New Article/Death to False Metal

Death to False Metal
By David

What is nu-metal? Why does every one who listens to nu-metal get hated for it? Ok well today I am going to be teaching you precisely what Nu-metal is and to why so many people who listen to heavy metal hate it.

Before we begin I am going to describe what nu-metal is. Now the meaning of this genre of music; this musical genre that has come to the scene in the mid 1990s, it was influenced by grunge and alt. rock with funk, hip hop and various heavy metal genres, such as groove metal and industrial metal. Now most of the time nu-metal songs use rhythmic, syncopated riffs played on distorted electric guitars with strings detuned to lower pitches to create dark and “scary” sounds. In Nu-metal you will usually never find I a guitar solo, as well the nu-metal genre is known for its repetition.

You can thank Korn, who are more or less the band that started the whole dark sound with the repetitive beat. You may also thank Producer Ross Robinson the so called Godfather of nu-metal. In the genre you will hear aggressive vocals that range from melodic melody to shouting and screaming to rapping much of the time combining the styles. Distortion and other post-production effects are often added to vocals in the nu-metal genre. Unlike real metal the guitar goes with the mood of the song as if it was on its period (editor’s note: haha, holy crap). Speed is all nu-metal really brings to the table if you’re going to talk about it metal-wise. With in most nu-metal bands there is a turn table, for additional rhythmic instrumentation. As a personal observation, I sometimes get confused when I listen to certain nu-metal. I swear, it says it’s a new song!

What is it about this music? Well for one thing it has to be noted that “Nu-Metal” literally translates to “not metal”; think “Nu-salt” which is a special salt for people who cannot have sodium, looks, smells, tastes just like salt but is sodium free. Same principle. In truth Nu-Metal can be described as alt. rock with metal influences (alt. metal is not a genre, children). Just because something has metal influences does not make it metal, funny enough people never describe Nu-metal as rap, funk, or grunge. What is it about this music that is so despised in metal circles? For one thing it’s not metal, and therefore should not be called metal; for another thing most people who seriously listen to metal think it as mediocre. This is really for you to decide, as the listener it is your job to find a style of music that speaks to you. If Nu-Metal happens to be that music then listen to it.
Nu-Metal Bands (trust me; there are more, like ¾ of the bands on myspace):
KoRn
P.O.D
Limp Bizkit
Linkin Park
Disturbed
Drowning Pool
Mudvayne
System of a Down
Mushroomhead