The Death of Nu-Metal

~Rael~ wrote: From what I can tell, nu-metal is dead, or at least dying. While som of it was midlly enjoyable, I am glad this chapter of musical history is finally coming to a close.

I think it's been a while now.  It seems most recent releases have pretty much gone under the radar. It reminds me of 80's hair metal bands in the early 90's...

I wonder if there will ever be a Nu-Metal revival, like retro-Nu-Metal or something like that,

Nu Metal never really entirely died, but obviously it fell from the mainstream a few years ago and as a result, it's perceived to be dead by many people.
In terms of musicianship, many of the nu metal bands had better players than many people realize.
Wes Borland, formerly of Limb Bizkit, actually used some rather complex chord voicings (compared to just smashing around using root 5 chords) in his playing, and is actually really really good at the two handed tapping technique.

Mick Thomson, as many may or may not be aware, was a guitar teacher for a while and interviews with him shows he has a good grounding in music theory, and as much as I don't like Slipknot that much (I think their latest album is not terrible though, if nothing special), he has amazing rhythm guitar technique and can play 6 string sweep picked arpeggios way better than I can play 5 string arpeggios.

Mudvayne, to be honest, I've never really heard.

Linkin Park, well I wont lie, I think they had some cool songs on Hybrid Theory and I still do think they are cool songs but never liked anything else from them really.

Korn, I used to really like, but I tried listening to them again recently, and I honestly can't stand listening to it anymore.
The only songs I can sit through are Blind and Helmet In The Bush from their debut album.
And I can't deny both Munky and Head made some cool noises with their guitars that you don't notice unless you listen real closely and they had this cool interplay thing going on too.
Both good rhythm guitarists (if not spectacular) and I've seen youtube vids of them demonstrating some lead guitar. They aren't virtuosos, but their level of musicianship is much better than that of a bunch of a hacks in a garage pop punk band.
The drumming isn't bad either.

Coal Chamber, one of the earlier nu metal bands, I never cared for, very boring to my ears, never could like them.

Papa Roach, had some okay riffs on some songs, but otherwise, not for me.

P.O.D, I'll pass.
Same for SOAD, don't like them.

Probably some other bands I know but can't think of right now that I don't like in nu metal either.

Deftones, to this day, remains pretty much the only nu metal band I can listen to regularly, and a very creative band they were and still are too IMO.
I love the atmospheric feel they can bring to their music other nu metal bands never had.
They are proof nu metal hasn't died entirely, as they still remain relatively popular in metal circles, although their only pure nu metal work was their debut, and everything since then was to some extent, mixed up with experimental aspects, but their music always had enough of a nu metal sound to it to call it nu metal.

Here's how I see things. Nu-metal didn't have an "organic" evolution as a genre because as soon as Korn released their debut album the record labels started making pressure on bands to play nu-metal. Unfortunately, not everyone had the talent required for such a style. Nu-metal can be rather lame if you don't have a highly technical drummer or vocal whereas the instruments, 7 string guitars are recommended and so on. That's how groups like Limp Bizkit, Drowning Pool or Mushroomhead emerged and thought that by rapping a little and by adding some unoriginal thick guitar riffs they would make good music. WRONG. Because of the hype, many bands brought profit for the record labels but once emo came along all of them were simply forgotten.

Nu-metal is in my opinion a less avantgarde experimental metal, if I may express myself this way. If we  take a look at the way conventional metal and hardcore were played in 1994 we will see that playing the bass in a jazzy style and the guitar in a very distorted way was very uncommon. Mr Bungle had a great influence on the few good nu-metal bands (Korn and Slipknot) and Red Hot Chili Peppers as well. Nu-metal, in order to sound well and not boring is generally influenced by funk.

Slipknot is probably the only record label product band that had a true artistic value. It's a long story behind the band, the demo album released in 1996 was highly experimental, a Mr Bungle only more hardcore and the self titled album was a remake of the demo with an even more extreme approach. I honestly believe Slipknot were asked to play nu-metal in an extreme manner because Roudrunner had been dumped by Mushroomhead and the record label did nothing but to take Slipknot and transform them into what Mushroomhead had already been. The good part is that Slipknot are far better musicians and as for the part with the masks, well, I don't care if the idea was taken from Mushroomhead or not.

Musically, Slipknot was the new level of nu-metal. Thick but fast, focused more in guitar rather bass more cacophonic than any metal band before them and with a great amount of industrial.

Then came Linkin Park and , ultimately, the end. Linkin Park weren't inspiring enough, except the Dj all the musicians weer (and are) lame and limited and there was nothing to follow.

It's sad that, besides Korn and Slipknot, good nu-metal albums were released by bands that had been in the music scene before 1994 like Sepultura, Slayer and M E S H U G G A H. But as I said in the beginning, the record label's hunger fro money is the reason why there so few good nu-metal bands.

a lot of that Funk Metal/Thrash was a big influence on Nu-Metal sort of a precursor to the genre, anyone remember bands like Mordred, Infectious Grooves, Scatterbrain, Mindfunk, 24-7 Spies, Prong to a certain extent, also a lot of that breakdown/groovy Hardcore stuff like Madball, Sick of it All, Cromags, Undertow, Inside Out (features Zack de la Rocha pre-Rage Against The Machine)

Zarec wrote: Nu-metal didn't have an "organic" evolution as a genre because as soon as Korn released their debut album the record labels started making pressure on bands to play nu-metal.

I think that pretty much sums up everything that has happened in the music industry since the NWOBHM/NWOBAHM era - including grunge. The money machines making up new fashionable styles and genres to promote, and abusing well-intending musicians as a tool to do it.
One of the reasons I never really took into account nu-metal as something I would be interested in, although the bag pipes (Korn) were fun at Dynamo Open Air some years ago....

p0mt3 wrote: The T wrote: crimson87 wrote: Here in Argentina we have a sort of music called Regueton. It's makes Fred Durst sound like Richard Sinclair more or less   Reggaeton makes nu-metal sound like Johann Sebastian Bach actually....   ROFL

It sounds funny, but it's actually very sad! Anyway, I think people in the US listen to that crap too, so it's not just argentinian people who are that stupid. I can't really understand how could anyone appreciate that "music" or whatever it is, I think it's even worst than cumbia villera!

I have heard people refer to "metalcore" many time, but what exactly is metalcore? Because I really have no idea.

HughesJB4 wrote: Nu Metal never really entirely died, but obviously it fell from the mainstream a few years ago and as a result, it's perceived to be dead by many people. In terms of musicianship, many of the nu metal bands had better players than many people realize. Wes Borland, formerly of Limb Bizkit, actually used some rather complex chord voicings (compared to just smashing around using root 5 chords) in his playing, and is actually really really good at the two handed tapping technique. Mick Thomson, as many may or may not be aware, was a guitar teacher for a while and interviews with him shows he has a good grounding in music theory, and as much as I don't like Slipknot that much (I think their latest album is not terrible though, if nothing special), he has amazing rhythm guitar technique and can play 6 string sweep picked arpeggios way better than I can play 5 string arpeggios. Mudvayne, to be honest, I've never really heard. Linkin Park, well I wont lie, I think they had some cool songs on Hybrid Theory and I still do think they are cool songs but never liked anything else from them really. Korn, I used to really like, but I tried listening to them again recently, and I honestly can't stand listening to it anymore. The only songs I can sit through are Blind and Helmet In The Bush from their debut album. And I can't deny both Munky and Head made some cool noises with their guitars that you don't notice unless you listen real closely and they had this cool interplay thing going on too. Both good rhythm guitarists (if not spectacular) and I've seen youtube vids of them demonstrating some lead guitar. They aren't virtuosos, but their level of musicianship is much better than that of a bunch of a hacks in a garage pop punk band. The drumming isn't bad either. Coal Chamber, one of the earlier nu metal bands, I never cared for, very boring to my ears, never could like them. Papa Roach, had some okay riffs on some songs, but otherwise, not for me. P.O.D, I'll pass. Same for SOAD, don't like them. Probably some other bands I know but can't think of right now that I don't like in nu metal either. Deftones, to this day, remains pretty much the only nu metal band I can listen to regularly, and a very creative band they were and still are too IMO. I love the atmospheric feel they can bring to their music other nu metal bands never had. They are proof nu metal hasn't died entirely, as they still remain relatively popular in metal circles, although their only pure nu metal work was their debut, and everything since then was to some extent, mixed up with experimental aspects, but their music always had enough of a nu metal sound to it to call it nu metal.

 

Either you simply forgot to mention Disturbed, or you intentionally left them out/. If it's the latter, then I'm assuming that means you don't consider them Nu-Metal.

 

If that is the case, I am with you on that one. If not, well, then I'll explain why I never found Disturbed to be a Nu-Metal band:

 

David Draiman is one of the best singers alive today. He has great range and an all-around beautiful voice. Pretty decent songwriter too, though he has a habit of using the two word combo of "To me" way too many times in his lyrics.

Dan Donegan. Virtuoso as far as I am concerned. He never really showed off his playing style on the first two records, but the most recent two albums are full of interesting and technically impressive guitar work. And I know I will be crucified for this, but I would take Donegan's "Overburdened" solo over anything Petrucci did post-SfaM any day.

Their Drummer Mike Wendgren is phenominal. Not as technically adept as one might think a mdetal drummer should be, but he's solid, and very creative from what I can hear.

They've rotated bass players over thbe course of their career, so I can't really judge this new guy yet.

Besides, listening to their music reminds me much more of Maiden or Priest than Limp Bizkit. Know what I mean? These guys are clearly influenced by the classic rock/metal guys, and the music is very rich and alive because of it. That's my opinion, anyway.

p0mt3 wrote: ~Rael~ wrote: I have heard people refer to "metalcore" many time, but what exactly is metalcore? Because I really have no idea.   Bands like Atreyu, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, etc.   Basically hardcore metal music meets hardcore punk music. Think Lamb of God, but with melodic vocals and more punk-ish breakdowns taking prominent roles.

To be specific, 1990s/2000s metal meets 1990s/2000s hardcore punk. 1980s metal meets 1980s hardcore punk resulted in thrash.