Nu Metal Albums By Artists Who Weren't Nu Metal

Nu Metal is something most people would like to either forget or make fun of these days. The legacy of Fred Durst and his counterparts is not something that is generally taken seriously by anybody, anymore. We all laughed when we saw Deadpool say, ‘’I’m gonna do to you what Limp Bizkit did to music in the late 90’s’’ in the movie because we knew deep down it was true. You’ve got to cringe now, right? The red sox hat, the whole ‘’white boy pulling words from the urban dictionary’’ lyrical shtick and that giant toilet... It seems like a parody in hindsight.

You did this to yourself, William.

In 2016 Limp Bizkit were the victims of a prank where it was falsely spread on the internet that they’d be playing in the car park of an Ohio gas station. Even though the flaccid cookies denied it in the press, a lot of their fans and followers turned up in herds to bare witness anyway and the internet bathed in the hilarity that ensued. Limp Bizkit are a massive joke now but there are still fans who are blissfully unaware of the online one-liners or just don’t care about the band being the butt of so many jokes and still follow them religiously, regardless. I bet there are even casual fans who secretly enjoy listening to ‘’Break Stuff’’ when no one else is around out of fear of persecution… but I wouldn’t know anything about that.

 Not a good time for fashion.

As with all musical trends, the ever changing record industry and constantly evolving musical landscape there were a lot of already established artists who wanted to cut their teeth and wet their whistle on the flavour of the month, which in the late 90’s was nu metal. Bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Hed PE were selling a lot of records and this was at the time the record industry in general, was selling the most records ever. Nu metal was the shiny new thing, it was the soundtrack to many X Games videos and car racing games, it was exciting and fresh and was basically everywhere you looked. Which makes it no wonder that established artists from previous musical trends took note and produced some nu metal of their own.






Slayer, Diabolus In Musica:

Upon hearing this album for the first time I found traces of nu metal, groove metal and classic thrash all rolled into one. The songs sound like a mix of Korn, Prong and Slayer strung together in a very natural way. Very well balanced and never moving too far from the bands original sound. Some of the tinny vocal effects remind me of Deftones too.
Taking one look at the You Tube comments tells me this album was and still is a divisive one. A lot of people don’t hear or understand how it is nu metal and just view it as a good heavy album, some agree that’s it got elements of nu metal but it’s still good and some just can’t seem to let go off the fact that it’s not completely ‘’Reign In Blood’’ 2.0.

 Kerry King, a pioneer of thrash metal and well versed in Macho Man Randy Savage inspired eyewear.

 Maybe this is why Hulk Hogan thought he could play bass for Metallica that one time…

It’s not a far stretch of the imagination to understand why they dabbled in these sounds. At one time they were signed to Def Jam records, a mostly hip hop label who pioneered LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy (PE sampled ‘’Angel Of Death’’ on their track ‘’She Watch Channel Zero?!’’). Slayer also collaborated with Ice-T and as some of you probably know Kerry King was responsible for the guitar solo on the Beastie Boys song ‘’No Sleep Til Brooklyn”. So they weren’t strangers to metal being mixed with elements of hip hop. Also rather than touring with their peers from the 80’s like Metal Church and Exodus they were touring with groups like Biohazard, System Of A Down and Fear Factory around this time, which could have also influenced the groove of this record. It’s probably the most experimental you’ll ever hear Slayer get, the furthest they ever strayed away from their early sound but still not far enough for Tom Araya to start rapping (Kerry wouldn’t let that happen, he said Limp Bizkit’s success in the 90’s made him want to quit music) or for it to be any less thrash than their previous efforts.

Cypress Hill, Skull & Bones:

Skull & Bones is a split (spliff) album. With the ‘’Skull’’ side being straight up hip hop and the ‘’Bones’’ section being nu metal/rap rock. The song most known from Bones is ‘’(Rock) Superstar’’ which features Chino from Deftones and Everlast from House Of Pain. The accompanying video also has a cameo appearance from Coal Chamber bassist, Nadja Peulen.
They’ve also performed it live with Slash, Duff and Matt from Guns N Roses, Dave Navarro from Jane’s Addiction and Travis Barker from Blink 182 on different occasions. They toured this album as the opening act for The Offsprings ‘’Conspiracy Of One’’ tour too, just to add to their ever growing list of rock credentials. Sen Dog started a rap rock group called SX-10 all the way back 1996, 4 years before this albums release and B-Real now plays with members of Rage Against The Machine in the band Prophets of Rage. So these dudes definitely no how to get heavy and know how to do it well.

 ‘’Somebody ordered the London Symphony Orchestra, possibly while high… Cypress Hill, I’m looking in your direction’’

 The Simpsons really do predict everything.

This really has all the trimmings of a quintessential nu metal record (well, the 6 songs that make up the ‘’Bones’’ side at least). The phat guitar riffs, the hardcore punk meets gangsta rap vocal style and the fact I can picture 20, 000 sweaty nu metal fans jumping up and down in unison to every single song on here easily, which seems to be a bit of mosh pit trope at nu metal shows, definitely helps (Check out Slipknot live for evidence of this).  If you like music that reminds of you of the extreme sports/street car racing games and movies of the early 2000’s then this is definitely worth your time.

Fun Fact: The song ‘’Dust’’ was featured in the video game Dave Mirra’s Freestyle BMX.

Nu Metal was made for this sort of thing.

Tommy lee, Methods Of Mayhem:

Motley Crue were the quintessential glam metal juggernauts of the 80’s. Unstoppable in every conceivable way. They escaped jail time, addiction and death. Sold millions of records, owned big houses and had everything they ever dreamed of but as the 90’s rolled in, it was harder for the rock n’ roll bad boys to remain relevant. Lead singer changes, musical climate changes and the sudden stigma attached to artists from the 80’s made it nearly impossible for them to remain a viable commodity but Tommy Lee kept the band’s name alive in the tabloids and headlines with his very public romance with Pamela Anderson (You know what I’m talking about).  Tommy Lee formed Methods Of Mayhem in the wake of his split from Motley Crue, his release from prison and on the eve of his divorce from Pamela Anderson, so needless to say, this band didn’t start out under the best circumstances.

 Stephen Perkins from Jane’s Addiction was the tour drummer.

The big single from this album is called ‘’Get Naked’’ is really catchy and features guest appearances from Fred Durst (He’s the only one in the film clip that doesn’t get naked), Lil Kim, Mix Master Mike and George Clinton. ‘’New Skin’’ is a tune featuring….. wait for it……. Kid Rock! Years before we saw them slap eachother at the 2007 VMA’s and Kid Rock married Pamela Anderson himself, obviously... I read in Tommy Lee’s autobiography, Tommyland (you know the one where his dick talks to the reader as well?) that he definitely regrets doing this track and says that Fred Durst brought Bob (He doesn’t refer to him as Kid Rock) down to the studio and he didn’t even really want him on the track in the first place.  The ‘Snoop Dogg’ to Lee’s ‘Dre’, TiLo replaces Kid Rock on the single version. He met Lee while on tour opening for Crue in the band Hed PE. They became friends and started making music together. TiLo is still making music today and has his own line of vaporizers. The album also features tracks with Snoop Dogg, The Crystal Method (You’ll recognize that name from the Need For Speed games), U-God and the F.I.L.T.H.E.E. Immigrants. I think this album has been forgotten by time but it’s actually a good diverse album. The stand out track would have to be ‘’Crash’’ I still enjoy that one to this day.

Fun Fact: The song ‘’Hypocritical’’ was featured in the video game Dave Mirra’s Freestyle BMX 2.

Told ya… 

Lynch Mob, Smoke This:

Why should Tommy Lee be the only guy from a hair metal band to try nu metal? George Lynch was the original guitarist in legendary 80’s glam metal band Dokken. Sometime after his departure from Dokken, George started his own band Lynch Mob and would go on to release some good hard rock albums in the early 90’s, check out the song ‘’Wicked Sensation’’ from this time, it’s a hell of a rock song. It should be noted that this line-up of Lynch Mob is very different to that one. The fans called this late 90’s version, Lynch Bizkit. For obvious reasons.

 Lynch Dogg in tha house.

The title track ‘’Smoke This’’ sounds like Cypress Hill… is a sentence that surprises nobody. The effects utilized by the guitar to recreate the sound of hip hop beats is actually really well done. George incorporates his signature guitar style and tone into this music effortlessly, if you’re looking for the perfect combo of Dokken-esque shred guitar mixed with Kottonmouth King-esque rhymes, check out the song ‘’World Spinning Away’’. It’s the perfect blend of 80’s shred and 90’s rap rock you might ever hear or possibly that’s ever been made. If you’re looking for another Tooth and Nail, maybe skip this record but if you’re not adverse to rap as well the tasty finger work of Lynch, maybe you should smoke something and kick back to ‘’Smoke This’’.

Not much is known about what happened to the rest of the band but according to Wikipedia bassist Gabe Rosales consumed massive amounts of alcohol while on tour with Lynch Mob and because of this went on a spiritual search, attended a 10-day Buddhist meditation course (It also states before this course he was reading a lot of books by Anton Lavey and Aleister Crowley) and then scored gigs playing with Jennifer Lopez and Andy Summers of The Police. Good for him.

Vanilla Ice, Hard to Swallow:

This is a long way from ‘Ice Ice Baby’ and even further from ‘Ninja Rap’. Vanilla Ice is trying to sound threatening here. Rapping about busting skulls and slitting throats. It really seems like he’s trying to run from his past here. On the songs he’s credited as V-Ice and his vocal approach is more gritty, intense and angsty. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery than Limp Bizkits ego should be well stroked if they ever hear this album. But then again perhaps not, as this album was voted as number 24 on Maxim’s list of ’30 Worst Albums Of All Time’.

Ice also vehemently denied claims that he was trying to copy the Bizkit style or had even really heard their music stating ‘’It’s just we have the same producer, and some of the guitars between that and Limp Bizkit are gonna sound similar. That’s what happens when you’ve got the same guy producing them… I had heard the Deftones more than any of them’’. Producer Ross Robinson had previously worked with Korn, Sepultura, Deftones and Limp Bizkit, so if V-ice was trying to go for that sound, he definitely picked the right guy to use as producer on this record.

Probably the least surprising track on this album is the heavy metal ‘Ice Ice Baby’ remake that nobody asked for but everybody knew was coming. It was inevitable that if Uncle Vanny was going to try and resurrect his career that he’d have to give his biggest hit a make-over as well. The most surprising song on this album is the collaboration with Jimmy Pop from Bloodhound Gang on the track ‘S.N.A.F.U.’. I certainly never expected these two artists to ever stop, collaborate and listen.

In conclusion I think whether you are of the belief that nu metal was a bane to society at it’s height of popularity, a smudge on humanities musical history, a pimple on the ass of pop culture or a shitpost of sight and sound. There can be no denying the effect and influence it has had on artists, video games, comedy and the sonic trajectory of mankind’s musical journey….for better or worse.