NWOBHM is now classic rock
Judas Priest came before it, Motorhead did their own thing, Iron Maiden are its biggest success story and it was probably the last time Britain had such a bumper crop of great metal bands. I am of course, talking about the most cumbersomely named movement in rock history: NWOBHM or New Wave of British Heavy Metal for the uninitiated. Like many titles coined by journalists that somehow stuck it described a wide spectrum of bands as any cursory listen to this compilation will attest.
The title doesn't describe a sound though and that should be heeded because no-one can miss the difference between a crusty, malevolent bunch of Geordie idiot savants like Venom and the flashy built for arenas rock of Girlschool. This breadth does allow for a compilation of sonic diversity and removes any apprehensions about a one note dirge of sound-a-like chancers gobbled together for a quick, cynical quid. Like the type that might accompany a nu-metal collection perhaps.
There are some obvious standouts amongst this group as is to be expected. Classics of known repute even outside of metal aficionado circles and/or those who were in their youth from '79 -83 are listed on the sleeve. Everyone will know the knockout evil tones of the riff to 'Am I Evil?' by Diamond Head, Saxon's update of the woman as vehicle/sex object song 'Wheels of Steel' is also familiar and then there are those songs that were hallmarks of the period that maybe don't get dusted off that often like Raven's 'Hard Ride' Blitzkrieg's wonderfully titled 'Blitzkrieg'
What's refreshing listening to this stuff now (after twenty years of metal's evolution and splintering into many more sub-genres, along with the genre's melange of prog and punk influences), is the amount of melody and actual singing. Metal in 2011 is not characterised by a massive pool of full-throated wailers whereas the NWOBHM combined a growing grit and strength in guitar sounds and drum attack with vocals that still soared and aimed for the back of the concert hall. For a good example head straight to Samson's 'Riding With The Angels' and take in Bruce Dickinson pre-Maiden.
NWOBHM had a fairly simple unifying manifesto: playing faster and heavier than what went before but also getting back to the rawness of live performances and away from the polystyrene representations of Stone Henge and loads of coke. Ultimately, that would return pretty quickly over in LA but a seed was also planted by the scratchy, balls to walls riffs and take-no-prisoners approach to song-craft employed by these bands. A seed that flowered (or should that be blackened and mutated) into thrash metal and the subsequent domination of Metallica in metal, then pop circles for years to come.
The normal compilation rules apply here: get it if you want a taster, bear in mind that it isn't definitive and then go for some of the era's best releases and see if you end up dressed solely in denim and leather in a few months time.