New wave of American heavy metal
The New wave of American heavy metal (also known as NWOAHM (or NWoAHM) and the New wave of American metal) was a heavy metal music movement that originated in the United States during the early to mid-1990s[1][2] and expanded most in the early to mid-2000s. Some of the bands considered part of the movement had formed as early as the late 1980s, but did not become influential or reach popular standing until the following decade.[1][2] The term itself borrows from the new wave of British heavy metal dating to 1979.[2] NWOAHM includes a wide variety of styles, including alternative metal, groove metal, industrial metal, nu metal and metalcore.
New wave of American heavy metal | |
---|---|
Other names |
|
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Early to mid-1990s, United States |
Typical instruments |
Although the term is used by the media with increasing frequency, the definition has not been finished completely.[2] This is due in part to the growing addition of bands that assimilate to common styles in NWOAHM (as defined below), yet have not differentiated greatly enough as to garner a new genre moniker.[3] One description by longtime metal author Garry Sharpe-Young helps classify the NWOAHM as a "marriage of European-style riffing and throaty vocals"[3] Several of the bands within the NWOAHM are credited with bringing heavy metal back into the mainstream.[1][4]
History
![](../I/m/Machine_Head_Live_Zurich.jpg)
The new wave of American heavy metal has its origins in a group of post-grunge acts from the 1990s that brought heavy metal "back to its core brutality" and drawing not from the traditional blues formula but from thrash metal and punk.[2] In the book The Next Generation of Rock & Punk, Joel McIver acknowledged Korn as the pioneers of the new wave of American heavy metal, and also credits them as the first band labeled as nu metal.[5] The nu metal genre was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Other roots of NWOAHM are attributed to bands such as Pantera, Biohazard, and Machine Head.
![](../I/m/Lamb_of_God_09.jpg)
The producers behind the 2005 documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey have written of the NWOAHM: "In essence, NWOAHM can embody the seething aggression of the 'hardcore' hormone, but play a type of acrobatic, precise, technical thrash/death metal synthesis regularly touched by the melody of traditional metal, but often just briefly. Vocally, these bands huddle around Pantera-derived roar, leaning toward a death metal bark, but often with 'clean' or 'sung' vocals as ear candy, sometimes from a member of the band who is not the front man."[6] They also reference Unearth, Shadows Fall, and Lamb of God as "leaders of the pack".[6]
In the book New Wave of American Heavy Metal, when listing the wave's most popular contributors, Garry Sharpe-Young stated: "...the groups that broke the metal scene into new territory after grunge [were] Pantera, Biohazard, and Machine Head. From there it gets really diverse, crossing the spectrum from melodic death metal to progressive metal and everything in between."[2] Sharpe-Young described bands such as Pantera, Biohazard and Machine Head as neo-metal, writing that the band Pantera started a new time period of heavy metal that involved both Biohazard and Machine Head.[3] Sharpe-Young lists the broad range of styles in the new wave of American heavy metal movement as ranging from the Christian metalcore scene, the 1970s-inspired progressive rock of Coheed and Cambria, melodic death metal, and the screamo and "sub-Gothique" emocore of Alkaline Trio and My Chemical Romance.[2] Beyond this, the genre encompasses a number of different styles including alternative metal, groove metal, hardcore punk and metalcore,[2][4][7] despite the fact that metalcore and hardcore punk pre-date NWOAHM by almost twenty years.
Notes
- James Edward. "The Ghosts of Glam Metal Past". Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Archived from the original on February 16, 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
- Sharpe-Young, Garry (1 November 2005). New Wave of American Heavy Metal. New Plymouth, New Zealand: Zonda Books Limited. ISBN 978-0958268400. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
- Sharpe-Young, Garry (2007). "Metal: A Definitive Guide". New Plymouth: Jawbone. ISBN 1-906002-01-0. Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - Adrien Begrand. "BLOOD AND THUNDER: Regeneration". PopMatters. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- McIver, Joel (2002). "How Did We Get to Nu-Metal From Old Metal?". Nu-Metal: The Next Generation of Rock & Punk. Omnibus Press. pp. 10, 12. ISBN 0-7119-9209-6.
- Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005, Director: Sam Dunn), Disc Two: "Metal Genealogy Chart"
- "NWOAHM - New Frontier Or Well Worn Path?". Maximum Metal. Retrieved 2008-05-18.