Unknown Soldier

Metal has been using costumes since the 1970s, so it's an accepted part of the musical culture.

Nu metal is just further from the original core sound of metal, but it's still a metal genre.

But they are still predominately thrash and using labels just helps to classify what their general sound is.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

nereamartinez.b

It's just because some people think that are more authentic the music with complexity. But maybe they not see that the music power is in the work of senses, not in technical ways.

Unknown Soldier

Any chance of typing this in English?

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Isbjørn

Musicfanatic

That was English. It was just garbled, bad grammar, etc.

Ambival

As a big fan of Nu metal, I wanted to state some things. As said before, Nu metal mix variety of different sounds. Because of that people have problems with familiarizing with the genre and I think that is the source of all the hate (except for its popularity between 1995 and 2005). Some say industrial, grunge or hip hop elements are the main traits of the genre, but quite frankly they are not. Usually Nu bands referred to those genres have also another label attached to it, that is Industrial metal, Rap metal etc. The variety of sounds in nu metal (and thus variety of bands - Slipknot, Evanescence, Soulfly, Para roach, System of a down. You may think they are uncomparable, labeling them all "nu metal" sounds like an insult) comes from the flexibility of three main, unarguable elements:
- simplicity - The biggest problem for metal purist. Metal should be brutally technical, with mind blowing solos and complex structures,but at the same time we have Black Sabbath's Paranoid, Megadeth's symphony of destruction and Judas Priest's Breaking the law. In Nu metal simplicity referres to its classic structure and easy riffs, but there is no rule. If you want more complex sound then you can have it (Slipknot's Skin Ticket and Disasterpieces, Otep's Bloody Pigs and TRIC etc.)
- Emphasis on rhythm - has much in common with simplicity, as all the greatest riffs in nu metal are more rhythm than melody oriented (Slipknot's Duality and (SIC), Korn's ***et etc.)
- Groove - The most important and obvious element of Nu metal. ALL Nu metal bands have groove in their sounds (although some mix it with headbanging speed, like in case of Slipknot's debut). This made Nu metal a derivative form of Groove metal. Both are groovy, but Groove metal is more technical.

The basic inspirations for Nu metal are Groove, Funk and Hip hop, because of their Groove. DJ's presence and rapping arethere only to strengthen the Groove, but they don't make the Genre, same with Industrial, Grunge (this one is there only for it's simplicity and angst in lyrics), hardcore punk and some others. The perfect example for Nu metal is the album that created the genre - Korn's debut. Lack of DJ's work, rapping or industrial and music critics still consider it the most "pure" of nu metal albums.

Coming back to the variety of bands. There is a big misunderstaning about which bands are Nu metal. Quite frankly, in terms of Purity, there is only ONE Nu metal band in the world - KoRn. All the others are more or less Nu metal, mixing the genre with some other elements (Slipknot/Otep - thrash and Death metal, Limp Bizkit/LinkinPark - Rap metal, Dope/Static X/Spineshank - industrial, Coal Chamber/Evanescence - gothic metal, Staind/Godsmack - post-grunge, System of a down - some-crazy-**** for sure) or simply making a Nu metal debut and then moving on a completely new territory (Debuts of Disturbed, Chimaira, Kittie, Deftones's Adrenaline and Around the fur).

Thank you for your attention.

Forward To Death

Pretty accurate I guess, but most music with heavy bass and drum presence has an emphasis on groove/rhythm, and that includes a lot of rock, metal, hip hop, funk, etc.

Korn's S/T album might not have DJ work, but it still has a heavy hip hop influence. Lyrics are rapped in certain parts, and while there is no DJ, the guitarist creates the turntablists sounds like scratching and such. I think most, if not all nu metal has some kind of hip hop or industrial influence, and the stuff that doesn't, IMO, really isn't nu metal.

System of a Down and Godsmack, for example, really don't have much in common with the nu metal artists other than that they were popular metal bands at the same time that nu metal was very popular.

Ambival

You are right about the hip hop influences, I haven't noticed them on Korn's Debut, but Jonathan Davis does not rap and never had ("Fuels the comedy" is the only exception). It's hard to truly draw a line between what is Nu metal and what is not, but I think it's easy to detemine the ideal Nu metal sound.

As for System of a Down and Godsmack it's pretty similiar case to Deftones Nowadays. You can pinpoint some riffs that are groovy and easy, but overall they moved to a different genre. In System of a down and Godsmack Nu metal was always one of many elements creating their sound, but not prominent (maybe 15% or 20%). But they have some songs with obvious Nu metal riffs. System's Debut has a lot, with "Know" probably the best example, while Godsmack has the main riff of "Speak" (perfect example of what Nu metal truly is) and the bridge of Awake.

Forward To Death

He definitely raps several times on the first four albums that I can think of off the top of my head, like in "Blind", which also makes use of guitar noises similar to record scratches.

I'm not so sure you can pinpoint grooves to nu metal, since pretty much every form of rock that emphasizes bass, drums and rhythm guitar is about rhythm or "groove". Are you saying The Beatles were doing nu metal back in the 60s?

Lol @ Godsmack and System of a Down being "15-20% nu metal", I think its more like 3.7% for SOAD, and even less, pushing 0% for Godsmack (They sound more like a cheap Alice In Chains cover band that decided to change some lyrics around). I always felt like the bridge from wake was more reminiscent of post-blackened grunge rock, but maybe that's just me.

What % nu metal is Limp Bizkit? I'd reckon they're somewhere in the 80s or 90s, possibly even being the rare "pure" nu metal band.

thebestofmusic

Big thumbs down for me on nu metal (aside from godsmack), this is absolutely one of the worst genres in recent music history, it has no good musicianship, no real talent, even the fred douchbag sucks badly, there is absolutely nothing good about this genre except for the toliet.

NU METAL SUCKS.