New wave of American heavy metal

The new wave of American heavy metal (also known as NWOAHM and new wave of American metal) was a heavy metal music movement that originated in the United States during the early–mid 1990s and

History#

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. 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. 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.” They also reference Unearth, Shadows Fall, and Lamb of God as “leaders of the pack”.

Genre family: 1990s in American music, 1990s in heavy metal music, 2000s in American music, 2000s in heavy metal music, Rock music genres