Uriah Heep (band) recording of the album, drummer Alex Napier was replaced by Nigel Olsson, recommended to Byron by Elton John. The debut was not popular with rock critics (especially in the USA where "Rolling Stone" reviewer Melissa Mills infamously promised to commit suicide "if this band makes it") but in retrospect the attitude towards it changed. "Those unfamiliar with Uriah Heep may want to try out "Demons and Wizards" or a compilation first, but anyone with a serious interest in Uriah Heep or the roots of heavy metal will find plenty to like on ..."Very 'eavy ...Very 'umble"," advised critic Donald A.
New wave of American heavy metal of American heavy metal has its origins in a group of post-grunge acts from the 1990s that brought heavy metal "back to its core brutality" and drawing not from the traditional blues formula but from thrash metal and punk. In the book "The Next Generation of Rock & Punk", Joel McIver acknowledged Korn as the pioneers of the new wave of American heavy metal, and also credits them as the first band labeled as nu metal. The nu metal genre was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Other roots of NWOAHM are attributed to bands such as Pantera,