Though the jury is still out on whether the highly ridiculed genre of “nu-metal” can be considered good as a whole, there are some undeniably important moments in every genre that no one can keep from returning. Even for music typically weighed down by weak mainstream hip-hop clichés and tired metal riffs, some emotionally captivating performances stand out even today! Here are a few albums that no one can fault you for revisiting.
The album that started off the phenomenon in its most clear form, Korn brought ugly seven-string guitars with groovy syncopated drums and bass to a truly disturbed vocal performance. In one fell swoop, the genre was born.
Though Sepultura was best known as a thrash metal band, they openly admitted to stealing from Korn’s new gnarly-sounding format for Roots. However, they made it their own by relying on grooves from their Brazilian heritage.
Deftones slowly added an alluring atmosphere to their nu-metal sound after starting as the cooler alternative choice for the genre’s listeners.
Linkin Park followed up on the hip-hop-inclusive possibilities of the genre (Limp Bizkit, while commercially successful, was largely critically panned and sophomoric), making an album that still gets repeated spins today.
As the critically acclaimed peak of the genre, Toxicity, and the entirety of System of a Down’s catalog, survives the years thanks to a perfect synthesis of the current and past underground rock and metal trends of the time, throwing in some further absurdist weirdness partially inspired by their Armenian heritage.
No one can shame you for appreciating these critically-acclaimed albums, so dive back into your angst phase today!