Your way in
Nu metal 1994
Seven-string guitars tuned very low, hip-hop groove, a DJ or sampler and lyrics about personal trauma. The decade's best-selling and most disputed genre.
- Heaviness
- 8
- Speed
- 5
- Melody
- 7
- Where from
- California, USA
- Tempo
- 80-120 bpm
- Song length
- 3-4.5 min
- Written about
- Childhood damage, Alienation, Rage without a political object, Family
- Vocals
- Sung and screamed
Why this one
| You said | Nu metal | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both, trading off When someone is singing, what should come out? | mixed | 100% | ×3 |
| As heavy as it gets How much weight do you want behind it? | 8 out of 10 | 80% | ×2 |
| A steady walk What pace? | 5 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| Anger at something real What should the words be about? | Childhood damage, Alienation, Rage without a political object, Family | 50% | ×1 |
| Yes. A proper melody. Do you want a tune you could hum afterwards? | 7 out of 10 | 70% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 87% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, about 1, melody 1 out of 9. Nu metal leads the next by 3 points. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1The one to put on first
Korn, Korn 1994
Korn - Korn. The first track opens with bagpipes, which nobody ever remembers.
- 2Then
Slipknot, Iowa 2001
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5One step further in
Rage Against the Machine, The Battle of Los Angeles 1999
Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles. Their best-produced record.
The first is Nu metal's own entry point. After it come Nu metal's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Post-metal / atmospheric sludge 82%
Sludge with post-rock logic: long songs, crescendos and instrumental passages. Neurosis invented the form.
4 steps from Nu metal, meeting it only at Heavy metal.
The way into Post-metal / atmospheric sludge -
Crust punk 77%
D-beat soaked in metal and mud: thick tone, apocalyptic themes, trousers unwashed since 1989.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 6 steps from Nu metal.
The way into Crust punk
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- Both, trading off put 72 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Blues rock, Doom metal. Worth 3 of 9.
- As heavy as it gets put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Rock and roll, Folk rock, Country rock. Worth 2 of 9.
- Anger at something real put 108 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Black metal, Blues rock. Worth 1 of 9.
- Yes. A proper melody. put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Grindcore, Brutal death metal, Cybergrind. Worth 1 of 9.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.