Hell (UK) - Hell Demo 1982

In 1982, the NWOBHM was still going strong. No one knew that within the next year, a frightening new force out of America would render them obsolete. While America's young speed/thrash bands were immensely influenced by the British bands before them, the adrenaline fueled yanks would ultimately burn their idols and scald the hand of metal forever. Good thing for us, metal loves scars...and the NWOBHM left one cool ass scar.

Hell was a band out of Nottingham. They're best known for being the precursor to the UK's own thrashers Sabbat. I really like this demo. The band really goes for it and a makes some interesting attempts to be evil. The weird intro banter sounds as if members of Monty Python had a few pints discussing the work of Aleister Crowley. Now that's metal.

The demo is ripped from cassette...it's noisy, boomy, and has a few dropouts. Though not bad for a nearly 30 year old tape.

Hell's s/t Demo from 1982 - HERE

Neat Singles! - Saracen / Tysondog

I've been reading this Kobo Abe book called Secret Rendezvous. It's about this dude in search of his wife, who was kidnapped by a mysterious ambulance in the middle of the night. So I got to thinking, what if some outlaw vinyl thieves ganked my records under the guise of some "trusted" agency. What a nightmare.

I hope they wouldn't take my Neat Records singles. Maybe I should hide them?

The two 7"s of NWOBHM bludgeony I have here are from my favorite period of Neat, the 30s. Saracen's We Have Arrived 7" is Neat #30 and Tysondog's Eat the Rich 7" is #33.

Saracen were more of a 70s prog rock band than a true NWOBHM band. They had keyboards for fucks sake. Though that shouldn't deter you from cranking this single with all knobs to the right.

I'd be really pissed if some lunatic EMT took my Tysondog 7". Eat the Rich is a badass little 2-track rager. Throw this on at a party and your fist immediately makes contact with the person next to you.

Neat-o.

Saracen's We Have Arrived 7" - HERE

Tysondog's Eat the Rich 7" - HERE

Deathwish - Sword of Justice Demo

Updating blogs whilst hungover is lame. Ya know what else is lame? Deathwish's lyrics. At least their music is cool.

I like this demo. The guitars are pretty damn heavy for 1986 and the vocals reek of british dental work. The singer, Jon Van Doom (yes), goes from drunken Paul DiAnno to falsetto shrieks without being annoying.

Cool band.

HERE

7 inches of bliss...yeah, that's what I said.

The NWOBHM movement marked a significant change in the way every rock fan on the planet saw this festering beast known as heavy metal. You had bands like Sabbath, Priest, Purple/Rainbow, Armageddon, and even a fledgling Van Halen. All of which made for a reasonable argument as to what heavy metal was. Then came this merciless limey monster affectionately called the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. True metal grit mixed with the "fuck the world" mentality of punk...THIS WAS HEAVY METAL. It instantly made everything previously called "metal" seem unimportant. These bands mattered.

Ok, enough with the history lesson...you've all done your homework. The following 7"s are some of my favorite from the era and still get major play on my turntable.


Up first is Blitzkrieg's immortal Buried Alive 7". This 1981 mini-masterpiece was released on the Neat label and made a huge impact on some metalliband in California. Said band recorded a version of the b-side simply named "Blitzkrieg". Spinning this little piece of plastic is like throwing a grenade into a crowd of posers and watching the shrapnel blow through brains left and right. Blitzkrieg had the heaviest riffs of all the NWOBHM bands.


Next I have my most played NWOBHM single, Jaguar's Axe Crazy/War Machine. Nothing...and I mean NOTHING brings the mosh out of me more than the song "Axe Crazy". Upon hearing the first explosion of double bass drums, I wanna suplex little old ladies into church pews and backflip through stained-glass windows. The b-side, "War Machine", always reminded me of Maiden's "Remember Tomorrow"...and I mean that in the best possible way. This record sums up the whole movement for me, metal in its purest form.


Now we're going to rewind the dial a bit. Mythra's Death and Destiny was the first non-Maiden NWOBHM 7" I was able to track down. Released in 1979, it predates a lot of the more famous bands from the scene by a year or so. Mythra also sports slightly better production and more intricate arrangements. The title track chugs along with a fiery tube amp riff a la AC/DC...with a few twists in there to keep the queen's panties all tied up. The major stand-out to me is song "Killer". Lots of powerful chords and dual guitar harmonies to make you kick disco balls at guidos' heads. Wait...it's not 1979...but this record will make you wish it was! Hail and kill!

Blitzkrieg - HERE

Jaguar - HERE

Mythra - HERE