New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Classic and Progressive Rock

Denigh: Denigh NWOBHM Review

Denigh NWOBHMDenigh appeared back in the late 1970s and were from the south east England. Just like many rock bands at the time, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal tag was applied as Denigh set out to mark their mark.

They became quite popular in their local area (Kent region) and an early demo tape they made was sold at gigs going down well. That was followed in 1980 be the band financing a single – No Way backed by Running – of which 1,000 copies were produced.

Legend has it that it made number 97 on the UK singles chart. Despite their best efforts and growing local popularity and even them producing an album on cassette in 1984 things eventually fizzled out and Denigh became no more.

Thankfully as they continue to do with “lost” NWOBHM-era bands, Obscure NWOBHM Releases have given Denigh the treatment putting together one of their limited edition runs of 500 CDs. This one consisting of the No Way/Running single, five live recordings and the Lean On ‘Em Hard session from 1983.

Style-wise Denigh wrote tight and punchy hard rockers which were quite catchy too generally coming in around the three to four minute mark.

That first single being a good example. No Way is a jaunty little ditty with a fastish riff bouncing along, a nifty solo and melody with Running perhaps hitting a bit harder.

Of the demos – Meanstreak, Dead and Buried and Bed of Nails are each very enjoyable numbers delivered with enthusiasm. Nice riffage, short, no notes wasted soloing and catchy vocals. Perhaps Dead and Buried being the pick with the fast riff belting it along. Have a listen:

The Lean On ‘Em Hard session has more evidence of how Denigh were a bit different from the hard and fast brigade and able to write varied songs which whilst being nicely heavy also had some finesse.

For example Call Me Angel is a brooding, slower style whereas Ironcald and Foxy and proper hard and heavy rockers.

Long may Obscure NWOBHM Releases keep doing what they do the repeatedly unearth bands from the good old days which may otherwise have remained largely forgotten and do their bit to keep showing what a huge range of talent was around as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal took off.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, it’s a limited edition of 500 CDs. As I type both the label (Obscure NWOBHM Releases) and Sonic Age Records show availability:
https://sonicagerecords.com
https://onreleases.bigcartel.com

Obscure NWOBHM releases have been busy issuing this and also (if you remember them) similar from Titan and Falcon in short order. The Titan review is here. A review of the Falcon CD to follow.