago. That debut (review here) was a stunning effort… Read More
2022-10-29 17:16
Steve Hillage has for decades been one of my most admired guitarists. His effortless, fluid, spacey style puts him up there for me with the likes of Donald Roeser, Bill Nelson, Martin Barre… Read More
2022-09-30 09:41
Norwegian progsters Adventure give us part two of their Tales of Belle duology to conclude the story of nineteenth century mass murderer and serial killer Belle Gunness who from poor beginni… Read More
2022-09-17 14:45
Blitzkrieg formed in 1980 as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was taking off and had a style well-suited to the genre. Crunching no nonsense riff-based in yer face heaviness. Initially it… Read More
2022-09-03 10:22
Red Noise was the band Bill Nelson formed after disbanding the glorious Be Bop Deluxe in the late 1970s. Putting his name in the band’s title wasn’t Bill’s idea. It was app… Read More
2022-08-20 15:51
Heartbreaker were formed in the early 1970s by Steve Annetts, who would go on to join After Dark so we have a New Wave of British Heavy Metal connection though Heartbreaker took their name f… Read More
2022-08-09 10:43
Theory of Tides – the second album from Steve Newman’s side project Compass – is an excellent slab of progressive rock with a melodic edge and a concept album based around… Read More
2022-07-30 09:55
White Spirit’s self-titled debut album from 1980 was one of the finest albums of the then burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene. With a style more akin to say Uriah Heep or… Read More
2022-07-29 10:40
UFO’s High Stakes and Dangerous Men album from 1993 gets a welcome re-issue packaged with the Lights Out in Tokyo live album. This was UFO’s first album since the somewhat miss-s… Read More
2022-07-23 16:41
Paul Di’Anno will I suppose always be primarily linked with the first two Iron Maiden albums on which he handled the vocals on way back in the early 1980s before his well-documented de… Read More
2022-07-17 16:09
The Android Messiah is the debut album by the Chronomaster Project. An excellent progressive metal concept album with an ensemble cast of contributors based around a science fiction story. T… Read More
2022-07-16 11:07
Hard to believe that it’s some fifty years since Babe Ruth’s glorious debut album was issued. They were generally more hard rock than progressive rock and with a twist of jazz fu… Read More
2022-07-10 17:23
Medusa Touch formed in Scotland in the early 1980s when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was everywhere. The band back then were part of it and put the hard miles in playing countless gig… Read More
2022-07-09 10:21
I’m not normally much of a fan of instrumental albums – though when I heard that keyboard maestro Derek Sherinian had put together such a phenomenal range of guitarists to play o… Read More
2022-07-03 18:28
Here’s another “rediscovered” band from back in the good old New Wave of British Heavy Metal days – Woden Forge. They were from the Ipswich area forming towards the e… Read More
2022-07-02 17:32
Here we have the debut album from a collaboration between Chris Ousey (Heartland) and Steve Mann (Liar, Tytan, Lionheart, MSG etc.) and it’s a good a slab of classic hard rockers with… Read More
2022-07-02 10:04
The second album from Lonerider is a monster slab of chunky, upbeat, feel good, strong melodic/classic rock of the highest order. That’s probably not a surprise with the band consistin… Read More
2022-06-29 16:42
Black Rose of course go all the way back to the NWONHM days. A reasonably brief career then spawned a couple of albums before they called it a day around 1989 I think. There was a reformatio… Read More
2022-06-26 10:04
Ah, the Tygers of Pan Tang. There right from the start of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal days. Looked on track to have the huge success of the likes of Iron Maiden with those first thre… Read More
2022-06-22 16:05
Earlier today I received a press release with some excellent news indeed – More Witchfynde….! Here is is: Back in the earliest days of the musical movement that became New Wave… Read More
Subscribe to New Wave Of British Heavy Metal
Get updates delivered right to your inbox!