The Academic Argument

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in teenagers and young adults aged fifteen to twenty-four, taking almost 900,000 lives in 2014 (Labbe). Suicide is extremely prevalent in teenagers, and is a world problem that has sat in a dark corner undiscussed for past decades and should be brought to the world’s attention in a more direct fashion. To fully understand the depth and complexity of the problem, the entire realm of depression and suicide would need to first be established so that it can be discussed in its entirety. Important aspects to look at would include what defines “depression,” what is the difference between suicide ideation and suicidal actions, and whether each imposes a hefty risk on personal well-being, and finally, what causes the level of depression that leads to suicidal thoughts and actions in adolescence.

Depression is defined as “a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way” (Merriam-Webster). Depression is extremely prevalent in youth, as the developing brain is riddled with all sorts of hormones due to puberty and what teens would deem “life problems,” also known as school-related stress and relationship issues. This combination of hormones and teenage stress can lead to depression, and in some cases, leading to suicidal thoughts and actions.

This pattern saw a dramatic increase in the early 1900’s, when there were several high school and college aged teenagers who were depressed and ended up committing suicide. There was such a large increase in “student suicide” that schools and professors/educators were being blamed, in true witch-hunt fashion, for subliminally suggesting that students kill themselves much like the characters in books they would read did. This attack on schools came to a culminating point when an international summit of the world’s top psychoanalysts came together to discuss this increase in student suicide. In an attempt to free the educators of blame, one of the leaders of the summit, Alfred Adler stated that “…the life-denying children… who kill themselves constitute a secondary category of deviation from normality” (34). Thus, for the “first time” on a world scale, it was deemed that depressed kids who commit suicide were not normal, a finding that has solved several of the world’s problems today…

Fast forward a century and then some, to arrive a decade into the 2000’s, where a worrisome trend has started that effects almost every teenager at some point of their life. A sort of “pseudo-depression” that kicks in around the pubescent years in which kids believe they are clinically depressed and tend to have suicidal thoughts. The reason for this “phase” in the life of a teenager can best be described due to the fact that teenagers are “…distinguished by higher levels of impulsivity…” (Miranda 15). This impulsivity is something that is found in the still-maturing brains of teenagers and is a function of the brain that usually is removed later on into adulthood. However, this pseudo-depressive phase that every kid goes through really makes it hard to separate those who are actually depressed from those who are just going through pubescent mood swings. Nonetheless, a lot of nu metal bands make music about depression, leading to suicidal thoughts and actions, and is often directed towards their teenaged audience. A great example of this is in Seether’s latest album Isolate and Medicate in which the lyrics to the song “Nobody Praying for Me” say “’Cause if I stand up, I’ll break my bones and everybody loves to see a fall unfold, Ain’t nobody giving up, ‘cause nobody gives a fuck” (Morgan, Shaun). The line really strikes that feeling we all get when it seems like we got dealt a series of shitty hands and it looks like nobody gives any fucks. A nu metal band that seems to heavily focus on the idea of depression leading to suicidal thoughts and actions is Mudvayne. Another great example is in their song “IMN” where the opening line states “Suicide, don’t give a fuck about this, my life or any other. Just go away and let me hang” (Gray). Solely from the lines, the idea of depression leading to suicidal thoughts is prevalent, and with the last line, the ideas turn into actions.

The link between depression leading to suicidal thoughts and actions has been heavily studied. However, with the pseudo-depressive phase that teens go through, it is hard to determine if some suicidal thoughts in adolescents have any weight to them. The article written by Miranda points to this saying that to weigh the importance of suicidal thoughts, one would have to look at how the developing brain would respond to daily stress. The response to stress helps to determine if the brain is functioning correctly, meaning that if the stress is handled poorly, then the brain is not functioning correctly and the suicidal ideation should be investigated rather than blown off (16).

However, she says that a suicide attempt is almost always a threat to someone’s well-being, and states that there is always a link between the two, as through the progression from depression to suicide attempt, be it successful or not, always includes suicidal thoughts as a sort of middle man (15-17). This link pointed out and highlighted in Auerbach’s paper when he states “...depression is among the strongest predictors of suicidal ideation… and critically, only a third of adolescent ideators make an attempt” (127) and that of the third who made an attempt, all had previous suicidal ideation (127-128). The idea of a suicidal thought being worked into action is pretty straightforward, as how could one commit an action before thinking it? A perfect example of this straight progression is in Mudvayne’s song “IMN” where he progresses from the ideation earlier in the song to actions when he says “I want to eat a bullet, carve myself, beat my face… Don’t give a fuck, I’m out, I’m done, fuck this shit, you’ve dug the hole I’m lying in” (Gray). The narrator of the song contemplates several ways he could die, then ends up acting upon one of them and blaming another person for his suicide, saying it was their fault that he is laying in his grave. Another song that points out the progression from depression to suicide attempt is Mudvayne’s “Happy?” but unlike “IMN,” the reason for the narrator’s depression is more clearly defined, which gives a better aspect on what events can cause adolescents to initiate this progression, in this case, a failed relationship.

In the song “Happy?” Gray screams about the end of the relationship sending the narrator into a deep depression, so much that he contemplates suicide, saying “Tear meat from the bone, tear me from myself…” and then asking “Does it make you happy now?” followed by him ending his life at the end of the song. Relationships are one of the big causes of adolescent depression leading into suicidal thoughts, but the one reason that is most discussed and in the media is depression brought about by bullying, be it traditional or cyberbullying. In a study, it was shown that “…the prevalence of traditional bullying victimization [leading to suicide attempts in] adolescents to be about 36%, while in contrast the estimated prevalence of cyberbullying victimization was about 15%” (Reed 128). While the numbers themselves may seem low, to think about the fact that of all suicide attempts in adolescents, over half of them were because of some form of bullying is astonishing. So many suicide attempts, and when thinking of the progression, the preceding step of depression, could have been avoided and never occurred were it not for bullying.

Another major tragedy that causes thousands of suicide attempts each year that could be avoided is domestic abuse. Physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from parents and other relatives account for the other of the top three causes of depression and the subsequent suicide ideation and actions. Chad Gray, singer of Mudvayne, takes part in a side project, known as Hellyeah, and discusses the topic of domestic abuse causing the progression. This is particularly prevalent in their song “Hush” when Gray sings “Whipped so bad I pissed myself… if this reminds you of home, you better know you’re not alone, hold the gun up to my head, I’ll pull the trigger on myself!” Recognizing the horrible problem of abuse on adolescents, and its effects, Gray reaches out to domestic abuse victims saying he knows how it feels to be abused, as he was in his childhood, but just to push through and that it will get better, in hopes of inspiring kids not to have suicidal thoughts or attempt suicide.

Looking at “IMN” and “Happy?” the two strongest voiced songs on Mudvayne’s album Lost and Found, it is pretty clear that Chad Gray and Mudvayne do not take depression, nor suicidal thoughts and actions lightly. Through describing his own experiences and constant battles with depression, the group put out several songs that add a new light to the complex discussion of adolescent depression and suicide. Music is one of the greatest and most popular ways to voice opinion and experience, as well as advice. If only those 900,000 kids who took their own life in 2014 had heard Mudvayne’s message and knew that they were not alone, and knew that things would get better, maybe they would still be alive today, no longer lost in the darkness of their depression, but found in the light of a new, more joyful life.

Work Cited

Adler, Alfred, and Paul Friedman. On Suicide, with Particular Reference to Suicide among Young Students. New York: International Universities, 1967. Print.

“Depression.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2015. Web. 29 November 2015.

Gray, Chad. Blood for Blood. By Chad Gray, Greg Tribbett, Tom Maxwell, and Vinnie Paul.            HELLYEAH. Rec. 10 June 2014. Kevin Churko, 2014. CD.

Gray, Chad. L.D. 50. By Chad Gray, Greg Tribbett, Ryan Martinie, and Matthew McDonough. Mudvayne. Rec. 22 Aug. 2000. GGGarth, 2000. CD.

Labbe, Colleen. "Many Teens Considering Suicide Do Not Receive Specialized Mental Health Care." NIMH. NIH, 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.

Miranda, Regina, and David Shaffer. "Understanding the Suicidal Moment in Adolescence." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1304.1 (2013): 14-21. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web.

Morgan, Shaun. Isolate and Medicate. By Shaun Morgan, Dale Stewart and John Humphrey. Seether. Rec. 1 July 2014. Brendan O'Brien, 2014. CD.

Randy P. Auerbach, Alexander J. Millner, Jeremy G. Stewart, Erika C. Esposito. “Identifying Differences between Depressed Adolescent Suicide Ideators and Attempters.” Journal of Affective Disorders 186. (2015): 127-133. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web.  

Reed K, Nugent W, Cooper R. “Testing a Path Model of Relationships Between Gender, Age, and Bullying Victimization and Violent Behavior, Substance Abuse, Depression, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicide Attempts in Adolescents.” Children and Youth Services Review 55 (2015): 128-137. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web.

The Academic Conversation

Ahhhh…. Tool. Describe them how you will: the greatest progressive rock band to ever cross this Earth, or a perfect example of how the nu metal genre can vary so much. I choose to accept the latter, but you know, do you. For those not familiar with Tool, the group is comprised of just four musical geniuses, who create one of the most complex sounds in the industry of music. While 99% of groups use the standard 4/4 meter throughout all their music, Tool has never used this meter, and chooses instead to change the rhythm and meter multiple times in each song. But somehow, each instrument and the vocals come together to create one of the most pleasurable sounds I have ever heard in my life.

While not participating in the rapping parts of nu metal, Tool uses their vocals, to whisper, clean sing, and even growl and yell in some parts, but by far not anything like the growling and yelling of screamo bands or even death metal or Slipknot. Just plain and simply, yelling. So before we go making any judgements about how this doesn’t fit into the rest of the blog, lets become familiar with the Tool sound.

Tool’s Lateralus is quite often regarded as the most prominent album in the progressive rock genre ever. It is also described as the most creative and most innovative nu metal album, because of the complexity of the instruments, meter, rhythm, and vocals. Not only that, but Tool infuses the Fibonacci Sequence into many of the songs in the album, such as the number of syllables in a line of lyrics, or drum beats per measure, giving staunch credit as to how much of a genius group of songwriters Tool is. While incorporating this sequence into the music, Tool is still able to focus heavily on the theme of the album: the stages in the downfall of a relationship. Each song is something different, like “The Grudge,” which describes the beginning of the ending phase of the speaker’s relationship. In “Lateralus,” the title track, the speaker describes how he is trying to forget the breakup that occurred previously in the song “Schism” and take what he can from it and move on with his life. Then, “Parabola” describes the beginning of a relationship with a holy entity after the breakup in “Schism” as a ways and means to accept the end of their relationship and describes how we are not alone in spirit because of a relationship with this entity.

Tool seems to place themselves into a very prominent stance on relationships as a whole throughout the album: in the end, all relationships are positive. That being a successful romantic relationship, or a negative one as long as something is learned and emotional/spiritual growth occur from it. Even that of a platonic relationship is positive, as friends and family are there for support and can, once again, lead to a personal growth.

Take the negative relationship for example, in the first track on the album, titled “The Grudge,” where vocalist Maynard James Keenan starts off saying “Calculate what we will or will not tolerate. Desperate to control all and everything, unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen.” Keenan focuses in on the negative of the relationship, even referencing The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, suggesting that the speaker discovered their significant other was having an affair, and that he would not forgive her. Then, near the end of the song, Maynard leaves the proposition of either letting the relationship end in negativity or taking from it when he says “… you choose what you will not see and then drags you down like a stone or lifts you up again,” and then “Give away the stone. Let the oceans take and trans mutate this cold and fated anchor.” Here Keenan specifically states to let go of the negativity and focus on what one could take from the relationship and how to grow from it.

My favorite Tool song and arguably their most popular song is titled “Schism.” In “Schism,” the relationship described in “The Grudge” has finally come to an end, and this song describes the breakup stage of their relationship. This song could be taken in several ways, and the way that I choose to view it is as what is going through the speaker’s mind during the breakup conversation. He says “I know the pieces fit ‘cause I watched them fall away,” meaning that he knew they were right for each other because of the complexity of how their relationship disintegrated. Keenan states that even though there was “no fault” that he “it doesn’t mean [he doesn’t] desire to point the finger, [and] blame the other.” Going back to “The Grudge,” the speaker seems to think that although he wants to blame the girl for cheating on him, he sees the breakup as no one’s fault possibly because he saw that he ended up driving her away and the breakup was just as much his fault as it was hers. This sense of driving her away is supported when Maynard says one of my favorite lines “Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion between supposed lovers,” followed by what seems to be an extremely apologetic and maybe even hopeful muttering of “I know the pieces fit” to end the song. The speaker lets it known that it was in turn his fault for the end of the relationship because he never wanted to talk about it, but left the breakup with the hope of possibly rekindling the relationship in the future.

The same position on taking the positive from the negative is revisited in the title track “Lateralus.” Keenan empathetically and emotionally sings the lyrics “Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind,” and “Reaching out to embrace the random. Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.” The speaker seems to have finally come to terms with the end of the relationship in “Schism” and is ready to move on to the next step in his life. He “…embrace[s] [his] desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside…” signaling his readiness to put the past behind and only look towards the future.

The song “Parabola” seems to fit into the same category as “Lateralus” as he is seen to try and move on and find other ways to cope with the breakup. He is seen to look towards a god to give him a meaning to life and is shown to find it. Keenan almost screams the chorus “In this holy reality, in this holy experience. Choosing to be here in this body, this body holding me. Be my reminder here that I am not alone…” The speaker says that even though he seems to be lost without his counterpart, he still has a reason to live and continue his life, even if it means accepting this entity to be his guiding source. The song’s final verse is powerful when Keenan, almost whispering, softly sings “This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality. Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion.” Just like in “The Grudge,” Keenan makes us remember about the positives in the negative, and not giving up, but moving forward, and that our body and the pain we have is just an illusion, and our spirits will remain unscathed through the breakup.

Tool’s stance on remaining positive through a negative event is inspiring. Throught Keenan’s impressive vocals, and the jaw-dropping instrumentation, it seems as if each member of Tool went through the same things described in the album and the message is being conveyed in the utmost personal way. The album is felt as an emotional rollercoaster, going through the feelings of hate, anger, depression, disparity, and finally, hope. The album touches us because no matter our current relationship status, we have all had that one horrible relationship that left us sad and took a while to get over, and even possibly changed us as a person. Combine that personal touch with the fact that somehow they incorporated one of mathematics most complex sequences into their music, and you get one hell of an album. I mean, if you were to take just one of the songs off the album and compare it to anything else in the nu metal genre, or even anything else that came out in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Tool definitely set themselves apart from the rest of the music industry with this album.

To reiterate, Tool is one of the greatest bands on the face of the planet. Their almost weird music style and Keenan’s haunting and ghostly vocals, are just plain different. But somehow, they combine this aloof style with something every human being has undergone, a bad breakup, and make Lateralus a piece of art that everybody can relate to and enjoy. Their message is true, their message is deep, and their message is full of hope: Never look down, always find the light in the dark, and never ever give up.

Cultural Analysis

I’m just going to start off by saying that Marilyn Manson and IS a nu metal band, regardless of what you think, for several reasons that go beyond my scope of nu metal understandability. For those not familiar with Manson, he is a “shock rocker” who employs the use of dark lyrics, often anti-religion and in particular anti-Christianity. Their music is pretty often defined as industrial metal because of the use of down-tuned guitars, sampling, and heavy bass, but adding in synthesizers and distorted vocals. Thus, Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar is one of the most prominent nu metal albums, and often regarded as Manson’s greatest work of art.

Antichrist Superstar is a concept album, telling the story of how the protagonist, The Worm, leads a revolt against the elite, due to his disgust of what is wrong with the world, and eventually comes into political power, through his disciples who know him as “The Antichrist Superstar.” In the Manson-esque way, he employs his anti-Christian stance as the protagonist proclaims himself as the Antichrist and comes into power through some of the ways that Jesus gained his following. Through the protagonist’s story, Manson says a lot about the religion of Christianity and subverts all of the Christian culture’s dominant ideologies.

Since the dawn of America, over 238 years ago, Christianity has been the dominant religion of the country, and the ideologies of the religion have been imposed on American since the forefathers signed the Declaration. Manson undermines Christian culture by exposing the faults, in particular, the hypocrisy of followers of the Christian religion. Manson also uses the album to make fun of the religion and the idiocy of its followers as The Worm wants his disciples to look at him as a symbol of hope in gaining a prominent status in society and overthrowing the elite. However, the followers do not view him in this way and see him as a god and are fully content with maintaining their low status in society, symbolizing Christian’s blind faith in God, as Christians are content with following an arbitrary set of rules and guidelines determined by a book thousands of years old.

The lyrics contained in the album constantly describe and reflect the degradation and downfalls of Christianity. A particularly great example, the line “I shed the skin to feed the fake” from the title track “Antichrist Superstar” takes the Christian ritual of taking communion, or eating bread and drinking wine as symbolism for “taking in” Christ, and flips it to say that his skin is being used to feed the hypocritical followers of Christ. Manson is able to directly criticize Christian culture by degrading the followers of The Antichrist Superstar, and therefore the followers of Christ. Another great example of undermining Christianity is in the song “Mister Superstar” when The Worm is gaining popularity and disciples, they tell him that they’ll “kill [themselves’ for [him]” and that they’ll “do anything for [him].” Manson makes fun of the die-hard Christians who are martyrs, by saying that the Antichrist Superstar “never wanted this,” symbolizing that having followers who would do anything for their God, even to the extent of dying for them, was never Christ’s intention or message.

Some of the lyrics, such as those in “The Beautiful People” do not directly subvert Christian ideals, but do so indirectly through the undermining of other problems that The Worm saw, such as capitalism and its effect of creating materialism throughout all the elite and wealthy. Manson describes the wealthy elite The Worm wants to overthrow as “The Beautiful People” and the poor as “The Horrible People” in the song. Early in the song, The Worm sees that “the weak ones are there to justify the strong,” meaning the poor are there to reinforce the wealthy’s socio-economic status. Manson addresses the widening income inequality gap that is a direct effect of capitalism with these lyrics, but ties it to Christianity when he says “The beautiful people, the beautiful people/ It’s all relative to the size of your steeple.” Here Manson connects the wealthy and Christianity, and since money buys power, Christianity is able to have influence due to the amount of money involved. This is not false, as of all the millionaires in the world, over fifty six percent identify as Christian, a fact reinforcing Manson’s wealthy-Christians-ruling-capitalistic-economies comparison.

One of the most interesting aspects of this album is not how the lyrics undermine Christian culture, but the music. When The Worm is first looking at everything he hates in the world, the music is heavy-hitting, vulgar, and extremely fast. But, the music slows as the story progresses, as The Worm slowly begins to gain power in “Tourniquet,” and picks up again at the climax of the story when the protagonist becomes the Antichrist Superstar. What is most interesting is when The Worm realizes that even with all the power, nothing has changed. People are still the same mindless followers and content in their meaningless life, and as The Worm begins his downward spiral into depression in the song “Minute of Decay” when he believes he failed at his goal, the music changes tempo and slows drastically, the songs become softer and the vocals become smoother. Then, in “The Reflecting God” when he sets out to try one last time to achieve his goal, the sound is back to the heaviness of the first few tracks, as The Worm succeeds in his mission, when his followers finally begin to see his message. Finally, with himself and his supporters in full power, The Worm states that for those who do not already follow him or understand him, they will be recruited and understand his message as he is martyred, in “Man That You Fear.” The song takes a final slow and soft sound as The Worm is seen to be pleased with his goal and how he changed the world. As the story follows The Worm gaining power in the way that Christ did, the music follows the “excitement” of the process, and to believers of the Christian faith, could be seen as a mockery of the story of Jesus.

Reception of Manson’s album by the Christian culture was exactly as expected. Accusations of spreading Satanism and “corrupting our youth” were placed on Manson, so far as to even blame Manson for the Columbine Massacre two years later. Did the album have a large impact on Christian culture? Obviously not, as it still the dominating religion today, but can we say that it had no impact on the culture and ideologies surrounding Christianity? I think that the album reinforced religious intolerance and the ideological fear of maybe, just maybe, Christianity isn’t true, and that any other religion or non-religion might possibly have truth behind it.

Genre Analysis - Formatting Revised

Slipknot is one of the most influential albums of all time, whether you are a fan or not; especially when it comes to focusing in on the nu metal genre. But Slipknot's second album, Iowa, was one of their best-selling albums of all time, as they cashed in on their first album's success. The album also set the parameters to help form and maintain what was to come in the genre of nu metal. What is important is how Iowa and Slipknot are so influential to all metal music starting from their 1999 debut release and 2001 sophomore album release all through the 2000’s, and just why it fits into the nu metal genre so well, and helped skyrocket the progression and evolution of the genre.

Let’s start by going back to 1994 and look at what the metal scene looked like prior to Slipknot’s release. Classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones were becoming somewhat obsolete, and the world had already progressed through the heavy metal era, with bands such as Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. Then, with hip hop gaining a lot of momentum in popular music, metal heads looked to transfusing the two genres to produce an extremely unique sound, soon to become known as nu metal. This idea of rapping over rock and metal had been used sparingly before, however, with bands like Faith No More, and Rage Against the Machine. However, there was something different about the nu metal genre that separated it from these groups, a certain characteristic of being a lot harder and heavier than all previous groups prior, and this was shown through Korn’s self-titled debut album in 1994, where the group was given credit for “creating and pioneering the nu metal genre.”

Over the next five years, we saw an influx of “Korn copycats,” or bands that formed and sounded exactly like Korn, due to the incredible success of their debut albums, and virtually no group formed after Korn sounded any different; that is, until Slipknot released their debut album in 1999. The group purposely tried to break away from what was being dubbed “nu Korn” and “Korn metal” to try and take a different spin on the popular genre, and oh did they succeed at their goal.

By starting at the base line of what was considered nu metal, rapping over metal, heavy riffs, tuned down guitars, high energy both on stage and on record, Slipknot was able to incorporate the underground sound of screaming and growling into the mainstream, and hit the music industry by surprise. After the release of the heavy hitting album, Slipknot’s first performance of the album was at Ozfest. Here, they first showed off what they are most famous for: completely matching jump suits and a different mask on each of the nine band members. Coming out as the heaviest band at Ozfest and putting on one of their best performances, almost instantaneously recruited thousands of metal heads that were in attendance.

While partaking in the nu metal hype that Korn had created years before, Slipknot was able to redefine the parameters of the genre altogether. They provided enough of the heavy sounds, heart-pumping screams and in-your-face guitar riffs to influence almost every one of the nu metal bands that came after, especially looking at groups like Mudvayne and Mushroomhead, who also wore complete face make-up and masks, respectively, as well as the matching apparel on stage. The shift from “nu Korn” soon turned into “nu Slipknot” and their sound tried to be replicated quite often, but none of these bands were able to achieve the popularity of the original.

This shift into "nu Slipknot" was furthered with the even heavier release of Iowa. With songs like "People = Shit" and "The Heretic Anthem," Iowa stands to this day the heaviest nu metal album ever released. It even hit mainstream success as it peaked at number 3 on the billboard top 200. Again, redefining what was expected in the nu metal genre, Slipknot continued their "violent audial assault" with relentless drumming and down tuned guitars, more screaming than ever before, and even more pronounced bass work. Where they tuned down on the rapping that had been consistent in nu metal so far, they made up for it in the use of DJ Sid Wilson's turntables. Iowa, just like Slipknot had before, took all the positives from the genre, got rid of the negatives, and again added their own concoctions, making the genre even more open and easy to listen to, while gathering an even larger audience and fan base for the genre.

Some critics say that Slipknot helped to kill the nu metal genre because they changed the genre so much and since their changes clicked and took up popularity, that over the next few years the genre died and the “new” genre Slipknot created would be broken into several different subgenres, pointing towards post-hardcore metal, black metal, goth metal, and horror punk for examples. However, these are also the same critics that say that Limp Bizkit inciting a riot at Woodstock ’99 was bad for the genre, but I take that with a grain of salt because Limp Bizkit was a group that never should have happened anyways, so we can blame everything on them, like the Holocaust, totally Limp Bizkit’s fault.

Anyways, as the early 2000’s came to an end, the genre did die, sadly enough. The few mainstream bands that were left over turned their sounds into either hardcore metal, Slipknot is the best example, or just mainstream rock, like Papa Roach, Korn, Linkin Park and Deftones. But with the death of nu metal, also came the death of some of the biggest names in the genre, like System of a Down and Rage Against the Machines. So with the growing popularity of modern pop music, hip hop, and country, would the genre of nu metal ever made it out of the 2000’s? I don’t believe so, I think that the genre was doomed from the start, no matter how many Korn’s, Slipknot’s, or Linkin Park’s took the genre and put it into the mainstream. 

Slipknot Album Review - Revised

Slipknot, the self-titled debut album from metal god Slipknot, is outright one of the most influential albums ever to come out of the nu metal genre, and possibly even the 90s for that matter. As the nu metal genre was quite new at the time, and even the idea of rapping over metal, Slipknot decided to try and add a heavier element to the mix: screaming and rapping over the verses and clean singing during the chorus (for the most part). Using the now extremely popular idea Korn used in their debut album of extremely down-tuned guitars and major use of the first five frets, Slipknot came out with one of the hardest and heaviest albums ever released. The mix of rapping over a light beat and then all of a sudden screaming over a heavy bass and killer drums instantly boosts the heart rates of anyone listening. This soft to heavy and back again type of metal revolutionized the entire genre of rock and heavy metal forever.

Listening to any Slipknot album is an experience in itself, but their debut can honestly be described as a violent audial assault, so be prepared. Since the first few songs off this album all became synonymous with Slipknot, I will go a little bit into detail with them and omit the latter songs as the sound was well established by that point. After a brief electronic intro, you are instantly thrown into "(sic)," one of the fastest paced songs on the entire album, where you are introduced to the heavy bass playing of Paul Gray, and the insanely quick drumming of Joey Jordison. Not too long after do we hear the first screams of vocalist Corey Taylor, instantly increasing your heart rate at least threefold. "(sic)" remains one of Slipknot’s most played songs in live shows, used as the opener in their earlier shows but became the finale when they began gaining mainstream popularity. Next, we hear "Eyeless," again a fast paced song with the big line from the chorus being:

                                “you can’t see California without Marlon Brando’s eyes”

a line Taylor got when he heard a homeless man shouting at him as he walked the streets of California and decided to put it into a song. Next, we get to hear Taylor’s clean vocals in the chorus of "Wait and Bleed," arguably the band’s most popular song and achieved some of the highest placements on the Billboard music charts. Next we get what Slipknot dubs “America’s National Anthem,” "Surfacing." "Surfacing" is you would think of when you think “scene emo goth teenager.” With vulgar lyrics filling out the entire song, one of the Slipknot catchphrases is the chorus “fuck it all, fuck this world, fuck everything that you stand for, don’t belong, don’t exist, don’t give a shit, and don’t you ever judge me.” Teenage angst much? Maybe, but who’s complaining? Right after surfacing, Slipknot’s “live” song, "Spit it Out," and my personal favorite song ever, consists of Taylor going from rapping to screaming, to singing, and back to rapping to repeat the process several more times. The reason it is dubbed their “live” song, is because of the influence they had on the metal concert. Right before the breakdown where Taylor shouts “fuck me, I’m all out of enemies,” he tells everyone in the crowd to bend down, while he starts rapping and then screams “jump the fuck up,” and has the entire crowd jump up and continue moshing and jumping to the song. 

For me, at least, this after this song is where the album starts to become repetitive and break down. Most of the songs start to sound the same, with Taylor going from rapping to screaming, over DJ Sid Wilson using the turntables to create an eerie vibe, while the heavy guitar and bass sound comes in once the screams start, and seem to sound the same in every song. Not that this is bad, the songs are really great to listen to and I enjoy each one, but I think better placement of the first six songs that all sound different throughout the album would have been better to keep casual listeners entertained throughout the album’s entirety.

An album defined as nu metal, but really carved out its own path by infusing elements of nu metal, death metal, and hip hop all together, led to the eventual formation of several other popular rock and metal bands, like Papa Roach and Disturbed, who cited this album as heavy influences on their music and debut albums. Slipknot changed how people looked at nu metal and the entire genre of metal, through an extremely profane audial assault from start to finish, not taking a single second to rest and unlike their newer albums, not containing any filler tracks. If I were to recommend a heavy album to anybody, it would be Slipknot without a doubt.

About Me - Revised

Welcome to Nu Metal Central, where you can get that loving, nostalgic feeling from reading about the world’s most hated on and berated genre. Here, I will be reviewing the seemingly dead genre of Nu Metal throughout the late 90’s and early 2000’s and its everlasting influence on popular metal even today. I will mostly review popular Nu Metal albums from mainstream bands that a majority of today’s metal bands cite as their influence, such as Slipknot, Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Marilyn Manson. I will also discuss why that group/album was so influential, in regards to sound and the historical time frame in which the album came out.

With Nu Metal being a tricky genre to place as groups cover such a broad spectrum of the metal genre, perhaps a general description of what defines Nu Metal will help. Heavy bass, down tuned guitars and “rough” vocals are a staple of Nu Metal, and you really wouldn’t be able to place yourself in the genre without it. Some things, like synthesizers, turntables, and screaming vocals aren’t as crucial to the genre, but seem to be pretty popular, especially in the earlier Nu Metal that existed in the late 90’s.

Unlike some blogs, here you can expect a very candid review of influential Nu Metal bands, be it a group that I like or dislike, but respect as pioneers of the genre and influences on modern metal. I will try to write my posts in terms of album reviews, first, reviewing the music itself, but then dedicating a section as to how that particular album influenced other bands in the genre and the entire span of metal itself.

I love hearing feedback. So by all means, if a particular album review, or a reference to a performance strikes a chord in your heart, please drop a comment and share a story of how you felt then and how looking back on it, how it makes you feel now. If anything, I want you, as readers, to be able to come to my blog and read a “professional” review, but also be able to connect these reviews to memories of your own. You can also expect to learn about new music you probably have not heard before, or how a group’s sound has changed over time, as so many Nu Metal bands usually do.

The goal for my blog is to shed a new light on the genre of Nu Metal. I don’t expect it to change every person’s mind and try to convince everybody that it is the greatest genre on the face of the planet, because let’s face it, it’s not. However, I would love to be able to show people how it influenced a lot of the popular hard rock and heavy metal that plays on the radio and is popular now.

But most of all, I want you to be able to come to this blog to enjoy yourself. Come here to explore, and keep an open mind to things you may not have otherwise ventured in before.