10 Greatest Nu Metal Albums Of All Time
Crown jewels of rap-rock.
Nu metal has gotten a pretty nasty reputation as some of the worst metal has to offer.
While the idea of rap and rock may have worked with bands like Aerosmith and Run DMC or Anthrax and Public Enemy, fans quickly jumped ship after they grew out of their JNCO jeans and spiky hair. Nu metal may have done some harm to the metal community, but when it did sparkle, there was nothing else like it.
Starting off in the mid '90s, the groundwork for what would become nu metal gave us some of the most agitated hard rock ever conceived by man. Whereas the subsequent generations of bands would use their songs as a platform to complain about their first world problems, these first few releases dealt with real problems that afflict our world to this day.
Whether it was loneliness, death, or the feeling of the unknown, these songs made us take a deep look at the world around us, complete with some of the meatiest guitar tones ever put to vinyl.
From the dawn of the drop tuning to the massive highlights of today, these are the bands that actually made the sounds of nu metal feel scary and foreboding. Crank up the distortion and have a listen for yourself.
10. Fallen - Evanescence
I'll admit that Evanescence might not be the most inventive band in the history of the nu metal genre, but there's always been talent at work behind Amy Lee's goth rock act. Even though some of the more seasoned veterans would much rather take an axe to a record like this, Fallen is where Evanescence always showed their stripes as a band worth paying attention to.
Yes, some of the more overtly rap metal fusions like Bring Me to Life have aged like milk in the past few years, but the more hard hitting tracks like Going Under and Haunted are still amazing metal bangers regardless of which decade you find yourself in.
Evanescence may represent the more over the top elements of the nu metal scene, but when you strip away all the bells and whistles, Amy Lee's voice is still amazing, almost giving off the impression of a dark spirit being dragged down to the underworld.
These gothic rockers may not have gotten too much further after this initial smash, but there was a lot of fun to be had with this record in the early '00s. Despite the memories of the MySpace days associated with an album like this, don't let that distract from the musical brilliance on display here.