Episode XV - NWOAHM - East Coast Edition

The Distorted Emporium

The New Wave of American Heavy Metal is a controversial term used to describe the explosion of bands that rose out of the United States in the late 90's and early 00's in the aftermath of nu-metal. The earliest known reference to the term is from Cleveland, Ohio's Chimaira, who put the phrase on a shirt, and later cds, around 2001. While the NWOAHM is obviously biting off of the now famous New Wave of British Heavy Metal from the late 1970's/early 1980's, I think it is an appropriate moniker given the sheer number of bands that had a hand in keeping American metal alive and moving forward during that era.
While many of the bands, much like the NWOAHM name, are often derided as being derivative, or unoriginal, the movement was really no different than any other major movement from history regarding music, particularly in the US. After the initial run of bands that were truly pushing the bounds of the scene, copycats and groups with no interest in innovation took over and watered down a once fertile movement. It happened with punk, thrash, grunge, etc. It's inevitable. However, to group all these bands together and say they were simply rehashing Swedish death metal riffs and mixing it with hardcore and groove metal is reductive and short sighted, to say the least.
So, like I said earlier, there were so many bands that popped up during this era that making one show was impossible. There were just far too many to paint any kind of clear picture as to how things were unfolding so I decided to concentrate on the east coast in this particular episode. There are a few of the usual suspects that come up when referencing this era, however, I've included a few bands that some would argue do not fit at all within the definition of "heavy metal." Honestly, I don't care to have that conversation because that doesn't interest me in the least . I've already done an episode on what "heavy' means to me (Episode 9) and that's that.
Anyway, I think it's a slamming episode and I hope you guys dig it. If you want to argue or don't agree with something, hit me up on Instagram @thedistortedemporium or email me at [e-mail]
As always, you can find the corresponding playlist on Spotify. Just search The Distorted Emporium Episode 13 . All previous playlists from past episodes are there as well.
Cheers!