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Up for debate, as I continually see albums released well into the mid eighties dubbed as being "NWOBHM"...

Hmm interesting question, and in fact I was going to start a thread about "post-N.W.O.B.H.M. recommendations" = the 83 - onwards N.W.O.B.H.M. bands that released more Power Metal releases like:

Cloven Hoof - Dominator/S.R.
Blind Fury - Out Of Reach
Tank - This Means War/Honor & Blood
etc etc

I guess your question comes down to if the person answering it belives "N.W.O.B.H.M." is a genre, a movement, or both...

Personally I'd say the movement ended around '83 at latest but the style and attitude of music (Even if you don't think it's a genre you must admit that there are specific and unique fundamentals and common attributes to N.W.O.B.H.M. bands/albums) continued on slowly thinning out towards the late 80's around '87 or '88.

I think it's a movement and a genre but that's just me...

I always thought that the movement lasted 'till the middle of the decade, '84 or '85. I think that calling NWOBHM a genre leads to messed up concepts. I once heard someone saying people often forget that other than british bands were considered as NWOBHM and named ACCEPT as an example. Some people seem to think Judas Priest and Motörhead were part of the movement too.

I include (bands who released their first album/EP/single in) 1977 to 1986 in my NWOBHM collection. No post 1986 release is NWOBHM period.

But officially it's 1979 to 1983.

Good points; 'NWOBHM' is best used as a geotemoporal term (i.e., UK bands from certain years) than as a musical style/genre.

I'd say the movement was 1979-1984; 1984 saw a shift to proto-power and glam/hair metal. Regardless of whether it's a movement, style, or whatever, there are later releases that definitely fit the NWOBHM ethos (e.g., Virtue and Charger)

nightsblood wrote:Regardless of whether it's a movement, style, or whatever, there are later releases that definitely fit the NWOBHM ethos (e.g., Virtue and Charger)

Ah great example bands "We Stand To Fight" started to play in my head right away.

Another example I can think of off is "Slander - Careless Talk Costs Lives" released in 1991 and sounds like it could have been straight out of 1982.

Now tell me, Even though NWOBHM is technically not a sub-genre does this not sound "NWOBHM" to anyone?

Avenger wrote:Another example I can think of off is "Slander - Careless Talk Costs Lives" released in 1991 and sounds like it could have been straight out of 1982.

Now tell me, Even though NWOBHM is technically not a sub-genre does this not sound "NWOBHM" to anyone?

Sure it sounds like it could be from the NWOBHM years , but it doesn't matter. They are from the wrong time era. That time and the United Kingdom got this stamp because it came a lot of heavy bands back then, it just flooded out. All the bands who played heavy were included.

NWOBHM: Bands who released their first record (or demo) between 1979 and 1984.

I say 1984 because speed/thrash was starting to emerge. It began before '84 but more bands started forming with that style. N.W.O.B.H.M. paved the way for spped/thrash (well, most bands did).

1985, though some records from 1986 can be labelled as NWOBHM.

I would say 1985 as I only know of 2 pure nwobhm albums from that year around this time a lot of bands started adding AOR in their sound or adopting some speed metal elements or turned into epic heavy metal or just plain out heavy metal but dropped the hard rock elements heard in most nwobhm.

Avenger- Slander definitely have a NWOBHM feel, but at that point it's almost a 'retro' thing, as there's definitely a gap of several years in the late 80s-early 90s where almost no bands had a nwobhm sound to them. Nwobhm-sounding releases continued to trickle out (I think Handsome beasts released new material as late as '89-90) but after 1983 other styles were really taking over.

Another late entry was Desolation Angels LP in 1986, although they didn't have the archetypical nwobhm sound, going instead for the reved-up, doomy Black Sabbath sound only used by a few nwobhm groups like Witchfinder General

nightsblood wrote:Avenger- Slander definitely have a NWOBHM feel, but at that point it's almost a 'retro' thing, as there's definitely a gap of several years in the late 80s-early 90s where almost no bands had a nwobhm sound to them. Nwobhm-sounding releases continued to trickle out (I think Handsome beasts released new material as late as '89-90) but after 1983 other styles were really taking over.

Another late entry was Desolation Angels LP in 1986, although they didn't have the archetypical nwobhm sound, going instead for the reved-up, doomy Black Sabbath sound only used by a few nwobhm groups like Witchfinder General

When I made this thread I was thinking more along the lines of the first Elixir full-length, although it does have more of a straight up Heavy Metal sound. 1986 was pretty damn late especially for a debut...

Slander was just an after thought.

I don't consider Elixir pure nwobhm its got plenty of epic touches and heavy metal as you said to set it apart, I forgot about persian risk's - rise up but I suppose that one doesn't count as they were an established band with a single out in 1979, but It could be a contender for one of last nwobhm album of the 80's in the most technical terms.

Elixir is a good example of a 'post nwobhm' band; thee's still elements of nwobhm, but they're definitely moving into epic-power metal territory. Elixir was together by late 1984, and Desolation Angels were knocking around as early as 1981 (according to malc's book) so even though their debut albums didn't come out until 1986, they were on the scene earlier

The Persian Risk LP is good IMO but they had moved in a more mainsrteam-friendly directions by then, so it's also hard to call 'rise up' a pure nwobhm album.