Some are looking at this title and asking themselves “what the is hell nu metal anyway? What was wrong with the OLD metal?”
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, pioneered by Korn, and further supported by Deftones, P.O.D., and (hed)P.E.. Many other bands picked up this sound, and it hit the mainstream like wildfire. Many of these bands, while you probably never listened to them yourself, you’ve at least heard the name of. Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Coal Chamber… The list goes on. It was so popular that other bands suddenly started trying to emulate the sound, even though it didn’t match their style. Examples include Machinehead (The Burning Red), Metallica (St. Anger), Vanilla Ice (Hard to Swallow… yeah, Ice Ice Baby was even remixed into a nu metal song called “Too Cold“), and Fear Factory (Digimortal).
How can you spot nu metal? Like what can you listen for in order to hear it? I keep reading all over the place about this, and nobody seems to get it. A lot of ‘em say “rapped vocals”, but others have said “how is band X considered nu metal? the singer never raps out vocals!” Wikipedia even has trouble describing it. Honestly, it’s not that hard to describe.
Nu metal is categorized firstly by a rap beat. Almost every nu metal song could double as a rap song. In fact, I’d say nu metal actually is rap at its core. Here’s an example — The Way I Am (Danny Lohner Remix). This is why nu metal so easily gives into industrial metal, or “dance metal” if you need something more descriptive. Best example of industrial metal I can think of off the top of my head is The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails.
But, a rap beat isn’t the only factor; you also need low-tuned and highly distorted guitars. It adds a sense of darkness to the music that gives off an abrasive and angry feel to it. This is a must. Here’s an example of what happens when you don’t include this in your music: Epic by Faith No More. This song has every element of the nu metal formula except for the anger and the low-tuned guitars. Aggression is an extremely important factor that many bands actually get wrong.
Nu metal was formed as an amalgamation of rap, grunge, and punk. These 3 genres emanate rebellion and anger. Rap, in my opinion, is actually the angriest of the three, and here’s an example of why: Internally Bleeding by Immortal Technique. Rapped vocals are the best way to express aggression and anger because you can very easily pick up on the inflections in the vocals. The vocals are spoken or even yelled, which puts more emphasis on the words as they’re given. There’s a very strong emotional and spiritual presence behind rapped vocals, enhanced even more by the descriptiveness of the lyrics. Then you take punk, a style that goes out of its way to be rebellious, and then take grunge, an anti-culture style. The final peg is metal, which has the hardest and heaviest drums, and the most abrasive of stringed instruments: electric guitars (with distortion pedals).
Nu metal is the perfect storm, so to speak, of aggressiveness. You have the anger and passion of rap, the anti-culture of grunge, the rebelliousness of punk, and the meaty permeative sound of metal wrapped around it. It’s a freakin musical bomb.
And yet, so many bands get this wrong. Korn was the pioneer, and their singer was really the driving force behind what nu metal truly is. Jonathan Davis didn’t just get up and sing, or grunt… Jonathan Davis got up and relived a horrible moment from his childhood, and by the end of the song he breaks down into hysterics… In fact I’d say he could claim temporary insanity in a lot of his songs. Songs like Daddy, Good God, and My Gift To You all show this side of Jon’s past. In each of these songs, you hear the music build up, creating this maelstrom… and at the center of the dark vibes created is Jon, hysterical, insane, wild, and deadly.
These are not supposed to be “songs”; these are supposed to be outlets for the damaged and victims of injustice. This is what brings me to the countless bands who get this wrong.
While Korn’s lyrics may focus around bullying, child abuse, alienation, and hate, this doesn’t mean they’re made up of emo kids whining about their lives. This is a person who actually suffered through hell, and in a society that always says “suck it up” he deigns to express it exactly how it happened. Jon’s not crying out for some ex-girlfriend to love him, and even his one and only song about child abuse expresses the sick and twisted mind of a pedophile in lieu of an innocent child becoming damaged. He’s doing what many people don’t have the strength to do: talk about it, relive it, and outlet it.
Other nu metal bands, however, totally missed the target here. Adema, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Taproot, Evanescence, Staind,Three Days Grace… bah, the list goes on. The problem each of these bands have is the absence of that struggle. There’s no real aggression to any of these people. It’s a bunch of whiny teenaged-minded young adults who “don’t wanna be what you want me to be”, feel “tormented”, and “want to be noticed”. This isn’t the outcry of someone truly fucked up in their childhood; this is the outcry of a whiny bitch who wants attention. It’s no wonder nu metal died off like it did, because people were tired of these young beautiful people (yes, look at ‘em all, they’re freakin model quality… the fuck do you have to complain about?!) complaining about how horrible their lives were (or weren’t).
However, amidst the emo chaos there were other bands that got it right… Slipknot, Ill Niño, Motograter (now Five Finger Death Punch), Otep, and Static X. Recently, the only bands that seem to get it right is Love and Death and Five Finger Death Punch.
So why do I like nu metal so much? Well, I’m a lover of theater first and foremost… I like being able to hear in the vocalist’s inflections what it is they’re trying to say. You can say a lot based on the way you say/sing a lyric. The advent of nu metal allows for the anger and the struggle, but it also allows for the overcoming of that struggle. There are plenty of songs that aren’t aggressive at all, and some even that have positive messages (Love and Death is all about the positive, which is why they’re actually my favorite right now). You can’t tell a good story unless there’s a struggle or something to overcome. The example I’ve used is Lord of the Rings. If Frodo could just fly to Mt. Doom and drop the Ring into the summit before flying back home, what would the significance of telling the story been? The characters never strengthen, and never learn comradery or perseverance. There’s one scene in the movie that shows all these hobbits at the bar, and they’re dancing and drinking and making a bloody embarrassment of themselves. Then they show a scene just like it at the end of the third movie… They’re in their pub once again, but all of them are just sitting there, looking at one another in understanding. The journey has changed them, and they no longer would have the urge to act like a buffoon. That’s the beauty of telling a story… that struggle creates a heartfelt reason why you act the way you do, or why the happy ending is so appreciated.
It’s no different here in nu metal. If done correctly, you’ll hear a vocalist theatrically “go there”… they’ll go to that dark place emotionally and relive it right in front of you. It’s honest, and it’s real. The rapped/screamed vocals come out the way you’d say/scream the same words at whatever adversary is impeding you from happiness. And the music surrounding it creates that environment. You feel like a beast born in hellfire – you’re empowered and unstoppable.
But, naturally, this sort of thing doesn’t apply to many people. Many people had relatively normal childhoods, and live pretty normal lives. Music like this will never appeal to you because you have no appreciation for it. And in a way, I’m glad you don’t have that appreciation, because the torture and abuse I had to go through to appreciate it is not something I’d wish on anyone. It’s an outlet for those of us too weak to react or respond. It gives us strength to keep pushing forward, despite the cruel truth that we’ll be cursed with this hell every day of our lives. And sometimes, we do muster up the courage to stand up to it and overcome it (I’m referring to myself as an example).
I like nu metal because of what it stands for… not for what the music actually is. If I were going based off of musical/vocal talent, I’d nod and bow down to Buckethead, Dream Theater, Nightwish, or Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They’re much more theatrical and talented than any nu metal band I’ve ever heard. And strictly metal-speaking, djent is probably the best genre out there right now.
Now, some of you got all the way to the end here and ask “How can you say nu metal is the most aggressive or most angry when clearly death metal/metalcore/*core/black metal is much heavier? That music is way more aggressive!” What I mean by aggressive is not the technicals behind what’s being played, rather the mood or feeling of what’s being played. It’s tough to pick up on any emotion in any of those genres because most of those vocalists growl and grunt the entire song. There’s no vocal inflection of any kind, so they’re playing only that one note. You have to go read the lyrics to get any kind of meaning from it, and to me that’s stupid. I shouldn’t have to study your song and break it down to feel something from it. I shouldn’t have to get philosophical and mentally exhausted just to fully get what you’re talking about. Fuck that. I’d rather hear the song and get it pretty quickly so I can begin singing/screaming it right along with you. How is a song supposed to touch your spirit and soul if you have to do all that work just to finally get there? No, I like being struck by music and hit with the meaning right in the face. Obscuring the whole thing in metaphor to me is cowardly and deceiving. Come out with it… What are you scared of?