Continued …
I hope you enjoyed engaging with the first five bands in these articles. Stand by for the next five. As before, these bands are alphabetically listed and not ranked – I’ll leave that to you guys. Four of these bands are, mostly, unknown to the average fan, but one at least will, probably, be a favourite for some. Without further ado, let’s start.
Legend – Death in the Nursery
The main problem for this band was their location, and that’s no insult to the Channel Islands. Being on an island that had few live music opportunities meant that the band played hardly any gigs in their existence. The band, however, gained much praise from the likes of Kerrang! and Sounds and some of their songs found their way on the Friday Rock Show. Ultimately, however, no major record company would sign them, largely due to the fact that record companies wouldn’t travel to the Channel Islands but were rather content to sign up London bands who were more mediocre and less talented. It had all started in 1980 and pretty soon the band gained a reputation of being a standout outfit. Determined to capitalize on their earlier, live, success, the band went into the studio to record a single, but the sheer amount of material they had meant that they recorded an album instead, the eponymous Legend album, released in 1981. These first and subsequent albums were self-financed, so distribution was limited. Nevertheless, critical and fan praise was positive and the initial pressing soon sold out. Furthermore, the band played a local support slot for Thin Lizzy of all groups. With a building momentum the band returned to the studio to record their second album, Death in the Nursery. The songs on this album were markedly shorter and more upbeat and once again critical and fan praise was very positive and the album also began to sell well in Europe. Trying to capitalize on this success the lads realized an EP of new material and once again gained much approval from fans and critics. Then, as it always seems to have done for so many NWOBHM bands, things began to go pear-shaped. Being overlooked by major labels and with the lack of touring opportunities available to them, particularly on the mainland, the band soon became frustrated and resentment set in leading to the band splitting up in 1984. Interest in the band rose in the 90s and a compilation of their material was released in 1998, Retroshock 1981-1984. The band reformed in 2002, producing two further albums, Still Screaming (2003) and 2013’s The Dark Place, They continued to tour throughout this time, but the deaths of guitarist Pete Haworth and bassist Eggy Aubert have put the band’s future in question.
Death in the Nursery is a unique mixture of doomy, prog-metal and there is some great guitar playing on this album. We have to remember that the band self-financed and produced this album so the final product is a testament to their resilience. The highlights include, Lazy Woman, Why Don’t You Kill Me?, and Choices, although I would say that there really isn’t a week track on this album. Lazy Woman has some brilliant guitar playing that a wonderful Van Halen-type solo starts the proceedings. From there an urgent and driving riff plays behind the continuing solo. The band are melodic despite the prog elements in the music and this track has that catchy verse/chorus structure which pulls the listener into the song. It’s the astonishing guitar work by Pete Haworth, however, that stands out on this track. My God, this guy can play. The song speeds by and its 3.18 is soon over and not overstaying its welcome. Great track. Why Don’t You Kill Me? starts with a building atmosphere, supplied by keyboards, vocals, and a strummed guitar. Then, just as you are lulled into the mood, a riff appears out of nowhere and pins you into your seat. Moody, brutal, and dark the riff takes the song into thrash territory and the guitar playing is technical and arresting. Again, melodies abound, but this time set against manic drumming. The solo is outstanding again, and takes the song to another level. Why didn’t this guitar player ever become famous? Choices starts like a funky, Jazz inspired improv, including a mini-drum solo! However, it then builds with some great riffing before returning and alternating with the funky, Jazz sections. True prog? Well, you decide, but the guitar solo takes this track into the stratosphere. It’s fast, screaming, and so well played you can only marvel at it. The song shows another style that the band could produce and the album as a whole gives you the feeling that had they had some professional backing, this band would have been huge.
Millennium – Millennium
Millennium was formed in 1982 and by 1983 had three tracks on Guardian’s Pure Overkill compilation. That went down with press and fans so well that he band were invited into the studio to record their first album, the eponymous, Millennium, which appeared in 1984 also on the Guardian Record label to much critical acclaim. Inevitably, there were personal changes throughout the next four years, and at one point the band renamed themselves, Tyrone Power! Returning to the Millennium moniker thereafter, the band started recording a series of demos, but none of these captured the attention of any recording label and the band split in 1987.
In 2014 No Remorse Records re released Millennium‘s debut album followed that up with a second album released in 2016 titled Caught in a Warzone. This album was made up from recordings the band made earlier in their career and almost replicated the 1985 demo song list. Rejuvenated by this activity, the band reformed and gigs were booked and Millennium have produced a steady stream of albums such as 2017s Awakening, A New World, (2019), and The Sign of Evil in 2023.
Known for their powerful, melodic, and mostly mid-paced metal, the twin guitar attack is sometimes Judas Priest-ish, but none can argue that Millennium are committed metal rockers. The debut album is a great example of the NWOBHM sound in the mid-80s and stand out tracks are Magic Mirror, The Devil Rides Out, and Demons of the Light, although Gang War and Steal your Heart are also excellent as well as the two slow tracks, The Traveller (with it’s huge and brutal riff) and Rock was Meant for Me.
Magic Mirror starts with a galloping drum beat and power chords before launching into a pounding riff with a great solo over the top of it all. The singer, Mark Duffy, has a great voice and holds his own delivering powerful melodic vocals. The guitars spar and play off one another and the guitar break is very tasty indeed. Clocking in at just over three minutes, the song is a punchy, fast metal rocker but if there is a complaint it’s that the track doesn’t really develop. The same can’t be said of The Devil Rides Out. Crashing power chords and a solo introduce the song before it lurches off into a Maidenesque gallop. Duffy puts in another great vocal performance, but once again it’s the guitars which capture your attention. Loud, melodic riffing, balanced against excellent bursts of soloing throughout the track. It’s exciting and driving, and once again the main solo is tremendous. Demons of the Light gets straight down to business and proceeds with a call and response structure with vocals contrasted by a massive riff. Soloing all over the place and a great, hooky, and melodic chorus drives the song on. The bridge is powerful and that leads into a great lead break, but the way the two guitars play off one another is where the track’s strength is to be found.
The production and decoding of the album isn’t top notch and that’s a pity because the playing, songwriting, and power of the material is very good. Unfortunately, another NWOBHM band that with a bit of luck could have turned into a very decent proposition.
Omega – The Prophet
Omega’s history is not as convoluted or chaotic as some NWOBHM bands. They began their life as Apocalypse and managed to release one single, Stormchild, on the Gate label in 1982. The track is a bit on the depressive side, yet it was a critically well-received release and was a good start for the band. There were, however, so many Apocalypses in existence that in 1983 the band changed their name to Omega. The group recorded their only demo, Alpha, in 1983, and that was picked up by Ebony Records who included Blood Sacrifice on their Metal Warriors compilation. A proggy, ambitious number that was streets ahead of the usual British metal fare at the time, the track focused on atmosphere despite being technically excellent. The appearance on the compilation album encouraged the band to go into the studio and begin to record an album’s worth of material. A projected deal, again with Gate, fell through and the band had to tout the album around the different record companies before finally getting a deal with the Rock Machine label, and The Prophet, was released in 1985. Unfortunately for the band, being unique and ahead of their time meant that the fans and critics didn’t really ‘get’ the album and it sold relatively poorly. Nowadays, it is regarded as an underrated album and sought after by aficionados. Omega never managed to produce a follow up album and despite being a sought after and excellent live proposition, the group, disappointed and a bit directionless, split up in 1986.
The band never reformed, but in 2012, High Roller records re released The Prophet and Blood Sacrifice, a split of Apocalypse and Omega songs. If you’re wondering, The Prophet was released again in 2024 and I thoroughly recommend grabbing a copy.
Omega’s sound is certainly unique (for that time), being a blend of progressive, doomy, but very heavy metal. The musicianship is excellent throughout and the band is very tight. The focus on atmosphere, on which any black metal fan would love, is again far more ambitious and different from the other bands playing around this time and if you like that kind of thing Omega got there first!
The only odd moment is a cover of the Beatles Day Tripper, which doesn’t add anything to the original and rather stops the album in its tracks. Pity, since they had more than enough material to put another original on the album.
Standout tracks on the album are The Dark, The Prophet, and The Child. The Dark begins with a moody, ominous fade in of atmospheric guitars and drums. Nick Brent’s vocals are truly terrifying and the song explodes with a huge power chord (or six) and then a thunderous riff and solo, propelling the song into a very dark place. It’s all very disconcerting, and any budding depressive or doom band would do well to check this out. The song builds and then we get a sudden break which leads us straight into a massive riff, screaming guitars, and almost thrash-like tempos. It’s like stumbling in the dark and suddenly coming out of the light, but hope is lost as a funeral bell tolls slowly, the mood becomes evil and death stalks you. If this isn’t proto-doom then I don’t know what it is. Just check out the line ‘waiting for you’! Then it’s into Sabbath-like huge riffing and soloing towards a climax that trails off like a drawn out death rattle. Whew!
The Prophet starts slowly with synths and guitar picking, building atmosphere and then the main riff comes in against pounding drums. It’s all mid-paced and thoughtful, if a little melancholic. After a couple of rounds of the riff, we have a break and the spooky, frightening vocals of Nick Brent take over, before a brutal riff takes the song into the chorus, which is surprisingly catchy and melodic. The vocals are clearly about Jesus and are thought-provoking and cynical. Then we are hit with a guitar solo that starts restrained as the tempo builds and then just let’s rip. Technical, well-played, melodic, but emotional all the same, the guitar lifts the song into the stratosphere, before we return to the atmospheric beginning. Here the vocals are quite scathing and the song builds toward the climax, driven by huge riffing and the second guitar solo leads us to the end of the song, with a progressive, blistering attack. Superb.
The Child is a nine minute epic that starts with huge synths and cymbals, conjuring up some fantastic alien landscape. A very, almost Genesis-like riff starts the song a-proper, and we are definitely in prog territory. I know that Bands such as Queensrÿche, Fates Warning and Dream Theater are name-checked when it comes to the originators of prog-metal, but maybe we need to bring Omega into that conversation. After the first, dreamy, synth driven verse, we get our first huge riff. This repeats before the song explodes into a manic gallop, technically done and driving the song forward. Inevitably, we get a titanic guitar solo which knocks your face off. Christ is this outstanding, facing the rest of the band to play catch up this song bears no relation to the prog, ethereal start. The solo gets better, higher, more technical, and finally when you think it can’t possibly go anywhere else. it speeds up! This band knew what they were doing and without a doubt, they were streets ahead of the rest. The track ends on a glorious peak, fading back into the opening section before bringing back the riffs and solos, but now we are at the end and the song ends with a synth infused chord that fades to nothing. What a track, God bless all who sail in her.
Pagan Altar – Volume 1
I know what you are going to say – Pagan Altar? Pagan Altar? We know and love them! What the hell are they doing on this list? It’s a fair question. I can only justify putting this band on this list in two ways; firstly, amazing though it sounds, some people still don’t know who they are, and secondly, I love this band so much that I just couldn’t help it!
For a band that never managed to get a record out until 1998 despite having formed in 1978, out has a loyal following and could easily be described as a ‘cult’ band. Inspired, both musically and by the imagery of Black Sabbath, Pagan Altar stuck to their proto-doomy, melodic heavy metal throughout and unlike so many NWOBHM bands of the mid-1980s didn’t change their sound to become either a thrash or hair metal band (thank God). To bring this occult atmosphere to life, the band’s ambitiously elaborate stage show was a Satanic mass based upon a Hammer House of Horror B-movie, complete with an altar, human skulls, inverted crosses, black candles, bandmates in hooded black robes, Satanic invocations, and explosive pyrotechnics. That uncompromising stance meant that gigs weren’t in aplenty and the band struggled to get the kind of recognition needed to be signed by a major record label. However, a single had been planned in 1980 but that was scrapped:
Pagan Altar was due to have a single pressed and issued by the Beatles Abbey Road studio in late 1980. Everything went fine and the aluminium master was laid down ready for pressing when some idiot shot John Lennon. The whole of the Abbey Road facilities were switched to producing John Lennon recordings and previously unrecorded material, everything else was farmed out to other pressing plants to relieve the pressure. The idea was fine except that the plant responsible for the Pagan Altar single went into bankruptcy, called in the receiver who then impounded everything including the master. By the time all the legal wrangling subsided and the master was
returned it was too late; Abbey road had other fish to fry!
What the band did manage to do was to build their own recording studio and as a result everything they wrote they recorded. This meant that in 1982, Pagan Altar released a cassette demo consisting of the songs that would form the first album. The demo was in high demand and perhaps unexpectedly developed quite a following in the USA. However, the demo failed to encourage any major label, or indeed any label, to sign the band and despite having a great live reputation and a whole catalogue of songs the band decided to split in 1986.
Amazingly though, this wasn’t the end of the band. The demo had been turned into a bootleg album in the States by Doom Records and started selling well. When the band were informed about this they asked Doom Records to stop producing the bootleg but to no avail. Realising that the bootleg was itself recorded from the poorly sounding demo, the band decided to remix the album from the original tapes and release the album themselves, to stop fans being ripped off. Thus, Volume 1 was released in 1998.
Heartened by the critical and fan response, the band reformed in 2004 and began to tour and release albums mostly of the recordings they had made in the early 80s. The success of the band after so long was a joy to all metal fans, yet even being recognised as a one of the greatest doom bands the metal scene has ever produced, Pagan Altar have never really received the widespread credit they’re due.
Volume 1 is an album without filler. Seven tracks of first class doom-laden metal which highlights the great vocals of Terry Jones and the magnificent guitar playing of his son, Alan. Backed by a furious rhythm section, this album is without flaw. I think it’s almost impossible to pick the stand out tracks, but I’ll have a go! Pagan Altar, Judgement of the Dead, and Reincarnation. There, but I am already feeling uneasy that I have left out In the Wake of Armadeus, The Black Mass, and Night Rider.
Pagan Altar begins the album with an incantation, chanting, and more atmosphere than you’d find on a 90s black metal album. A crashing riff and some great solo, backed by manic drum fills and cymbals disturb the peace, and Jones’ voice hits you like a jackhammer. It’s melodic, Black Sabbath at it’s best, but this is no mere copy. The band have their own unique sound, more modern with a real sense of menace and the doom they create is ominous. The song picks up speed with a wonderful riff and those solos still blast you at every moment. The solo is truly wonderful and how did Alan Jones not become the next guitar hero? There’s an argument to say that the song is one long guitar solo, but it’s well written with different riffs, sections, and tempos. Boy, is that drummer on something? It never lets up and the seven and a half minutes pass very quickly. If you want doom check this out.
Judgement of the Dead starts with a sinister synth and a guitar sound that is truly atmospheric. The song launches into a riff worth any great Doom band, but again it’s the constant soloing that captures your attention. Alan Jones is throwing them around everywhere and they completely enhance the driving riff and drums. In many ways, the soloing contrasts nicely with Terry Jones’ vocals and it is this combination which identifies the Pagan Altar sound. Some great melodies in both verse and chorus, and just when you think it can’t get any better, blow me down the song picks up tempo and we are met (head-on) with one of the most blistering guitar solos recorded in the NWOBHM genre. It squeals and screams and rages, ever picking up speed and intensity, and somewhere in the background we have a devil’s roar! Christ, what a track.
Reincarnation is a melancholic, doomy masterpiece, and it finishes off the album. A mixture of electric and acoustic guitars build an eerie atmosphere before Terry Jones in with a pleading, lost vocal. Depressive? Yes, and no. There’s a majesty in this song which lifts it way above the average doom song. There’s echoes of the past, something lost never to be regained. Then a solo bursts out that accentuates the moody atmosphere but at the same time lifts it to something approaching hope. The track speeds up and a pummelling riff, and more wonderful soloing, drive the song forward, propelling it, building up the intensity, backed by thunderous drums and exploding cymbals. However, this is the last track on the album, and perhaps because of that the song picks up even more, in speed and intensity and we get a completely new riff, tempo, and the wondrous solo that has been squawking throughout the song, reaches a wonderful climax of sorts. Thank you and good night.
Ritual – Widow
Imagine this. You’re a hard working band, formed in 1973, playing lots of gigs around London supporting such acts as UFO, and finally you save the money to release your first single, which everyone seems to ignore. Unperturbed, you decide to go into the studio to record a self-financed album, and wait with bated breath for it to be pressed. Imagine your horror when the first copies turn up only to find that the pressing plant has missed off the band’s name from the album cover! This is exactly what happened to Ritual. Their first album, Widow, did not have the Ritual name on it causing one and all to assume that the band’s name was Widow. Such confusion didn’t help the already low sales and eventually the album and band disappeared from view.
That was a pity, because the album was an attempt to do something different from the usual Maiden/Metallica clone sounding bands of the mid-80s. The band does, admittedly, have a 70s feel, but it’s the ominous atmosphere of depression, doom, and foreboding that makes this interesting. It’s wrapped up in a melancholic vibe that draws you in. The album has the obligatory rain and thunder sound effects, but it’s the way the album was recorded and produced that makes it stand out. Sounding like it was recorded in their kitchen and mixed by someone in ten minutes, the primal, raw sound of the album have led some commentators to call it ‘a classic of the black metal genre’. It isn’t, but the vibe is there. The vocals are haunting, but clean, as are the guitars, and I am not sure if the band ever shifts out of the 4/4 rhythm, let alone attempt any blast beats. Nevertheless, the album’s moody atmosphere is addictive and trance-like. It is not to be dismissed lightly.
Astonishingly, the band never split, and in 1990 the band released the Early Years Compilation, 1974-1986, cassette tape and followed that up with 1993s Valley Of The Kings CD. Moreover, a US Record company, Shadow Kingdom, approached the band and re released both albums, on LP and CD, in 2008. The band have attained cult status and early pressings of the original album fetch a small fortune (many were destroyed by the band when they released the printing mistake.)
What of the album, Widow? The album is straight to the point, with only seven tracks coming in at just over thirty-seven minutes. Standout tracks are Widow, Come to the Ritual, and Morning Star.
Widow is an epic, doomy, creepy song which gets into your brain. Starting with sound effects of a wind-swept barren landscape, the song bursts into life with a chugging, doomy riff that is all dark and haunted. It’s all primitive, but highly effective, and when the vocals come in, it’s like listening to some lost, forlorn voice, yearning for the light. Very unsettling and at this point it’s the atmosphere that the band are going for, because musically it’s quite basic. Yet just as you think the song has delivered all it can, a mini-break allows a new riff to emerge, faster, driving, yet still with that haunted feel. A small guitar break pushes the song on, but it’s mostly made of feedback and extended notes, supplying us with a feeling of something screaming. Very effective, but raw as hell.
Come to the Ritual on the other hand is a fast paced rocker that starts with a great riff and those extraordinary vocals, reminiscent of Ian Astbury from the Cult. Being doomy, we soon slow the tempo down and now we have a lament of a dead lover. It’s a funeral dirge of sorts, the music so slow that it almost falls apart but the passion of the lament reaches a climax and we are back into the faster tempo and that riff. The overarching feeling is one of loss, even the guitar solos manage to exude that feeling. Considering this is about a satanic ritual the effect is dizzying, the young virgin dies alone on the altar, so is the narrator mourning her? Or are these crocodile tears? The song ends on a loud screech of feedback, so make out of that what you want!
Morning Star, to me, is the best track on the album. A mid-tempo track that has a toiling bell throughout and a riff any doom band would love to have written. It’s slow, but again the vocals provided a mournful vibe, backed by that bell. The riff comes in and out almost in a call and respond way, but that bell and the vocals provide a moody, creepy atmosphere, with the lyrics talking of loss. The end is abrupt and the song vanishes leaving you to wonder at the loss of the narrator. An acquired taste, but definitely a different experience.
Endings
So thats it, my ten deep cuts and enough material available for a long, long debate. Obviously, there are bands that some would say I missed out, but there’s a lot of bands to go through, and I’m sure that we could find another fifty bands to write about! Some honourable mentions:
Hell, Limelight, Mythra, Preyer, Sledgehammer, Sparta, Trespass, Trojan, Tysondog, and Voltz.
Some of these bands didn’t manage to produce an album, but all are worth a listen or two.
My main intention in writing these two articles was to get people to listen to the so-called NWOBHM ‘lesser’ bands. There’s breadth and depth, some outstanding bands, and some right old duffers. However, it is always worth listening to the genre, as that’s where heavy metal really started and it’s both interesting and refreshing to understand where today’s metal came from.
Happy listening!
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