Nu metal

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Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal) is a subgenre of alternative metal that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal rarely features guitar solos or other displays of musical technique, and emphasizes rhythm with instrumentation that is heavily syncopated. Nu metal guitarists typically use seven-string guitars that are down-tuned to produce a heavier sound. Vocal styles are often rhythmic and influenced by hip hop, and include singing, rapping, screaming and sometimes growling. DJs are occasionally featured to provide instrumentation such as sampling, turntable scratching and electronic background music. Nu metal is one of the key genres of the new wave of American heavy metal.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, bands like Pantera, Helmet, and Faith No More were influential in the development of nu metal with their groove metal and alternative metal styles. Korn is often credited as pioneering the subgenre in the mid-1990s. Nu metal became popular in the late 1990s, with bands and artists such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot all releasing albums that sold millions of copies. Its popularity continued through the early 2000s, with bands such as Papa Roach, Staind, and P.O.D. all selling multi-platinum albums. The popularity of nu metal came to a peak with Linkin Park's diamond-selling album Hybrid Theory. By the mid-2000s, however, the oversaturation of bands combined with the underperformance of several high-profile releases led to the subgenre's decline, leading to the rise of metalcore and many nu metal bands disbanding or abandoning their established sound in favor of other genres.

The 2010s brought a nu metal revival; many bands that combined it with other genres (for example, metalcore and deathcore) emerged, and some nu metal bands from the 1990s and early 2000s returned to the nu metal sound. Bands such as Of Mice & Men, Emmure, Issues, My Ticket Home, and Bring Me the Horizon combined nu metal with metalcore or deathcore. Artists like Grimes, Poppy, and Rina Sawayama integrated nu metal sounds into electronic pop music in the late 2010s and early 2020s, and interest in nu metal rose in the early 2020s.