Dumbass Question

[anonymousnick2001]

It's actually just old news.

Like any genre, it has its own sound, one capable of being enjoyed and appreciated for its own merit. I will say this, though: The style has fallen a long way from Roots.

 

[Kenneth R.]

To succeed in nu metal you must:


11. When interviewed about your new album, mention that you were going for something "much darker" than your previous work.

Symphony X recently said that

 

[xerexes]

The only good point about nu-metal is that it is a launching pad into metal for most people.

People who have spent a lifetime listening to Rap and Pop, might get attracted to nu- Metal and work their way up to Real Metal.

Nobody jumps straight to Opeth from listening to Britney Spears.
The Danger though, is that some get stuck in the world of nu-metal and become blinded by it.

And Although all the points people here mentioned are valid, there are a very small number of (mostly 90s) nu-metal band that actually showed some talent in some of their work.

 

[cthulufhtagn]

@anon: well said, it was a new sound at first but i think it's just really gotten out of hand

 

[Kenneth R.]

you can't differentiate nu-metal from "real" metal. you called it nu-metal did you not? you may not like the style, but metal it is.

 

[Arnold Layne]

Nothingface - Violence = Good new metal.

 

[AlexGuinness]

An overpopulated genre encouraged by teen trash media to give youngsters something to annoy their parents with.

Or... poor imitations of "My Mind Still Speaks" by Misery Loves Company (which was truly special).

 

[ChrisEmerson]

wasnt it MTV who coined the phrase 'nu-metal'? And we all know they know fuck all. I think its real name is Mallcore.

 

[Autumnal]

Not much to add...though I think that there is a complete lack of anything that could be considered "Progressive Nu-Metal" while the same cannot be said for most genres, such as every subgenre of metal.

Actually Mudvayne has frequently been called progressive nu-metal. (*braces for the sure onslaught of flames*) For one thing they can play, and have an interesting use and cycling of time signatures. A trait that grounds them in nu-metal is their guitar riffing, which tends to never go into one note lines a la thrash, settling instead for a chunkier, lower sound. However, this is not just the one massive power chord strike going on. Additionally, they brought the bass back as an actual instrument, not just something to be heavier. Listen to the bass on "Death Blooms" or "Severed" - You can actually hear it, it's interesting, and a has a melodic (sometimes at the forefront) purpose. Additionally, while some of the lyrics are angsty, to my mind they are portrayed much more intelligently, many times with a metaphoric/progressive/concept bent. "Severed" again comes to mind, with a typical familial angst, rebellion theme portrayed as
"I spit up on my plate and then I turn and walk away,
I spit up on my plate and I disrupt the family,
I spit up on my plate as I sever the entity,
And I feel your warm sun on my face
Separate.. Separate.. Separate.. Separate"

Another is the ending of "Death Blooms":
"Dark for fear of failure - an inner gloom as wide as an eye and
fermenting - roiling hate - death grip in my veins - unveiling rancid
petals, flowering forth foul nectar - the space between a blink and a
tear ...death blooms."

This has become slightly off-topic, but the point is that there are good bands who can fit under the nu-metal genre. I'm sure I'll get flamed for liking System of a Down, but if we want to talk progressive, they constantly evolve, add numerous, constantly expanding influences, and are always changing. Their songs follow standard structures many times, but the nature of "progressive" does not automatically dictate what must progress or evolve from the "normal". And I don't think you need 10 min. songs to be progressive.

Anyway, my point is nu-metal gets a lot of shit, and a lot of it is deserved. But there are a lot of fucking dumbass "true" or "real" metal fans whose heads are just as far up their asses as the typical nu-metal fan, especially with the whole "unless only me and my friend are the only people who know this band and we constantly masturbate each other and swim in the pool of our frolicky, underground-only-loving semen while listening to this crappy, sub-demo quality 'album', then the band is a sellout". Anyway, Cheers!

 

[Kenneth R.]

i flame you not. i agree.

 

[wwallinga]

Ok. So comment on these two bands which I have gotten into in the last 5 years:

1) Godsmack

2) Disturbed

Before this thread I had assumed that they were also nu-metal, but now I don't think so. Comments?

 

[JoeVice]

mudvayne's first album l.d.50 was pretty good i.m.o....and for me, nu-metal was a gateway genre...i still like korn's first 2 albums. the song falling away from me off of their 4th album is pretty good.

fucking chess metal...lol...thats awesome.

 

[RjBeals]

I liked the first Disturbed when it came out a few years ago - I don't hear much about them anymore...

I like nu-metal. I like a lot of stuff that people on these boards don't like. I really don’t have a closed mind to when it comes to any genre of music. If it sounds good to me for whatever reason, then I listen to it.

Some artists I like that you all most likely hate:

· Enya
· Dinosaur Jr.
· John Hiatt
· Phish
· The Toadies
· Ween
· Mindless Self Indulgence
· Thursday
· Between the Buried and Me
· Rage against the Machine
· The Haunted
· IQ
· Ice Cube
· Johnny Cash
· Steely Dan
· Sigur Rós
· Sophie Ellis Bextor
· Massive Attack

 

[Nico]

I remember hearing Disturbed and thinking "this is like an alcohol-free Sepultura." *Yawn*

 

[Don Corleone]

mudvayne is simply the best hardcore band i've ever heard in my life. nothing comes close to them.

and of course there are others who i like:

godsmack: cool tunes here and there...they have their moments. however their "the other side ep" -in the vein of the legendary "jar of flies" is excellent.

disturbed: like them, but can be boring at times.

korn - they are thought to be the inventors of the genre but they only made it popular. before them there was faith no more and suicidal tendancies.

spiritual beggars - mantra III. you have to hear this one.

 

[xerexes]

Actually Mudvayne has frequently been called progressive nu-metal. (*braces for the sure onslaught of flames*) For one thing they can play, and have an interesting use and cycling of time signatures. A trait that grounds them in nu-metal is their guitar riffing, which tends to never go into one note lines a la thrash, settling instead for a chunkier, lower sound. However, this is not just the one massive power chord strike going on. Additionally, they brought the bass back as an actual instrument, not just something to be heavier. Listen to the bass on "Death Blooms" or "Severed" - You can actually hear it, it's interesting, and a has a melodic (sometimes at the forefront) purpose. Additionally, while some of the lyrics are angsty, to my mind they are portrayed much more intelligently, many times with a metaphoric/progressive/concept bent. "Severed" again comes to mind, with a typical familial angst, rebellion theme portrayed as
"I spit up on my plate and then I turn and walk away,
I spit up on my plate and I disrupt the family,
I spit up on my plate as I sever the entity,
And I feel your warm sun on my face
Separate.. Separate.. Separate.. Separate"

Another is the ending of "Death Blooms":
"Dark for fear of failure - an inner gloom as wide as an eye and
fermenting - roiling hate - death grip in my veins - unveiling rancid
petals, flowering forth foul nectar - the space between a blink and a
tear ...death blooms."

This has become slightly off-topic, but the point is that there are good bands who can fit under the nu-metal genre. I'm sure I'll get flamed for liking System of a Down, but if we want to talk progressive, they constantly evolve, add numerous, constantly expanding influences, and are always changing. Their songs follow standard structures many times, but the nature of "progressive" does not automatically dictate what must progress or evolve from the "normal". And I don't think you need 10 min. songs to be progressive.

Anyway, my point is nu-metal gets a lot of shit, and a lot of it is deserved. But there are a lot of fucking dumbass "true" or "real" metal fans whose heads are just as far up their asses as the typical nu-metal fan, especially with the whole "unless only me and my friend are the only people who know this band and we constantly masturbate each other and swim in the pool of our frolicky, underground-only-loving semen while listening to this crappy, sub-demo quality 'album', then the band is a sellout". Anyway, Cheers!

Mudvayne is the best nu-metal band out there at the moment. They play some good metal.

 

[Don Corleone]

I liked the first Disturbed when it came out a few years ago - I don't hear much about them anymore...

I like nu-metal. I like a lot of stuff that people on these boards don't like. I really don’t have a closed mind to when it comes to any genre of music. If it sounds good to me for whatever reason, then I listen to it.

Some artists I like that you all most likely hate:

· Enya
· Dinosaur Jr.
· John Hiatt
· Phish
· The Toadies
· Ween
· Mindless Self Indulgence
· Thursday
· Between the Buried and Me
· Rage against the Machine
· The Haunted
· IQ
· Ice Cube
· Johnny Cash
· Steely Dan
· Sigur Rós
· Sophie Ellis Bextor
· Massive Attack

there are people on here who dont like massive attack? they dont know what they are missing.

and johnny cash? sigur ros? phish? ratm? some of MY favorites are up there, rjbeals.

 

[xerexes]

oh and about Disturbed: They have some catchy tunes for nu-metal fans.
And their lyrics sucks.

 

[wankerness]

It was a new form of music that I personally think was pioneered by producer Ross Robinson. It was a sound given to Sepultura's 'Roots' and also Korn's first album. At this point the style wasn't all that bad. It seemed to be an approach that brought a particular influence to the music. The song formations themselves were like those of rock albums and there were undertones that screamed 'rock' all the way, yet this was all done with guitars that were downtuned and distorted to all hell. It was a style that was sort of bringing the simplicity of (then) modern rock music together with metal.

The riffs became notably simpler... groovier and there was more of a reliance on production elements to convey the general sound accross in a heavy way.

Ever since those albums though, bands have played with that archetype until the style degenerated into the festering pile of steaming feces known as 'Slipknot', modern era 'KoRn', 'ill Nino' etc.

Our hatred for the music itself is fairly obvious. There is a lack of musicianship at this point. The bands are all building on a rudimentary foundation to make even more basic music, whilst this is all being compounded by the legions of idiotic mallcore children who think these bands are the greatest thing ever.

Put simply, these bands just want a shortcut to the rockstar lifestyle. Playing this form of degenerated metal music is your ticket to world stardom and a seemingly endless market of stupendous fucktards who'll buy everything you defecate into the proverbial toilet bowl.

Argh argh argh, I don't even feel like reading the rest of this thread so maybe this has already been brought up, but everyone who dismisses these bands like this is not being much more intelligent than those that think it is "the heaviest shit ever" and refuse to listen to anything else.

Some of these bands are NOT technically inept at all. Slipknot, for example, who keeps getting bashed over and over AT THIS POINT IN THE THREAD, actually has some pretty serious chops...their drummer is really pretty damn good (at least by modern rock standards) and they have some harmonized sixteenth note runs here and there (as well as some guitar solos) on their last album, as well as several actually melodic songs, and none of the profanity and not as much of the idiotic "heavy for heavy's sake" material as their previous albums. Everyone just signed them off a long time ago. ALTHOUGH, even then they were pretty obviously not technically inept.

Mudvayne also has some major chops...their debut had several songs with shifting time sigs. Technically inept "heavy for heavy's sake" music doesn't throw in riffs that are in 11/8 alternating with 10/8 and whatever other stuff they had in there. Their bass player especially is great, and even though their music is getting watered down for the most part, I also can't see anyone actually listening to them and not being able to acknowledge some actual substance.

There are some other bands that I think are actually fairly decent in the genre, like Korn (they aren't particularly advanced musically and their lyrics pretty much suck, but they really have a unique sound and have been able to keep varying things over their career enough to keep me interested, at least before their last album), the Deftones (they're more alternative maybe, but White Pony at least is quite a good album) and Sevendust (another great drummer, and their vocalist is really good).

So yeah, if you think the genre is devoid of all talent (and any other merit), try listening to Mudvayne's "Pharmaecopia" and Slipknot's "Confessions."

This all said, I hate 90% of nu-metal, including that horrid Sepultura album that started it all, ROOTS. I think Max Cavalera is one of the worst things ever, but this is based on his work from Chaos A.D. onwards. Soulfly is so bad! Other bands that I think are really the pits are Limp Bizkit (though a couple tracks on their first cd have some energy), Primer 55, Linkin Park (these guys might also count as alternative ), and Adema.

 

[wankerness]

Guys, let me first say, I hate nu-metal, but, I think the bashing is getting ridiculous. Not all the bands are talent-less uninspired hacks. I have the misfortune/pleasure of hearing it come out of my roommates computer all day long, and even though it's not my cup o' tea, I completely understand why he likes it. Nu metal isnt the only thing he listens to, he actually listens to a really wide variety of music, so it's not the case where he's musically uneducated. People are saying that the lyrics are really trite and shallow a lot of the time, but a lot of problems and things in life are trite and shallow. Not everything has to be about the meaning of life, sometimes you just want to yell "fuck you" at someone. Yeah, a lot of the music revolves around power chords and nothing more, but that doesn't make it terrible. From what i notice, my roommate just gets really pumped up from hearing it, sings along often, so it seems like its just straight forward rock, but a little bit heavier. I heard some heavy stuff coming out of his computer so I asked him if he liked any other metal bands like In Flames, Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, Slayer, Opeth, etc. but he wasn't really into them. I found it kinda odd, but I just figured he likes aggressive pop, which is pretty much the definition of new metal in my mind. Again, I don't like nu metal, but I think the bashing of it's fans is getting a little ridiculous.

This might be the most intelligent post made here. GOOD JOB AT BEING OPEN MINDED. Anyway, I'd say nu-metal has better lyrics than most of the REAL metal I listen to. At least Nu-Metal bands don't have song titles like EVIL IN A CLOSET or include the lyrics SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND like the melo-death guys, and let's not even get started about power metal.