Nu Metal

Back in November Vh1 Classic had their first annual metal day and one of the things that premiered was the first in an eleven part series called Metal Evolution. It’s a series that goes through the history of metal with each episode focusing on a specific genre or time period in metal. It’s done by Sam Dunn, who did the great documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, so I was pretty excited. I knew that there would inevitably be an episode on Nu Metal and just this past Saturday that episode premiered. Since I committed myself to watching the entire series I had to watch the episode.

A little while back I had also heard that KoRn was releasing a new album. I thought that maybe I should review it but I quickly forgot about it. Seeing this recent episode of Metal Evolution reminded me of that album and brought back all of the hatred that I have for Nu Metal. As I’m writing this review I am also listening to Seasons in the Abyss in order to cool down. Yes, that’s right; I’m listening to Slayer in order to cool down.

There are so many ways to describe Nu Metal. I thought about calling it a one-trick-pony but after thinking about that, I realized that that’s really just an insult to one-trick-ponies. Poison is a one-trick-pony; Nu Metal is something else entirely. The absolute total lack of any sort of integrity or effort in Nu Metal is staggering. As I was watching the Nu Metal episode of Metal Evolution I was (obviously) subjected to much of what the bands had to offer. And of course many of them went to great lengths to defend their music. At one point all I could think was “The sound of me jacking off into a microphone is better than this”. And that really is the summation of everything that is wrong with Nu Metal. I cannot think of a single thing that I would like to hear less than Nu Metal.

I’m now finding that its very hard to concisely word my hatred of Nu Metal so let me focus on the specific bands.

KoRn: Coming up with a good name for your band can certainly be hard but KoRn seems like they’ve made an effort to pick the absolute worst one. Any time I hear any one of their songs all I can think about is some emo teenager in their room with a razor blade and bad mopey poetry. Of course after listening to their music slitting my wrists doesn’t sound like such a bad idea as it usually destroys what little faith I still have in modern metal music. Back when I heard KoRn had released a new album I decided to listen to a few previews on iTunes. I expected to hear something bad but what I got was much much worse than even I had expected. The album is billed as a cross between the insufferable new genre of Dubstep and Nu Metal. This is like taking a pile of vomit, letting it decay in a dump for a while, picking it up with a rusty shovel and mixing it in with a pile of shit, and then deciding to eat it. I can honestly say that I don’t think I have ever heard anything worse than this album. It elevates albums like Turbo by Judas Priest or St. Anger by Metallica to the status of Reign in Blood.

Slipknot: The other day I was trying to google Slayer. I got to “Sl” and the drop down thing gave me Slipknot as an option. This really pissed me off. Of course what pisses me off even more is that Slipknot is currently one of the most popular metal bands. Who the fuck is paying to listen to this band? If anything we should be paying for them to go away. I think it was last year that I heard that their bassist died. I know that this is going to sound bad (and I apologize in advance) but I thought that maybe this would make the band go away but unfortunately they seem undeterred. I’ve read that their whole gimmick with the jump suits and the masks is to draw attention away from the performers and more towards the music. This is like Kiss saying that they wear makeup for the same reason. And of course their music is exactly the same as KoRn’s. It’s the whole look-at-me-I’m-in-a-mental-institution schtick.

Limp Bizkit: The day that Fred Durst dies will be a happy one. Not only did he create one of the worst bands in one of the worst genres, he intentionally incited riots at the disastrous Woodstock ’99. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Durst is just an all around asshole who attacks his critics simply for the reason that they are his critics. Now in his music he actually takes a different approach than the two bands mentioned above. That is by no means a good thing though. His music is simply him whining about all of the little problems in his life. If a bee stings Fred Durst, odds are that he’ll write a song attacking that bee.

All right I’ll end that there. But lets not forget about the actual music. If Nu Metal has taught us one thing it’s: DO NOT DOWN TUNE. I'm not sure that I can stress that enough. Also we should add onto the old rule of “fire the keyboardist” that you should also fire the DJ and smash the turntable.

The only bit of optimism I can put into this review is that Nu Metal appears to be waning. This is good. Of course its bastard cousin Metalcore is rearing its ugly head. But that’s a review for a different time.

Beyond Magnetic - Metallica

Well that was a fairly lengthy sabbatical. Now its time to get back to what I’ve missed. This year we got two releases from the world’s biggest metal band: Metallica. The first was the muddled, confusing, and completely unnecessary collaboration with Lou Reed entitled Lulu. The second however were four unreleased tracks from the bands 2008 return to form Death Magnetic, entitled Beyond Magnetic. Hearing this EP after the release of Lulu was like a drink of fresh water after a drought.

By and large this EP sounds a lot like Death Magnetic (but that’s to be expected) but there’s a little more of an unpolished and raw feeling here. There’s a rough edge that makes the songs sound even stronger than their counterparts that made it onto the album. It makes me wonder what the whole album would have sounded like if they had received the same raw feel as these songs. Another thing that sets these songs apart from the ones that made it on Death Magnetic is the closer attention paid to the mixing. As we all know, the biggest draw back to the album was the compression of all of the songs that made it sound like it was being played on a radio with a poor signal. These songs have none of that. Everything comes out crystal clear.

Considering that there are only four tracks on here, let’s just run down every one of them. The EP starts out with a bang with “Hate Train”. I must say that I like everything about this song besides the title (it kind of invokes a Dethklok image for me, à la “Hatredcopter”). Once again Hammett delivers crushing riffs and screeching solos. Hetfield spits out lyrics about the demons that lie within and the hate and pain that they bring with them.

The next track is probably the most well known. It was originally known as “Shine” during the recording process, and can be heard a little bit in the Mission Metallica videos for Death Magnetic. On this EP it is entitled “Just a Bullet Away”. In truth I really didn’t like this song as much as I thought that I would. There are times where I want it to be faster and instead it gets slower. There’s this sort of awkward pause in the middle that then breaks into a very melodic piece. But overall I like the riff and when it gets heavy it gets real heavy. The lyrics were supposedly written as a tribute to Alice in Chains late singer, Layne Staley. Hetfield really wrote some great lyrics here though and when you look at it through the perspective of someone who is battling an addiction the Layne Staley thing really makes sense.

The third track here, “Hell and Back” is probably my favorite. After taking a second to get out of the gate the song explodes into a galloping ferocity. The chorus here is probably one of the most memorable, not only on this EP, but also from Death Magnetic. I can already envision myself at a concert pumping my fists to the words “RUN STRAIGHT TO HELL AND BACK!” Hetfield delivers the words with such ferocity and passion that I’m curious as to why this song was made into a B-side. Everything on this song feels tight: the lyrics, the singing, the guitars, the bass, the drums. Everything is seamless. While some of the other songs might still have a few kinks that need to be worked out this feels like a fully formed song that is ready to join the pantheon of Metallica classics.

The last song, “Rebel of Babylon”, was also sort of a let down. Again I really wanted to like this song more than I do. Sometimes the instruments don’t quite deliver the punch that Hetfield’s voice does. And at times the riff feels a little sludgy. It does eventually get to the fast thrash that we all love but it sure takes its sweet time. During the chorus the band almost seems to be channeling The Misfits and it doesn’t really work with the rest of the song. Definitely a strong attempt but also a song that I think the band could take back into the studio.

Maybe part of the reason that this EP succeeds so much is because it shines so much brighter than Lulu but I think that even without Lulu this EP works on its own. The songs are powerful and definitely down to earth Metallica. I have read reports that the band is currently working on its next album, unfortunately due out some time in 2013. Kirk Hammett was also reported as saying that the next album will be a heavier Black Album. Now the band made the right decision in moving backward for their last album, but that doesn’t mean we want them to start moving forward again. Instead of moving forward and making something that sounds like the Black Album why not move even further backward and make and album that sounds more like Master of Puppets or …And Justice for All. Just food for thought. This EP is coming out on CD at the end of January. I know I’ll be in line.

Hate Train

Just a Bullet Away

Hell and Back

Rebel of Babylon