10 Reasons Why The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Was So Influential

10. Iron Maiden - Britain's Greatest Ever Metal Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i3mRc-ufUI Truthfully, only the first two Iron Maiden albums qualify as NWOBHM and they don't even feature human-foghorn Bruce Dickinson on vocals, but 1980's self-titled debut and it's follow up Killers (1981) are classics in their own right. The passing of time has not lessened these albums' impacts; both punk and prog rock colliding at ferocious speed formed something new and genuinely groundbreaking. Paul Di'Anno's vocals were raw and from the gutter, taking on Punk's attitude but finessing it with an alternating raspy or smooth approach depending on the mood of the music his bandmates were performing. There can be no greater contrast than the punk/speed metal of "Prowler" to the sleek, classic-rock stylings of "Remember Tomorrow". Both songs exhibiting the two approaches to singing adopted by Di'Anno and the sheer diversity of music found on Iron Maiden's debut. However, it isn't their first two classic albums that make them so influential (although you cannot ignore their importance) but rather the band's fearless attitude and uncompromising commitment to playing the game how they wanted to play it. The linchpin of this ideology and the man behind their almost tyrannical approach to controlling their own destiny was bassist and band leader Steve Harris; a fearless individual hellbent on steering his band to future glories he knew were in their grasp. The world was their's for the taking and they took it - even if it did mean ditching Paul Di'Anno for Bruce Dickinson's almost operatic, back-of-the-arena reaching voice along the way. To this day only Metallica can rival Maiden in the 'biggest Metal band in the world' stakes, but Maiden were first and were the integral cog in the NWOBHM machine, inspiring thousands of other bands over a 34 year-long career. A new album is apparently imminent, and it'll probably re-write the rulebook once again.