10 Most Important Albums In Metal History

After the new millennium started, it became abundantly clear that the golden age of nu metal had seemed to run its course. It may have started with some real pain and anguish with Korn, but the stench of bands like Puddle of Mudd and Staind were turning the genre into a parody of itself, almost like they were trying to outdo each other in terms of who sounded whinier. Linkin Park definitely had some of that inner pain as well, but their introduction to the world turned the nu metal flame into a forest fire again.

First things first, the vocals were where things jumped up a notch, trading in the versatile tortured singer with both Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington, who each handled rapping and clean singing. Now that there was a unique trade off, you could remain engaged throughout the whole song, all while the turntables went off in the background. While you can still listen to a record like this and imagine it sounds dated, this is the kind of record that reflects well on the time it was made in.

For a debut, the guys had a lot to unpack on here as well, detailing their personal struggles with depression and trying to let all of that negative energy out in song as a way to move on from their own horror stories. Because even if these guys had a lot of screaming to do over the course of this record, you always felt that it was coming from a genuine place.