NWOBHM in Welsh

Any Heavy Metal fan with a modicum of interess in the history behind the style has some knowledge about the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal - aka NWOBHM, musical movement that took place in the UK during the first half of the 80s and gave the world bands such as Saxon, Angel Witch, Def Leppard and the huge Iron Maiden. From this true musical fever came the seeds which, years later, would give us fruits like the Thrash Metal, Doom Metal, Death Metal and Black Metal - a fact that in itself qualifies the period in question as one of the most relevant in the history of Heavy Metal. What few people are aware of is that, among the many sub-scenes who evolved during that years, a very curious one took place in the country of Wales. Its main feature is to have given birth to a considerable ammount of bands which used the regional Welsh tongue in their compositions, in opposite to the English tongue priviledged in the remaining British territory. Althought they never actually reached the (reasonable) sucess of English-singing contenders such as Persian Risk and Traitors Gate, the fact is that this groups, with their fidelty to their local roots, created a fascinating history, yet not a extensively documented one until now.

In fact, the hardest difficulties we face when trying to (re) tell this story are the scarcity of sources and, most of all, the absolute rarity of most of the releases made from these bands - in fact, as any perseverant NWOBHM collector will be keen to admit, it's simply impossible to trustfully state what's out there in this subject, with some itens being known just on the basis of one or two examples. A great pioneer in this research is Malc McMillan, author of the colossal "The NWOBHM Encyclopedia" - a book which provided many of the information shared here. But, as this mighty tome was released back in 2001, a considerable number of discoveries were done from then to now, so it's reasonable to think that some kind of update to it is not completely out of context. A new version of McMillan's book will appear very soon, but we hope this page can be useful until this volume actually materialize.

Before we go any further, let's make it clear: the huge majority of these slices of Vinyl is extremely hard to find nowadays, and you better prepare to spend a lot of time (and money) if you're actually thinking about adding one of these originals to your collection. This humble chronicler himself had the opportunity to listen very few of the material to be discussed here, and most of the references to the outfits' music below are admitedly second-handed, a fact that obviously will cause innacuracies on some bands' descriptions. To be brutally honest, the biggest interest on this article is purely academical: concede a slot in history for some groups that, good or bad, were a part in Heavy Metal evolution, and provide some curious information for all those who, like myself, are obsessed with the cloudy past of this exciting and unstoppable music style and way of life.

Below are listed the bands known by NWOBHM consumers / collectors, followed by a description of its career and discography as accurate as I was able to be. Again, most of the releases are very very rare, so keep in mind that new discoveries and / or corrections can be made anytime in the future, changing what is written here. Anyway, here we go:

CEFFYL PREN

To this moment, two 7" from this obscure Glamorgan band are known to exist. The first slice of vynil dates from 1984 and it was released by the minuscule Anthem Records. Presenting "Collasant Eu Gwaed" and a welsh-language version of Krokus' "Bedside Radio" (re-baptized "Roc Ar Yr Radio"), this single divides opinions among collectors: some love it, and some seem to hate it with great energy and enthusiasm. Recently, a second item from 1987 was discovered - edited by the equally small Graffeg Records, it has "Roc Roc Nadolig" and "Bangkok" as the B side. At the recording credits, you can see that drummer Tim Lewis is the only musician to take part on both singles - something which is curious, at the very least. Anyway, the music contained on this effort is quite listenable, an acessive yet powerful hard rock with cool keyboard arrangements throughout. Both songs are pretty good, and NWOBHM aficionados will surely enjoy the music contained on this humble 7" - ornated with very funny sleeves, by the way. Apparently, the band was gone before the end of the decade, and no additional recordings of Ceffyl Pren are known at present. Whatever the story, the fact is that they had a very cool bandname - "ceffyl pren" was a public punishment for thieves very common in the ancient Welsh society: the criminal was forced to sit on a wooden horse (the "ceffyl pren") and conducted around the village, submited to the scorn (and eventual lapidation) of the crowd.

DISCOGRAPHY:
Collasant Eu Gwaed (7", 1984), Roc Roc Nadolig (7", 1987).

CRATOR

Now THIS is an obscure one. Very vague references have been made to a 1979 EP released by this band, which is supposedly a true undiscovered gem of NWOBHM. Released by a certain Recordiau Lloer, the EP contains three songs, namely "Gelin Yr Awyr", "Blas Da" and "Fy Mreuddwyd I". Everything looks pretty interesting, but can we really call Crator a NWOBHM band? The year of release is coherent with the usually accepted, and it would even qualify Crator as one of the main pioneers on their geographic area, but with no reliable references to what their music actually sounds like it is kinda risky to give these credits to them. Let's wait for further information, althought with high hopes in this special case.

DISCOGRAPHY:
Blas Da (EP, 1979?)

CRYS

Maybe the most "classic" of the bands discussed here (and probably the one who went to greater achievements among them all), Crys was originally formed at the end of the 70s by the Forde brothers, namely Scott (b) and Liam (v/g). Their first vinyl release (i'm not sure at the moment if they ever get to release a demo tape) was a 7" single from 1980, incluiding "Lan Yn Y Glogedd" and "Cawd Symud" as a B side. The single in question was released by the minuscule Click Records and its (very ugly) picture sleeve depictes the four musicians posing around a grafitti with the name of the band. along the Forde brothers, the musicians involved were Alun Morgan (g) and Nicky Samuel (d). Musically speaking, the two tracks of this humble release can be compared to acts such as Black Rose and Fist - maybe not in the same league when it comes to quality, but still competent contenders on NWOBHM. It appears that the local repercussion of this humble debut was pretty respectable, once the reasonably conceited Sain Records (one of the most active labels on the region even today) was interested enough in Crys to sign the band and assume the responsibility for their future releases. In 1981 came out the first Crys LP, "Rhyfelwr". Containing ten tracks, this vinyl is considered by some collectors as a hidden classic of the genre, althought most of us are not lucky enough to have a chance to find this LP and form an opinion about its music. Next year saw the release of the second full-lenght, called "Tymor Yr Heliwr" and presenting a musical style very similar to their previous release - but, according to some sources, without achieving the same level of quality of its predecessor. Still in 1982, Crys would appear at the local band compilation "Gorau Sgrech - Sgrechian Corwen", alongside acts such as the mods from Ail Symudiad, Tich Gwilym (guitarist who performed with Budgie several times) and the respected folk artist Meic Stevens. At first 1983, the band decides to think higher, and takes their big chance of being known outside Wales by playing at the famous "Friday Rock Show" from BBC. This radio show allowed many hopefuls to appear to the masses by playing a few live takes on their studios and having this songs broadcasted for BBCs huge audience. As far as we know, Crys were the only welsh-language Heavy Metal outfit to be ever featured on the program, and at January 28th 1983 four of their songs were aired, incluiding the first (and, possibly, only) two songs ever sang in english by the band, "It's About Time" and "Rocking Along". The other two themes of the night were "Pendoncwyr" and "Merched Gwillt A Gwin", both taken from their second LP. The year 1984 saw this Welsh strugglers taking pride of place in a new compilation of Welsh-language bands by Sain, this one named "Barod Am Roc". In fact, the name of this compilation was taken from the Crys song included in it, and it seems to be an evident sign that, at least in Wales, the group was enjoying a very promising period. Still, things can always get out of hand, and Crys disappeared from the face of the Earth from the second half of 80s onwards, as their records and achieved goals rapidly fell into oblivion. For many years, no news came from the Crys front, and it seemed to be a safe bet to say that they would be disbanded from the time being. So, it was a huge surprise to find "Roc Cafe", CD released in 1996 that shows Crys in great shape, playing with a heartful performance and with many interesting compositions under their belts. The info about this release is not very abrangent, and we are not really sure if it's a recent recording session or a compilation of never-before-released material - but, whatever the story, the CD is a good bite on the most acessive side of NWOBHM, so it would be good news if Crys were somehow still active, keeping alive the flame of no less than 25 years of Heavy Metal history.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Lan Yn Y Gogledd (7", 1980), Rhyfelwr (LP, 1981), Tymor Yr Heliwr (LP, 1982), Gorau Sgrech - Sgrechian Corwen (LP compilation, 1982), Barod Am Roc (LP compilation, 1984), Roc Cafe (CD, 1996).

DORCAS

To this moment, three songs are known to have been recorded by this nearly forgotten group. Two of them ("Blwyddyn Arall" and "Nyth Y Frân") are featured in a independent single from 1984, a really scarce item which belongs on the shelfs of a very small number of collectors. It seems that Dorcas was operating in a musical style near to 70's Hard / Heavy music, with intrincated guitar arrangements in a Wishbone Ash-ish vein. A curiosity about this record is that each of the tracks present a different bass player (one of them being Deiniol Morris, also involved with Maffia Mr. Huws), which lead one to wonder how unstable their line-up should be at the time. The third song known by Dorcas is "Does Dim Mwy O Win", a music that have been circulating on NWOBHM circles for a while, as a mp3 file. For a long time, this song was credited as being taken from an old demo tape, but now it is known that the song was in fact ripped from an almost unknown compilation called "Cawd Reiat", released by Sain in 1986. Anyway, as no one came out saying anything about owning a copy of such slice of vinyl, more enlightening details about the recording session are a mystery yet to be revealed.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Blwyddyn Arall (7’’, 1984), Cadw Reiat (LP compilation, 1986).

HELYNT

A recent (albeit pretty obscure) discovery is a 7'' compilation called "Popdri" and released by Sain in 1985. It appears to be a extremely scarce pressing, and the vinyl showcases four very young (at the time) outfits, most of them probably operating in a pop rock style. But I was told that the last band of the compilation, called Helynt, would be a reasonably good NWOBHM band, with their "Deud Y Gwir" effort being an interesting song for enthusiastic colectors of the genre. Looking to the photo on the sleeve, you wouldn't have any grounds to confirm or deny this notion - as the trio of musicians are not exactly the most Metal-looking bunch you'll ever see, but aren't instantly discardable as the other three bands shown there. All things considered, Helynt is still a mystery - let's hope some info will appear in the not-so-distant future, so we can be able to join them on the NWOBHM paradise or not. Perhaps a nearly-forgotten single or something, why not?...

DISCOGRAPHY:

Popdri (EP compilation, 1985).

LOUIS A'R ROCYRS

The band was assembled by Louis Thomas after leaving the folk / rock concern Bran. The first official release of this bunch seems to have been a self-financed 7'' single, featuring "Fodan" as its main focus of attention. Unfortunately, all efforts made to discover the name of the B-side proved to be unsucessful - but anyway, it seems like the music itself wasn't yet out-and-out NWOBHM, being much more in a punk rock vein. The other known release from Louis A'r Rocyrs is a single released by Sain Records in 1984, containing "Sianel 3" and "Y Sipsiwns" as B-side. The info I could gather indicates a shift of direction, both songs being pretty close to typical Hard Rock territory, something which justifies the inclusion of the band in this NWOBHM article. Anyway, it seems to have been a pretty short-lived venture, and soon Louis Thomas would return to sail on secure folk music waters, being this scarce and hard-to-find material a memento of his "metal" days. In fact, both singles are not really sought-after artifacts, and still can be bought on reasonable prices, assuming you can locate one of these itens in the first place.

DISCOGRAPHY:
Fodan (7'', 1983), Sianel 3 (7'', 1984).

MAFFIA MR HUWS (later MAFFIA)

Here is a case which demands some special attention. The history of this group is known even with considerable details: Maffia Mr Huws is formed at the tail end of the 70s, and their first known release is a 7'' single released by Fflach in 1982, featuring "Gitar Yn Y To" and "Reggae Racs" as a B-side. At the time, the musicians were Hefin Huws (v, g) Les Morrison (v), Sion Jones (g), Deiniol Morris (b) and Gwyn Jones (d), and before the year was out they contributed to a compilation called "Sesiwn Sosban", beside bands like Ellifant and Derec Brown A'r Racaracwir. In 1983, the band (a very sucessful local outfit at the time) released by Sain Records a LP called "Yr Orchr Arall". Unfortunately, Hefin Huws decided to leave the band some time later, to create a new outfit called Llwybr Cyhoeddus - later, he would also play in a punk band called Ahnrefn. Singer Les Morrison also left, and then Maffia Mr Huws was forced to reinvent themselves, shortening their name to Maffia and releasing a 7'' single in 1985. Sion, Deiniol and Gwyn were now assisted by Neil Edwards (v) and Alan Edwards (k, who may or may not be the Panza Division's ex-bassist), and the songs now included were "Nid Divedd Y Gan" e Newyddion Heddiw". Tragically, Alan died in a car accident in 1987, which may have led to the premature end of the band. Not so long ago, I finally located some mp3 files of a Maffia album called "Da Nim Yn O'th Gem Fach Di", which supoosedly came out in 1986 or thereabouts - and an album that, I must confess, I wasn't even aware of until a small time before I found these files. Listening to the music, it becomes clear that Maffia were more than happy to add multiple influences to their songs - there are some pretty heavy numbers, such as "Cigfran" and the live medley of “Dant Y Llew / Hysbysebion”, but we can also hear some punk rock, some pop music (which reminds me of Men At Work sometimes) and even generous elements of reggae (!). So, it's up to every listener decide if Maffia can be called NWOBHM or not - personally, I think that if (very good, admitedly) bands such as Liaison and Anniversary are highy regarded amongst collectors, there's no strong reason to ignore Maffia's work, as it has a fair bit of heaviness on display. Anyway, I'm glad to say that Maffia Mr Huws reunited for an one-off show in 2000, and since then have been gigging sporadically - incluiding a sucessful appearance at 2004 edition of Faenol Festival. It is reported that a CD collection of old material is planned for a near future, and it's nice to know that these struggling musicians are still doing the rounds and playing good music. More to come very soon - watch this space...

DISCOGRAPHY:

Gitar Yn Y To (7'', 1982), Sesiwn Sosban (LP compilation, 1982), Yr Orchr Arall (1983), Nid Divedd Y Gan (7'', 1985), Da Nim Yn O'th Gem Fach Di (LP, 1986?).

MWG

The 7'' single from this band, which contains "Pesda '86" and "Darn O'r Haul", is credited as NWOBHM on rockdetector.com, but I'm personally not really convinced that it is indeed related to the genre. The four young guys on the sleeve don't exactly look like "true defenders of Heavy Metal", if you know what I mean, and I couldn't find any other source with references to their music - something that shouldn't be that hard, considering this vinyl was released by the considerably abrangent Sain Record at the not-so-distant year of 1986. There's not much info on this group, apart from being from the city of Bethesda and for supposedly have featured at some stage the talents of Huw Smith, the same musician from Maffia Mr. Huws and Llwybr Cyhoeddus, among others. In any case, it's surely not the case of dismiss this band, but there's still some shades of doubt concerning the music of Mwg (or would it be MWG, as an acronym?). Let's hope someone can furnish us some enlightening info about this bunch of musicians...

DISCOGRAPHY:

Pesda '86 (7'', 1986).

OMEGA

Not really much is known about this mysterious band, apart from being one of the few welsh-language NWOBHM groups fortunate enough to release its own LP before plunging into oblivion. With two of its musicians (Graham Land and Bev Jones) being also involved with Rohan, Omega took its place on the "Gorau Sgrech - Sgrechian Corwen" compilation in 1982 (with the song "Nansi") before editing this self-titled album the following year. It is said that this record shows a band in a progressive rock style, but with strong guitar histrionics in a typical NWOBHM mould. Not many people will ever be able to lay eyes on such an item, left alone listen to the music it holds, but saying "NWOBHM" is a safe enough bet in this case to justifies Omega's inclusion here. Apart from that, no one knows for sure if there are anything else from Omega waiting for us out there, so I guess we will have to wait for a while before we can give more accurate info about the band.

DISCOGRAPHY:
Gorau Sgrech - Sgrechian Corwen (LP compilation, 1982), Omega (LP, 1983).

RHIANNON TOMOS A'R BAND

Rhiannon Tomos is a female singer with a strong voice, who toyed with some metallic outfits in the first half of the 80s. We have some indications of recordings from the singer dated to 1979 or even before, but the first Rhiannon material we could track down is the absurdly rare compilation "Yn Dawel Hyd Nawr", released by the unknown Legless Records in 1980. Apparently, it is a female-oriented folk/rock compilation, and Rhiannon (still without the "A'r Band") contributes with two songs, namely "India'r Prynhawn" and "Cinderella". We are led to believe that the singer's appearance was pretty well received, as Sain Records stepped in and offered her a recording contract, which led to the release of 1981's LP "Dwed Y Gwir". The music direction of Rhiannon Tomos A'r Band (as it was credited now) oscilates between 70s Hard Rock and the new Heavy Metal scene who was the flavour of the day all around the United Kingdom. The LP had a reasonable repercussion, but not enough to allow Rhiannon to break through the humble frontiers of Wales local scene. In 1983, the singer lend her voice to Y Diawled (see entry below) and recorded with them the nice 7" single "Noson Y Blaidd". The last Heavy Metal adventure of Rhiannon known at present (for me, at least) is the Rhiannon Tomos A'r Band contribution to the "Barod Am Roc" compilation in 1984. The song in question is "Chm Hiraeth", with recording credits from 1980 and that may (or may not) have been previously released in a 7" single or something like that. Whatever the story, Rhiannon seemingly gave up on Rock N Roll, and from the second half of the 80s onwards she concentrated herself in a folk music career, assuming the artistic name of Rhiannon Thomas and releasing some sporadic material ever since. Still, a surprise: in 2004, the Rhiannon Tomos A'r Band reunites specially to play on Faenol Festival, organized by welsh classical musician Bryn Terfel. If it can be qualified as the return of Rhiannon Tomos to Hard / Heavy waters, only time can tell. We eagerly wait for news on this subject, the sooner the better.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Yn Dawel Hyd Nawr (LP compilation, 1980), Dwed Y Gwir (LP, 1981), Barod Am Roc (LP compilation, 1984).

ROHAN

Operating in a musical style closer to progressive rock, but with some epic concotions more attuned to Heavy Metal, Rohan released a 7'' single in 1984, which fits in to the NWOBHM timeline and qualifies them to be included on the ever-increasing frontiers of the genre. This piece of vinyl, containing "Mil O Fastiau" and "Rasus T.T.", has a very generic sleeve, and it probably took a long while until the first NWOBHM collector actually give it a try and find out it could be a pretty decent record after all. Whatever the story, the band disappeared for the world outside of Wales until at least 1996, when an unexpected and self-titled CD came out. It appears to be a reunion of recently-recorded material, althought the possibility of this being a compilation of archive recordings can't be completely discarded. Consisting on six very long tracks (most of the compositions inspired by Tolkien's writings), the music contained on this CD explores a lot of folk influences from the area, but still sounds heavy and strong enough to please not-so-radical NWOBHM aficionados. Besides, this item is relatively easy to locate (even some Internet sites offer it to sale on a reasonable price) and it's surely a much more viable option than the extremely scarce vinyl single - and the CD even includes a re-working of "Mil O Fastiau", which helps matters considerably on this particular case. There's no info on further activities of the band, but it would be great to know they are somehow still active, keeping alive their small but respectable legacy.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Mil O Fastiau (7'', 1984), Rohan (CD, 1996).

TROBWLL

Possibly the oldest band in Wales to fit the NWOBHM archetype, Trobwll was personified by guitarist / singer Richard Morris - also producer of many bands of the area, like Crys, and later involved with many bands of the most different styles of music, mostly with no relation to NWOBHM whatsoever. Morris also owned a recording facility called Stiwdio's Bwthyn, where he worked with many groups from his homeland, such as the reasonably known Ellifant. The only Trobwll slice of vinyl known at the present is a very rare 7", released by the tiny Buwch Siapus Records in late 1979. It features one song ("Taith") divided in two parts, one for each side of the single. The song itself is a mixing of progressive rock influences with some heavier riffs in a 70s Heavy Metal vein. Few details from the history of the band are known by now, and it's a strong possibility that Trobwll never came to be more than a studio project from Richard Morris, without great aspirations and perhaps with musicians assembled for this recording session only. Probably the connection of this outfit with NWOBHM is casual and unintentional, but it doesn't make much difference now, once the name of the band is already bonded to the period in question, and the most obsessive collectors would sell their parents to hold an authentic mint copy of this item.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Taith (7", 1979).

TRYDAN

One of the most obscure bands from the period in question, Trydan was a kind of uncommon formation, featuring three singers and six members in total, three of then being gentlemen and three ladies. Almost nothing is known from this outfit's history, and the only Trydan release was a very humble three-track EP, released by Sain in 1980. "Mods A Rocers", the title-track, is reported as the most "metallic" of the bunch, the other two songs featured ("Di-waith, Di-'fynedd" and "Mr. Urdd") being supposedly least enthusiastic and more borderline efforts, with the record as a whole being reccomended only for the most undeterred collectors of NWOBHM-related stuff. As a trivia, another Trydan appeared from the same area in recent times, with a musical style near to modern bands such as Creed and The Darkness. Still, the today's Trydan presents musicians around the 15-year mark, so don't make any confusion with their (long gone) NWOBHM namesakes.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Mods A Rocers (EP, 1980)

WENFFLAM

Unfortunately, there is poorly few things to tell about this almost unknown band, whose sole vinyl effort known at present is a 7" released by Tryfan Records in 1986, pairing "Deigryn Du" and "Mynadd Byw". In fact, the release date is a bit too late for some NWOBHM collectors, but I considered it would be interesting to list this item here for the sake of completeness. The simple but nice cover is a giveaway of the Heavy Metal concotions of the material, and there is a reasonably good possibility of other Wenfflam released to be discovered in the future. Anyway, the item is a complete mystery for most collectors, and new examples appear far and far between, so the original pressing was possibly pitifully minuscule. Who knows?

DISCOGRAPHY:

Deigryn Du (7", 1986).

Y DIAWLED

This is a band that the most persevering (obsessive?) collectors of NWOBHM hold in great esteem, and their vinyl releases are regarded as consistent and relevant efforts of the period. The first recording from the band dates from 1982, and it appears on a extremely rare EP compilation, released by Fflach Records under the name "Gyda Chymorth C.A.C.".The song in question is called "Shwt Mae Siapus?", and it already shown Y Diawled to be one of the most "metallic" bands of the area, with a heavy and energectic sounding that fits perfectly in the aesthetics of NWOBHM. Next year saw Fflach records releasing a new product from Y Diawled, and soon the 7" single containing "S.O.S." and "Llinos Yn Y Lleder Du" was on the record stores of Wales. The material was produced by Richard Morris, the same man who worked with tons of groups (like Crys) and still found time for his own project Trobwll (see entry above). Still, the most well-known effort from Y Diawled would be released at the tail end of 1983 by Sain Records and would include the sterling appearance of singer Rhiannon Tomos (see entry above), substituting original lead singer Kevin Davies. By the way, this joint venture doesn't look like a 100% spontaneous one, and I wouldn't be surprised if this collaboration came as an idea from the record label, joining the talented female singer with a emergent Heavy Metal band in order to create some kind of supergroup (for local standards, at least). Whatever the story, the result of this union came as a high quality single, with both songs (the excellent "Noson Y Blaidd" and "Dewch Gyda Ni") being very heavy tunes with nice arrangements and interesting ideas, althought the sound production isn't exactly the most accomplished work you'll ever hear. I suspect that Y Diawled could have went to greater things if they had received a good nationwide distribution - perhaps lyrics in English could help matter considerably too. "Noson Y Blaidd" single even received a review in "Kerrang" magazine (as far as we know, they are the only Welsh-language band to get such atention from them), but the comments came to be a litlle unfair, linking Y Diawled to Wales folk music - and, believe me, only prejudice against Welsh tongue can justify such opinion, as the two songs are NWOBHM through and through. Anyway, soon lead singer Rhiannon Tomos went her own way, becoming a folk rock artist, and it's not unreasonable to believe that this loss, added to the lack of perspectives on suceeding out of their humble local scene, led to the demise of the talented and promising outfit. Still, they left these few slices of vinyl as a testimony of their existance, and NWOBHM enthusiasts will be keen to preserve this legacy for the years to come.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Gyda Chymorth C.A.C. (EP compilation, 1982), S.O.S. (7", 1983), Noson Y Blaidd (7", 1983).

That's it, for now. Special thanks to Boris Bessarabov, to Rockdetector and NWOBHM.com websites, to the mighty "NWOBHM Encyclopedia" by Malc McMillan and to the many anonymous friends which furnished me mp3 files and photos used on this article. Thank you all very much!