

Even though they’re loud enough to raise the dead, don’t sleep on Wargasm. This London duo may have formed a mere two years ago, but they’re already sweeping aside the competition in reviving what made nü metal so popular in the first place: anthemic content charged for the radio with enough tinges of heavy metal that the mainstream will never pick up on or truly understand. If you take all the limitless energy of a pulsing nightclub and throw it into the pit, then you’ve got yourself a genre-busting Wargasm. The Prodigy ’s nü-metal challengers have entered the chat. Leading the charge with vocalist Jonathan Davis ’ unique blend of sinister and contagious cleans, grinding industrial riffs and a relentless melody, Korn have stood by their definitive sound since their founding in 1993 and remain nü-metal titans to this day. The personification of a guide to nü metal for dummies, Korn set the blueprint for a new subgenre that would define the bridging between metal’s chaotic traits with the vibrant inclinations of hip-hop. If you think you know the genre, think again.

From Korn and Slipknot dragging the genre into mainstream consciousness to Nova Twins and Tetrarch rejuvenating the scene, we’ve collected the top 20 outfits that have shaped the history of nü metal, from past to present. Just when you thought the age of wallet belt chains was long gone, nü metal seems to be living and breathing in a very different realm. Read more: Top 10 nü-metal staples that still hold up today Love it or hate it, the genre was here to stay, and metal would never be the same. Along the way, nü metal helped to redefine hard rock for a new era. In many ways, the genre seemed like a musical oxymoron that would never catch the eye of the mainstream in the late ’90s and early 2000sĮven so, the genre hit, and it did so in spectacular fashion. Slamming orchestrated metal intensity in the same track as raw, off-the-cuff hip-hop energy sounds like a contradiction.

Whether or not you lived through the golden age of MTV and JNCO jeans, the discovery of the nü-metal phenomenon was an awakening for any generation.
