NWOBHM 1990s Albums

Euphoria brings Def Leppard’s signature strengths back to the foreground: stacked harmonies, polished guitar work and hooks built for instant lift.

The studio album that followed Everything Louder. The band's own album gallery files it under 2000.

Saxon's fourteenth album, released in 1999. It is the first with Fritz Randow on drums, though the opening Intro is Nigel Glockler's.

Virtual XI builds an epic atmosphere through heavy riffs, bass-led melody and extended song structures.

The sixth Praying Mantis studio album, released by Pony Canyon on 17 June 1998 as PCCY-01257 — the first with Tony O'Hora singing. Ten songs.

A fifteen-track studio album from 1997, closing out the stretch the band spent working around the German metal scene.

Saxon's thirteenth album, from May 1997. It is the first with Doug Scarratt on guitar, and he has held the second guitar chair ever since.

Slang deliberately reduces Def Leppard’s grand polished sheen and turns toward lower, heavier guitar, dry rhythm and more inward-looking songs.

The X Factor opens a new Iron Maiden chapter with Blaze Bayley, pursuing darker air, heavier weight and longer song structures than before.

The fifth Praying Mantis studio album, released by Pony Canyon on 19 August 1995 as PCCY-00794. Eleven songs.

A live album recorded in Japan. Gallagher has since said he had laryngitis when it was taped.

Saxon's twelfth album, from September 1995 and the last to feature Graham Oliver. It falls in a period of change in both the sound and the line-up.

A 1994 album, twelve tracks cut at Showplace Studios in Dover, New Jersey.

The fourth Praying Mantis studio album, released by Pony Canyon on 21 May 1993 as PCCY-00422, with Mark Thompson-Smith singing and former Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton in the band. Eleven songs.

Adrenalize gathers Def Leppard’s layered chorus work, hard guitar and immediate melody into a record completed after the loss of Steve Clark.

Fear of the Dark keeps Iron Maiden’s sense of charge while moving into darker, harder riffing and more sustained tension.

Saxon's eleventh album, released in 1992. It is the last full album with the founding guitarist Graham Oliver.

The band's second album, ten years after the first, and in practice their restart. Pony Canyon released it on 21 March 1991 as PCCY-00207, with Gary Barden of MSG singing and Dennis Stratton, formerly of Iron Maiden, on guitar. Eleven songs.

Made in Germany after the band took up with Kreator's management. Gallagher calls it darker and heavier than the low-budget record before it.

Saxon's tenth album, released in 1991. It is the first with Nibbs Carter on bass, a place he has held ever since.

No Prayer for the Dying finds IRON MAIDEN in a phase that reasserts the force of traditional metal through steel-edged riffs, forward beat and proud vocal delivery.