New Wave of American Heavy Metal

The New Wave of American Heavy Metal is a heavy metal music movement that originated in the United States during the early to mid-1990s and expanded most in the early to mid 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 itself borrows from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal dating to 1979.

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 description 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.