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Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:42 pm
by Astra Wally
TOP 5

LEGEND - s/t
IRON MAIDEN - s/t
SARACEN - Heroes Saints And Fools
SAXON - Strong Arm of The Law
TYGERS OF PAN TANG - Spellbound

Other 5 favorites

QUARTZ - Stand Up And Fight
PRAYING MANTIS - Time Tells No Lies
DIAMOND HEAD - Lightning To The Nations
ANGEL WITCH - s/t
WITCHFYNDE - Give'Em Hell


Favorites post-1983

OMEGA - The Prophet
TRÖJAN - Chasing The Storm
BLITZKRIEG - A Time Of Changes
WOLF - Edge Of the World
CLOVEN HOOF - s/t

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 7:24 pm
by Khnud
doomedplanet wrote:Gotcha, misread that then, haha. I didn't see Motorhead too many times, just 3 if my memory is right. One time was very memorable, in this warehouse (in a crappy neighborhood, really intimidating Samoan doormen) in the 90's, in San Francisco. The bar was not serving draft beer, but bottled beer. So the concrete floor of the pit was covered with the shattered glass of said bottles. I stayed in the back on the fringe of that insanity. Motorhead does not win the loudest band in the world award with me though, Dark Angel wins that one on their "Time Does Not Heal" tour. On the other hand The Lord Weird Slough Feg is the band I'm sure I have seen the most.
I saw them live more times than I can count. Had my first encounter with them in the late 80's when my best friend and me pulled a prank on his big sister. She was into 80's pop music and we secretly switched her favourite mixtape with a Motörhead tape he got from his cousin. She was pretty mad when she found out (the hard way - with headphones at high volume), haha.

Loudest band I ever heard was Dio in 1999. The volume was so loud every kick of the bass drum made my chest feel like it was going to implode. It might be the cause of my tinnitus, as I wasn't wearing earplugs back then.

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:19 pm
by fengisriprider
Top 5

1. Satan: Court in the Act
2. Cloven Hoof: Cloven Hoof
3. Praying Mantis: Time Tells No Lies
4. Venom: Welcome to Hell
5. Atomkraft: Future Warriors

Satan blew my mind when i first heard it, so fast melodic and heavy, pretty much everything I ever wanted from metal at the time!!!

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:06 pm
by nightsblood
Random replies to various comments, in no real order:

'Power Games' is a good call; I forgot about that one. I'm sure somewhere on this bloody site is a recounting of how I got a copy on purple vinyl from John Haupt (glockose; I'm guessing he's not posting here much anymore?) at a record show 17 years ago (spring 2000). It's a goofy story and speaks to John's integrity as a record dealer. Maybe I'll add it to the hunting thread in case I never told it.

'White Steel' is indeed one of the best tracks of the era. Love it.

If we need years to define the period, I default to '79-86. Yes, that's a stretch, but it encapsulates some of the latecomers (like Elixir) and bands that took awhile to release a full EP (like Blitzkrieg).

Yes, 'Firepower' over 'Chained & Desperate'. I like all 3 of their albums, but FP is m fave easily. C&D is fine, but it always felt kinda thrown together; the fact they borrowed a vocalist for it probably adds to that perception.

No SAVAGE for me. I was always kinda disappointed by that album. Everyone describes it as this raw, wild, killer, and I just don't get it.

SARACEN is a nice call out. Not the greatest LP ever, but I do really like it; has a nice mature sound to it and lots of good songs.

TANK I liked back in the day, but that album didn't age well (much like the band itself!)

'Valley of the Kings' is also great but much too late for me to consider it NWOBHM (yes, the term NWOBHM is a pain to use since it is more of a time and location than a musical style)

'Black Metal' is of course good

Motorhead is a songs-band for me, not an albums-band. I don't think I own a single Motorhead album anymore, but I could easily build a 2-CDR set of favorite tunes. Saw 'em once 21 years ago next week in Toledo, Ohio. Joey Beladoona's post-Anthrax crew opened (ick). Motorhead was really fun and loud as hell. They played 'Burner', which made my day. This was the only time I ever got in trouble w/ my parents for going to a concert. I drove back to college early during winter break to get to the show, so I'd been on the road something like 12 hrs that day, stopping just long enough to meet up with my girlfriend and 2 friends who went with us. The weather was shitty- snow and ice all the way. Didn't get back to my dorm til the wee hours, only to find an answering machine full of angry messages from mom and dad b/c I forgot to call and say I got there safely (this is long before cell phones were a thing).

'Court in the Act' is another one that disappointed me. I feel the album was badly constructed. Production did it no favors, and having multiple instrumentals clustered together makes the album feel very short. It's not bad at all, but another one, like SAVAGE, where I just never could hear what all the fuss is about.

The BLITZKRIEG LP also never really floated my boat; seemed like too much time had passed since their excellent early material. Not bad, but didn't live up to expectations.

Praying Mantis- I love 'Cheated', but can do without most of the rest.

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:35 am
by doomedplanet
Captured City is where it is at!
nightsblood wrote: Praying Mantis- I love 'Cheated', but can do without most of the rest.

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:07 am
by nightsblood
doomedplanet wrote:Captured City is where it is at!
nightsblood wrote: Praying Mantis- I love 'Cheated', but can do without most of the rest.
...OK, yeah that tune is pretty good too!

Other quick, random replies:

'Spellbound' is the TYGERS album I always meant to spend more time playing and just never have gotten around to.

LEGEND didn't age well for me.

WOLF is a cool one!

SAXON is like MOTORHEAD for me- had lots of good songs, but I don't own any of their albums anymore

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:03 am
by pzman
By 'NWOBHM' i generally think of the period and sound circa 1980-83 that preceded and set the stage for thrash/power metal scene to take off. So in this criteria, some of my top NWOBHM LP's would be:

Iron Maiden - first two
Angel Witch - s/t
Raven - All For One
Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations
Chateaux - Chained And Desperate
Tank - This Means War
Saxon - Strong Arm Of The Law
Venom - Black Metal
Gaskin - End Of The World

And a couple from the melodic side of the spectrum:

Dark Star - s/t
Saracen - Heroes, Saints And Fool

probably missing a few more as i write this

Not including bands like Judas Priest, Motorhead, Ozzy/Sabbath etc who i feel predated the nwobhm...

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:45 pm
by Astra Wally
nightsblood wrote:'Spellbound' is the TYGERS album I always meant to spend more time playing and just never have gotten around to.
In my own case, "Spellbound" is one of my most played record ever. The talented voice of John Deverill and the amazing guitar work of John Sykes... enough said. Sadly "Crazy Nights" didn't catch that magic

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:06 am
by Avenger
nightsblood wrote:Random replies to various comments, in no real order:

'Power Games' is a good call; I forgot about that one. I'm sure somewhere on this bloody site is a recounting of how I got a copy on purple vinyl from John Haupt (glockose; I'm guessing he's not posting here much anymore?) at a record show 17 years ago (spring 2000). It's a goofy story and speaks to John's integrity as a record dealer. Maybe I'll add it to the hunting thread in case I never told it.

'White Steel' is indeed one of the best tracks of the era. Love it.

If we need years to define the period, I default to '79-86. Yes, that's a stretch, but it encapsulates some of the latecomers (like Elixir) and bands that took awhile to release a full EP (like Blitzkrieg).
Metallica already had 3 records released at that point. The NWOBHM scene was long dead by then.

I won't derail your thread though since there's already another thread regarding this.

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:14 am
by wicked keeper
...which you've no doubt already derailed.... :lol:

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:47 am
by Avenger
wicked keeper wrote:...which you've no doubt already derailed.... :lol:
Can't be any worse then seeking opportunities to tell others they are wrong about something as subjective as their taste in music. Right?

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:40 am
by doomedplanet
"Spellbound" is a really excellent album, though love "Wild Cat" too. Big change in style between them so in a sense I sort of don't even compare the albums to each other.
Astra Wally wrote:
nightsblood wrote:'Spellbound' is the TYGERS album I always meant to spend more time playing and just never have gotten around to.
In my own case, "Spellbound" is one of my most played record ever. The talented voice of John Deverill and the amazing guitar work of John Sykes... enough said. Sadly "Crazy Nights" didn't catch that magic

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:28 am
by ION BRITTON
"Spellbound" is my favorite TOPT album as well. I put "Tyger Bay" on the list with the best NWOBHM songs I've ever heard.

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 1:20 pm
by rumblefist
Astra Wally wrote:
nightsblood wrote:'Spellbound' is the TYGERS album I always meant to spend more time playing and just never have gotten around to.
In my own case, "Spellbound" is one of my most played record ever. The talented voice of John Deverill and the amazing guitar work of John Sykes... enough said. Sadly "Crazy Nights" didn't catch that magic
Same here.

This is their 2nd best (Japan only edition) - https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/T ... ang/138384

Re: Best-Favorite NWOBHM LPs ?

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:04 pm
by nightsblood
Avenger wrote:
Metallica already had 3 records released at that point. The NWOBHM scene was long dead by then.
The number of Metallica records released by a given year has nothing to do with when the NWOBHM movement ended. Sure, thrash was huge by '86, but that doesn't mean other styles were not also active in '86. And I said '86 was a stretch so as to include some latecomers; no one's trying to carve that date onto the NWOBHM headstone.

*****

If someone wants to copy/paste/move the stuff below into the other thread Avenger mentioned, that's fine.

If someone wants to try to select a NWOBHM end date, without being rather subjective, here are some ideas:

1- define a baseline for how many new bands must enter the scene by releasing a vinyl item in a given year for the scene to still be active, then see which year in the 80s saw NWOBHM new bands' 1st releases fall below that given line.
Example: If a scene needs 12 new bands per year to break through with their first vinyl release (avg 1/month), then find the year when less than 12 NWOBHM bands released their first vinyl offering.
Rationale: once you stop seeing enough new bands enter the scene, it's a good indication that new bands are instead playing different styles and your old scene is no longer growing (though older bands may keep it afloat for awhile, so #2 below may work better).

2- define a baseline for how many vinyl releases a scene should produce each year by all bands involved, then see which year missed the mark.
Example: If a scene should produce at least 24 new vinyl offerings a year to be considered viable (avg = 2/month), then find the year in the 80s when there were fewer than 24 NWOBHM vinyl releases.
Rationale: A dearth of releases indicates new and old bands aren't very active and/or they are changing direction musically (e.g., some glam bands quit in the early 90s following the grunge explosion of 91-92, while others tried reinventing themselves as grunge or some other style, like SHOTGUN MESSIAH did with their 'Violent New Breed' album in '93).

Defining the baseline could be tricky, though you could start by setting the baseline as some percentage of the number of NWOBHM vinyl releases put out in the year that saw the most NWOBHM vinyl released.
Example: We decide the scene will be considered 'over' once the number of vinyl releases falls below 20% the amount released in the peak year. Let's imagine that 1981 saw the most NWOBHM vinyl releases with 100. We would then identify which year after 1981 saw fewer than 20 NWOBHM vinyl releases.

In theory, the number of releases per year should follow a bell-shaped curve.

To be clear, I ain't gonna do any of this! Or at least not until the next time I'm confined to bed rest for a week following surgery! :)

(Vinyl release chosen as the unit of measurement b/c CDs weren't a thing through much of the 80s, demo tapes can be churned out by almost any basement act, and bands who played live without releasing a record would be hard to get a tally for. Counting vinyl releases could accurately be done, though likely with some disagreements over which releases qualify as NWOBHM).