Hmm. I'd push back on that and say that it started out with people not trying to be nümetal, it started off as people pioneering a new sound, but, within 3-4 years, it ended up being people trying to be nümetal and people jumping on the bandwaggon to get the same tired old sound.The reason numetal was awesome was because people weren't trying to be "numetal". They were pioneering a sound. The sound can still be done for sure. Just not the next big thing right now.
Were there any technical nümetal guitarists?
Not as hard as Fred Durst.
Seriously though Wes Borland always got brought up as a "good guitarist" cause he'd do some simple tapping on songs and use effects in weird ways. I mean, yeah, at least he was trying to do something different, but I never heard him do anything actually technical or interesting to listen to by itself. And when he had a solo album, it was worse than Limp Bizkit (Duke Lion Fights the Terror or something?). It was like sub-Ween.
Meshuggah is an alternative metal band. Nümetal is a subset of alternative metal, for sure. So Meshuggah is like the first cousin of the nümetal genre.The dudes from Meshuggah. They're from the 90s and play groovy riffs on the bottom strings of extended range/tuned down guitars and the band has a rhythmic vocal style too. They made a new kind of metal. Nu metal if you will. This website and the world at large are not quite ready to have this discussion yet though.
Stop putting the umlaut in nu metal please. It makes it seem way cooler than it is.Meshuggah is an alternative metal band. Nümetal is a subset of alternative metal, for sure. So Meshuggah is like the first cousin of the nümetal genre.
Nö.Stop putting the umlaut in nu metal please. It makes it seem way cooler than it is.
Guitars solos and non-chug techniques are a rarity in the genre, but I can think of a few that can hold their own:Many of them could. Some still couldn't.Great singing and drumming, too, even if the lyrics ranged from meh to cringe.
Were there any technical nümetal guitarists? I'm thinking of Gurg jabbing away at drop-tuned one-finger chords, or Static X's single-riff songs, etc.
Jason Krause?I've read somewhere that Kid Rock's old lead guitarist was actually pretty good outside of those records.
But the pattern repeats, my friend. It's polymorphic.Hmm. I'd push back on that and say that it started out with people not trying to be nümetal, it started off as people pioneering a new sound, but, within 3-4 years, it ended up being people trying to be nümetal and people jumping on the bandwaggon to get the same tired old sound.
depends how technical you're talking.Many of them could. Some still couldn't.Great singing and drumming, too, even if the lyrics ranged from meh to cringe.
Were there any technical nümetal guitarists? I'm thinking of Gurg jabbing away at drop-tuned one-finger chords, or Static X's single-riff songs, etc.
You mentioned hook and melody. Things that no one seems to give a fuck about in the last 10 or so years when it comes to writing music. That's exactly right. To quote the man Marty again, " playing fast is only cool or appealing when you can't do it". Same thing can be said (as you mentioned) with people worrying about how technical something is. I agree 100%. This is stale and needs to move on.I never thought I’d be saying these words, but…I miss Nu Metal.
I was born in the early 80’s, so I got to experience Nu Metal when it was in its prime back in the late 90’s. At that time, i was obsessed with all of those bands from that era.
But as time went on, i grew tired of it. Tired of seeing all these cookie cutter bands emerge from the predictable, and monotonous mold, and so I moved on to other genres of music.
Fast-forward to present day, and I am now reminiscing, and longing for that kind of music to return.
This didn’t happen overnight though. I think this nostalgia has been building up, and snowballing for the past few years, i just didn’t realize it. But i think the realization really hit me when i was thinking of Polyphia, and their song “Playing God”.
To be clear, I absolutely LOVED this song when i first heard it, and just like many of you, I was incredibly impressed by the technicality and level of skill it takes to compose something of that caliber. I had listened to this song several times, and each time i was just in awe of their talent.
But whenever I thought about this particular song, all i could remember was how technical it was, and how polished the production was. I couldn’t remember a single riff, or melody from it. I struggled to recollect what I had listened to so many times before, but for the life of me I could not remember anything else about the song.
Then it hit me. I could EASILY pull any Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Mudvayne, POD, Spineshank, Kitty, Snot, deftones, etc., etc., song from my aging memory. I could remember the lyrics, the riffs, the melodies, the breakdowns… everything.
Keep in mind that I don’t really listen to this music anymore (well, aside from deftones and Snot lol), but i haven’t listened to the majority of this stuff in years. So then why is it that i could so easily remember all this shit that I thought I had mentally buried all those years ago?
I think the answer is melody and simplicity.
Nu Metal bands had some of the catchiest riffs and melodies. They were simplistic, yet simultaneously fun as hell to listen to and play. They stuck with you, and apparently never leave.
But for the life of me, I can’t remember anything from a lot of newer and modern metal/progressive bands. I can’t remember the riffs. I can’t remember why i enjoy that music until i go back and listen, but even then, it all seems to somehow slowly fade when the music stops. It doesn’t stick like so many songs from the Nu Metal era did.
That’s not a knock against any of those bands, because I absolutely love what so many modern guitarists are doing, and how they seem to be pushing boundaries, and are doing things that are so beyond my skill level. I admire and envy that.
But for whatever reason, I really miss the simplicity, the catchy riffs, the breakdowns, and some of the predictable aspects that were somewhat charming, especially in retrospect, because there was something secure, and stable in all that predictability.
So perhaps I’m living under a rock. Perhaps I’m just old. Perhaps I’m just an old man yelling at clouds and missing the point. Perhaps midlife crisis has finally caught up with me, and this is what happens to people who struggle to move on.
Regardless, I’d love to see another era that embraces simplicity and basic song structure in the metal world. Something that I can easily digest and embrace the same way i did with so many Nu Metal bands. Something that…sticks.
Well, if you’ve made this far into my post, then thanks for sticking around, and if you’ve got some feelings and thoughts to express, I’d love to hear them! Perhaps some of you would like to even share some of your memories and experiences from this era, whether good or bad. And if you’d like to express your dismay for Nu Metal, well, that’s cool too.
Cheers!
^
I sang/rapped along to Significant Other in its entirety on a road trip recently. Not only did I know every lyric, but I perfectly nailed every one of those little whiny inflections in Fred's vocals.![]()
If we're gonna have that discussion then we really need to recognise that Meshuggah shared a rehearsal studio with the original nu-metal band that started it all.......Clawfinger.The dudes from Meshuggah. They're from the 90s and play groovy riffs on the bottom strings of extended range/tuned down guitars and the band has a rhythmic vocal style too. They made a new kind of metal. Nu metal if you will. This website and the world at large are not quite ready to have this discussion yet though.
Exactly this. The Nu Metal era, at least in the London UK, caused an explosion of Rock clubs which was a totally seperate scene to shows. It was finally possible to go out, have a blast and meet girls. I'll listen to as much Death Metal as the next guy on here, but it's not exactly socialising music (read: Sausage Fest)Grew up cranking thrash/death/grind, some punk and rockabilly/psychobilly. There was always this dichotomy where at home I'm cranking metal then I go to a party where non-metal crowd hangs out and they are playing whatever was in the top 40 type deal.
When nu metal came out - I never really got into it like going to the shows or anything but "party style nu metal" tunes - bizkit, disturbed and even white zombie type stuff at social gatherings was defo a welcomed change in my book. Also while it wasn't "it" for me - still more relatable compared to the grunge scene that preceded it.