ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the ubiquity and perpetuation of the coding established in the works of Black Sabbath and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) which has become the core of heavy metal syntax. The NWOBHM bands, who shared that same background and disposition, found more ferocious ways of expressing those sentiments, not least through their development of new percussive devices such as double-kicks and rapid back-beats. The work of Black Sabbath is first developed in the NWOBHM. Judas Priest and Iron Maiden not only maintained aspects of extended structuring but also adopted and incorporated classical and rhetorical devices into their writing such as twin-guitar harmonies and pseudo-operatic vocals. The same narrow life options that drove Black Sabbath to develop angry performative styles of music and lyrics that combine to censure the hegemony imposed by state and church, seemed to similarly drive the aesthetics of the NWOBHM.
