New Wave of American Heavy Metal

The New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM) is a heavy metal music movement that originated in the United States during the early to mid-1990s and has expanded most in the recent 2000s. Some of the bands considered part of the movement had formed as early as the late 1980s, but did not become influential or reach popular standing until the following decade. The term NWOAHM is a later reference to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the late 1970s.

Although the term is used by the media with increasing frequency, the definition has not been finished completely. This is due in part to the growing addition of bands that assimilate to common styles in NWOAHM (as defined below), yet have not differentiated greatly enough as to garner a new genre moniker. One descriptor by longtime metal author Garry Sharpe-Young helps classify the NWOAHM as a "marriage of European-style riffing and throaty vocals". Several of the bands within the NWOAHM are credited with bringing heavy metal back into the mainstream. The roots of the movement are attributed to the heavy metal bands Pantera, Biohazard, Slipknot, and Machine Head. These initial bands emerged out of post-grunge in the 1990s, drawing influence from New York hardcore, thrash metal, and punk rock. The rise of the movement in the early 2000s is attributed to the over-saturation of nu-metal in that period. Because of this, the nu-metal band Korn is also considered one of the bands which initiated the NWOAHM. The movement now includes a wide variety of styles, including melodic death metal, progressive metal, metalcore and Christian metalcore, progressive rock, screamo, emo, groove metal, alternative metal, electronic rock, and hardcore punk.