Favorite NWOBHM Songs

I really like the NWOBHM* and am searching YouTube and other sites for songs/albums I haven’t heard. Through my searches I ran across “Dave’s top 50 Best NWoBHM Songs” http://www.heartofmetal.net/t11803-dave-s-top-50-best-nwobhm-songs-and-number-one-is which is how I came upon this forum.

I decided to come up with my top 25 songs and maybe encourage some of you to come up with lists of your own so I can listen to even more NWOBHM I’ve yet to hear. There were many songs on Dave’s list I hadn’t heard before and two ended up making my list ( Virtue and Quartz) while two others almost made the cut (Trespass and Scarab). I had "discovered" Jameson Raid days before finding that thread and was happy to see that I'm not the only one who thinks "Seven Days Of Splendour" is brilliant.

I decided on two rules when creating my list: 1. I’ll only choose one song per band, and 2. I’ll choose songs that were released before 1987. That meant I had to leave off my favorite Raven song “Only The Strong Survive.” Anyway, here is my list as it stand right now:

1. "Invisible Hate" (1982)--Witchfinder General
2. "Blitzkrieg" (1980 Demo version)--Blitzkrieg
The demo is much better than the later A Time of Changes version.
3. "Leaving Nadir" (1980)--Witchfynde
One of my favorite metal bands. Cloak And Dagger is one of my all-time favorite albums. I'm surprised none of their songs made Dave's list. A couple others could have easily made my list, especially "Crystal Gazing," but I went with this one.
4. "Seven Days Of Splendour" (1979)--Jameson Raid
5. "Shoot Out The Lights" (1980)--Diamond Head

6. "Trial By Fire" (1983)--Satan
This song slightly over "Heads Will Roll" and "Pull The Trigger."
7. "Something On My Mind" (1984)--Damascus
8. "Mad Dog" (1982)--Alverna Gunn
9. "Prowler" (1980)--Iron Maiden
I only consider Paul Di'Anno era Maiden NWOBHM. I'm not sure what the common take on this is.
10. "Angel Of Death" (1980)--Angel Witch

11. "Heavy Artillery" (1982)--Tank
12. "Son Of Odin" (1986)--Elixir
13. "Rock Of Ages" (1983)--Def Leppard
I've read where some do not consider Pyromania as part of the NWOBHM movement because Def Leppard was so huge then. I'm including it because, IMO, it's their best song (I still remember the first time I heard it from a cassette someone left on a beach I visited when a kid and was completely blown away by it) and it was early 1980s.
14. "Fear No Evil" (1985)--Grim Reaper
15. "Green Eyes" (1984)--Crucifixion

16. "Quest For Glory" (1984)--Eazy Street
Found this song on YouTube and cannot find any info on this band. Beautiful song.
17. "Depression" (1981)--More
Last song to make my list so far, and boy is it a powerful track.
18. "Princess Of The Night" (1981)--Saxon
I actually like 1990s-2000s Saxon better. Killing Ground (2001) and Lionheart (2004) are my favorite albums by them and a couple songs off Solid Ball Of Rock (1991) are two of my favorite songs by them.
19. "Black Of The Night" (1983)--Wykked Vikker
Can't find much info on this band. Great name, though.
20. "Stand Up And Fight" (1980)--Quartz
I would have chosen "Wildfire" if the studio version sounded like the live version on YouTube from a BBC show called Look Hear. That version is so much more intense than the bland studio one. The vocals at the end are awesome.

21. "Under The Hammer" (1985)--Avenger
22. "White Lightning" (1980)--Paralex
23. "Running Blind" (1982)--Bashful Alley
So catchy. Often find myself singing along.
24. "Devil Takes The High Road" (1985)--Traitors Gate
Really like the bass on this song.
25. "We Stand To Fight" (1985)--Virtue
This song made the cut because of that awesome instrumental stuff near the end.


* pretty sure folks on a metal forum will know what this means, but, just in case, it stands for New Wave of British Heavy Metal that came out mostly in the late 1970s to mid 1980s.

Night of the Blade

Def Leppard - Another Hit And Run
Diamond Head - Sucking My Love
Iron Maiden - Running Free

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

Night of the Blade

THIS^^^^

I like that Tokyo Blade song!

My favorite NWOBHM: Anything off of Raven's first three albums. I'm a bit of a fanboy.

Fat Freddy wrote:

My favorite NWOBHM: Anything off of Raven's first three albums. I'm a bit of a fanboy.

I've listened to a few of their earlier albums on Grooveshark and I really only liked "Break the Chain," "Run Silent, Run Deep," and "Rock Until You Drop." I'll give them more listens. Sometimes it takes me awhile to get into certain songs/albums.

My list would consist of a ton of Saxon and Maiden and Priest.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Priest.

They aren't NWOBHM.

Someone had to say it.

I totally count Lep's Pyromania as part of their NWOBHM catalog. They were still dirty, to me, at that point.

I remember one dude on another forum arguing to death that Def Leppard was, cut and dry, a hair band. I have no problem with glam/sleaze, but DL, even in their later, more AOR years, aren't really a hair band. But aside from that, everything up through Pyromania is NWOBHM. That dude also counted Helloween as a nwoBRITISHhm band as well, so clearly he did not know much.

Pyromania's kinda on the borderline - it's both the first album of their hair metal era, and the last album of their NWOBHM era, even though I don't think Rock of Ages would qualify as metal, but there's some metallic songs on the album, like Stagefright or Billy's Got a Gun, but they also sound kinda poppier due to the production.
And while someone who considers Helloween NWOBHM is clearly not very knowledgeable in metal, I'd still agree with him that DL were a hair band for like a decade or so.

Dark Horseman wrote:

My list would consist of a ton of Saxon and Maiden and Priest.

That's why I made a one song per band rule. I wanted variety in my list with some lesser known bands.

I don't consider Judas Priest NWOBHM because they had been around so long or they would definitely make my list in the top 5.

TheGreatDuck wrote:

Pyromania's kinda on the borderline - it's both the first album of their hair metal era, and the last album of their NWOBHM era, even though I don't think Rock of Ages would qualify as metal, but there's some metallic songs on the album, like Stagefright or Billy's Got a Gun, but they also sound kinda poppier due to the production.
And while someone who considers Helloween NWOBHM is clearly not very knowledgeable in metal, I'd still agree with him that DL were a hair band for like a decade or so.

While it's just semantics, of course, I feel they are only "hair metal" due to circumstance. They didn't have the hair (most of them), the attitude, or even really the style of what I would consider really real hair metal, like Poison or Pretty Boy Floyd. Again, not putting down hair metal, as PBF is one of my favorite bands of all time.

Also, really, I feel NWOBHM is almost as much a label based on time and location as it is musical style. Otherwise, Tobruk, for one example, would never be thrown into the same category as Angel Witch and Iron Maiden.

On the opposite end, bands like Venom and Atomkraft do not sound like Witchfynde or Satan.

Though, to be fair, I still call The Cure a punk band, even though "Friday I'm in Love" is a far cry from anything on Three Imaginary Boys. Just kinda how I am, I guess. (I do enjoy "Friday I'm in Love", as well.)

ZombieHavoc wrote:

That dude also counted Helloween as a nwoBRITISHhm band as well, so clearly he did not know much.

Well, I like a lot of German metal bands, too. I used to love Helloween, but they haven't aged that well for me. I guess I'm not as into the complex, orchestrated music anymore. It just seems too much, though there are still some songs I like by them. Accept and Running Wild rule! I also like Stormwitch. I could probably make a list of favorite German metal songs, but I don't know if I could get to 25 yet with my one song per band rule.

If I can't use "Rock Of Ages," I could probably easily choose a song off High 'N Dry as I like that album a lot, too. It's just that, "Rock Of Ages" knocked my socks off when I first heard it when I was 9 or 10 years old. I had never heard anything like it before. I think it definitely qualifies as metal.

Obvious stuff like Saxon - 'Princess..' but THISSS is my favorite. This particular version of the song. PLAYYYYYY

80s Metal Lady wrote:

If I can't use "Rock Of Ages," I could probably easily choose a song off High 'N Dry as I like that album a lot, too. It's just that, "Rock Of Ages" knocked my socks off when I first heard it when I was 9 or 10 years old. I had never heard anything like it before. I think it definitely qualifies as metal.

Well, considering it's your list, I think you can use whatever you qualify as NWOBHM. Seriously, listen to Tobruk. These dudes are always categorized as NWOBHM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwzPM1QYjRA

ZombieHavoc wrote:

TheGreatDuck wrote:

Pyromania's kinda on the borderline - it's both the first album of their hair metal era, and the last album of their NWOBHM era, even though I don't think Rock of Ages would qualify as metal, but there's some metallic songs on the album, like Stagefright or Billy's Got a Gun, but they also sound kinda poppier due to the production.
And while someone who considers Helloween NWOBHM is clearly not very knowledgeable in metal, I'd still agree with him that DL were a hair band for like a decade or so.

While it's just semantics, of course, I feel they are only "hair metal" due to circumstance. They didn't have the hair (most of them), the attitude, or even really the style of what I would consider really real hair metal, like Poison or Pretty Boy Floyd. Again, not putting down hair metal, as PBF is one of my favorite bands of all time.

Also, really, I feel NWOBHM is almost as much a label based on time and location as it is musical style. Otherwise, Tobruk, for one example, would never be thrown into the same category as Angel Witch and Iron Maiden.

On the opposite end, bands like Venom and Atomkraft do not sound like Witchfynde or Satan.

Though, to be fair, I still call The Cure a punk band, even though "Friday I'm in Love" is a far cry from anything on Three Imaginary Boys. Just kinda how I am, I guess. (I do enjoy "Friday I'm in Love", as well.)

Well, it's not really like Bon Jovi, Winger or Dokken had the same looks as Poison or PBF either. The feminine image the latter two bands adopted wasn't the sole image on the hair metal scene.
3/5 of Def Leppard had the hair metal looks, actually:


How is Tobruk always categorized as NWOBHM? They're NWOBHM about as much as Bon Jovi are USPM.

Rock of Ages is a hard rock song, actually.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

Night of the Blade

THIS^^^^

That.

Omega "The Prophet" - really a different one



And the band standing on the edge of a more traditional approach, Avenger



And classic Cloven Hoof track. NWOBHM only as an indication of their homeland.

Not exactly the most uplifting lyrics, but this is one that really made me a Venom fan back in the early 80's.

80s Metal Lady wrote:

I like that Tokyo Blade song!

As do I, but an even better song off of that same album is Warrior of the Rising Sun.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I totally count Lep's Pyromania as part of their NWOBHM catalog. They were still dirty, to me, at that point.

I remember one dude on another forum arguing to death that Def Leppard was, cut and dry, a hair band. I have no problem with glam/sleaze, but DL, even in their later, more AOR years, aren't really a hair band. But aside from that, everything up through Pyromania is NWOBHM. That dude also counted Helloween as a nwoBRITISHhm band as well, so clearly he did not know much.

I know what you mean. I do remember my friend calling the Russian band Aria an NWOBHM band in the early point of their career. That being said, Aria is way closer to sounding like something out of the NWOBHM than anything Helloween ever did. Whom Are You With? was released in 1986, but sounds like an NWOBHM album out of 1982.

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

Omega "The Prophet" - really a different one

When I was collecting both genres, I noticed that there is bit a crossover between Neoprog and NWOBHM.