10 New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Bands That Are Better Than Ever

1. Iron Maiden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzxfGmfC2II Classic Album You Should Own: Iron Maiden (1980). Peerless; nothing else left to say. Recommended Modern Album: A Matter Of Life and Death (2006). Ambitious and absorbing, not once over it's 1hr+ duration does this album release it's grip; a Progressive-Metal masterclass. This could be a be a contentious choice. To be truthful, only the first two Iron Maiden albums qualify as NWOBHM, the band quickly reaching a point in their career where they transcended categorisation in sub-genres; they were simply Iron Maiden and that was all you needed to know. They were at the forefront of the NWOBHM but similar to Metallica, who very quickly left Thrash behind, so Maiden bid farewell to their NWOBHM peers as they went on to conquer the globe in the mid 1980's. Iron Maiden can practically fall into four categories within their own timeline: The Paul Di'Anno years which brought us their electrifying debut and classic follow-up - Killers. Then came the classic 80's Bruce Dickinson years, a run which gave us some of the finest Metal albums of all time (The Number Of The Beast/Piece Of Mind/Powerslave/Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son) and took them to the top of the Metal hierarchy. Then Bruce left and in came replacement vocalist Blaze Bayley, unfortunately this union resulted in sub-standard efforts during the 90's. To say this era was anything less than a crushing disappointment would be like saying The Phantom Menace fully met the expectations of Star Wars fans! When Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to the fold, in 1999, fans rejoiced but no one was prepared for the exquisite run of form that followed. You can take your pick from the albums Brave New World, Dance Of Death, A Matter Of Life And Death and The Final Frontier; they are all examples of exceptional and ebullient modern Metal, virtually faultless and utterly fearless. Somehow, Iron Maiden have orchestrated a career resurgence unlike any witnessed before, resulting in their last album, The Final Frontier, reaching No. 1 in 28 different countries! An impressive feat when you consider they have received virtually no Radio or Television support since they first hit the stage over 3 decades ago. Iron Maiden really are better than ever.