The “new wave of British heavy metal” of the late 1970s and early 80s is the most important moment in the history of the genre. Not only did it launch titans such as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Venom, but it turned “metal” from a pejorative phrase into a generation-spanning subculture. In 1970, heavy music was a sprawl of bands mostly savaged by the press: Robert Christgau lambasted Black Sabbath’s debut as “bullshit necromancy”. A decade later, it had become a subculture so fertile that it needed its own magazine – Kerrang! – to cover it all.
Many British metalheads continue to hail this movement as the paragon of their favourite genre and as someone whose first exposure to rock music was through the bombast of Maiden, I understand why. However, to cling to such nostalgia is to blind yourself to the truth: the best time to be a British metalhead is now. While the titans of the 80s are enjoying their golden years in crammed arenas, the UK’s heavy metal underground is packed with more promising bands than ever before. Case in point: in 2022, four of Metal Hammer’s top 10 albums of the year were by British acts who debuted in the preceding decade. In 2012, that number was zero.
