Judas Priest release 'British Steel'
14 April 1980
With the onset of punk, all the hard rock giants seemed threatened. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple had all begun to lose their appeal by the end of the 70s. It was clear that Heavy Rock needed re-energising. The movement that became known as the 'New Wave Of British Heavy Metal' was the jumpstart that Metal needed and was kicked off by Iron Maiden's 'Soundhouse Tapes' recordings released in 1979. The music was faster, grittier, punkish and less influenced by the blues and was Judas Priest's album 'British Steel' was one of a slew of NWOBHM successes including Def Leppard's 'On Through the Night', Iron Maiden's eponymous debut, Saxon's 'Wheels of Steel' and Motorhead's 'Ace of Spades'.
Judas Priest's album 'British Steel' was one of a slew of NWOBHM successes including Def Leppard's 'On Through the Night', Iron Maiden's eponymous debut, Saxon's 'Wheels of Steel' and Motorhead's 'Ace of Spades'.
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Seven Ages of Rock,even Seven Deadly Sins or Seven Gates of Hell!!! Anyway I'd like to talk about the Heavy Metal side of things.What is said about the cause of its decline is definately true!But me being between 16 and 18 years old at the time of the early 90's I thought that Grunge was far too wimpy to replace heavy metal!...And I'll tell you why.This is my tale of the 90's By the turn of the decade,a new emergence of Extreme Metal!!Death Metal!!!Black Metal!! There were two albums that me and my close mate Jon and other guy called Dan(who's no longer with us)got blown away by before anyone else did in our area.One album by a band called Deicide self tittled,and the other by a new band called Entombed tittled 'Left Hand Path'. Both were the fastest,heaviest,most brutal albums we've ever heard!I admittedly felt overwhelmed by how physically extreme a metal band could ever play!!I used to turn off the lights and play these albums loud when stoned!! The rising to popularity of the ever confrontational and contriversial Napalm Death,Morbid Angel,Sepultura,Carcass,Bolt Thrower and Molevolent Creation turned metal on it's head and extreme forever and still today with the emergence of bands like In Flames,Dimmu Borgir,and Children of Bodom going mainstream and the over populated reunions of the old gaurd,watch out for Dekapitator,Toxic Holocaust,Municiple Waste,Evile,Adrenicide,and Nunslaughter who all play fierce thrash metal and aggressive death/speed metal! Other honerable mentions go to Pantera for keeping the intensity real and cranking out some insane guitar work(RIP Dimebag).Also Machine Head,Biohazard,Cradle of Filth,Emporor,and Darkthrone who all released some brilliant groundbreaking works of extremity and aggression back in the supposedly 'dead' era of heavy music! The metal scene is now in the hands of people with a taste for nothing less than the intense,freaky and extreme and has been for nearly twenty years since kids got fed up with middle of the road heavy metal which was much better in the 70's when musicians realy were extreme and pushing the boat out! Now whether or not people still don't get our meaning and essence of brutal music,perhapse the rest of the world is still not ready for it yet,either way people need to respect it and know about it if they're going to document the story of heavy metal. Metal Dave
Metal Dave Wakeham,Weymouth,Dorset.Great programme, Fantastic footage and very interesting interviews.Keep on rockin.....
stefaan Pultau Belgium


Tom Allom
Producer
Produced the album 'British Steel'.