NWOAHM

The New Wave of American Heavy Metal is the name the press gave to the run of bands that, in the United States, put riff and technique back at the centre after nu metal's dominance. The movement crossed Swedish melodic death metal with American hardcore and produced a language that would define the decade: Killswitch Engage settled the model of alternating screams and clean choruses, Lamb of God brought the weight of groove and rhythmic precision, and Mastodon pulled toward the progressive and conceptual. Unlike the NWOBHM, it was a label applied from outside, and several of the bands involved never recognised themselves in it — but the framing does describe a real generational turn.