Few movements in metal have achieved the same level of commercial success or mainstream crossover as nu metal. From its roots in the late 80s and early 90s alt metal scenes to its eventual takeover of just about everything in the metal world and rapid decline the other side of the new millennium, the genre spawned some of metal’s most iconic names, from Korn to Slipknot, Evanescence to Linkin Park.
To celebrate the genre, we’ve dug beyond the surface to find out some of the best songs buried in the backpages of nu metal history.
P.O.D. – Snuff The Punk (Snuff The Punk, 1994)
P.O.D. may have hit big with 1999’s millionselling The Fundamental Elements Of Southtown and 2001’s follow-up Satellite, but they weren’t gatecrashers at the nu metal party – their debut album, Snuff The Punk, actually predated Korn’s self-titled debut by about nine months.
OK, so P.O.D. didn’t have the same impact as hearing Jonathan Davis growling ‘Are you reaaadyy…?’ over that churning Blind riff for the first time, and Snuff The Punk sounds like it was recorded in a garage for $5 and a bag of communion wafers, but the rap-metal flow and squalls of distorted guitar hold their own place in nu metal history. PT
Deftones – Damone (Around The Fur, 1997)
Those who were there will remember the trend of hidden tracks at the end of CDs back in the 90s. If you didn’t hit the stop button at the conclusion of MX, the supposed final track on Deftones’ masterful second album, you’d get a shock about half an hour later when secret song Damone kicked in.
Quite why a song of such exceptional quality didn’t make the main album remains a mystery, as Damone is as good as anthems like Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away) or My Own Summer (Shove It). Stephen Carpenter serves up a driving riff as Chino Moreno and bassist Chi Cheng trade throat-tearing screams. The band have only played it live three times in the last 20 years, but old-school fans would dearly love to hear it again. SH
Deftones – Damone – Lyrics – YouTube 
Spineshank – Grey (Strictly Diesel, 1998)
By 1998, there were already tons of also-rans in the emerging nu metal scene, making the jump to the upper echelons of an already crowded field a tough task. There were high hopes and plenty of hype surrounding LA industrial metal crew Spineshank, though, who were signed to Roadrunner Records off the back of Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares’s patronage.
While the band did experience a significant level of success, it didn’t happen until their second album, 2000’s The Height Of Callousness. This leaves Spineshank’s debut album, Strictly Diesel, something of a long-lost, electro-metal gem that’s rarely spoken about.
There are plenty of bangers, but the creeping, Deftones-style, quiet-quiet-LOUD dynamics of Grey is the record’s gold standard. In fact, frontman Jonny Santos arguably managed 1998’s most uncanny impression of Chino Moreno on the track, something he had plenty of competition for that year.
The song was a highlight of the band’s set when they came over to the UK on the Strictly Diesel run, opening for System Of A Down. They split (for a second time) in 2016, rarely playing the song during those last few years. Shame. SH
Mushroomhead – Xeroxed (M3, 1999)
Most famous as a) the masked metal band who weren’t Slipknot and b) the band who had a running feud with Corey Taylor and co, Mushroomhead actually beat their rivals out of the gate.
The Cleveland band were already on their third album by the time their Iowan nemeses released their self-titled debut, and Xeroxed stands as a terrific late-90s nu metal rager with more than a hint of death metal aggression. It resurfaced on major label compilation XX a couple of years later, but remains a cult classic. Always the bridesmaids, etc. PT
Machine Head – Five (The Burning Red, 1999)
Yeah, we’ve heard the jokes about Machine Head’s nu metal period: the rapping, the jumpsuits, the blond spiky hair, har de har! But for the all the hate The Burning Red gets, it contains one of Robb Flynn’s most powerful and vulnerable songs.
Buried at the back end of the album, Five is a furious yet haunting burst of rage that sees the frontman reliving a sexual assault he went through as a child. ‘You molest and destroy just a five-year-old boy,’ he seethes. ‘And you make me suffer, motherfucker!’ Unsurprisingly, Robb’s said he’s never going to play it live – a buried track that’ll stay buried. MM
Coal Chamber – My Mercy (Chamber Music, 1999)
With their mad hair and facial piercings, nu metal first-wavers Coal Chamber were the scene’s freak squad. Their second album saw them experimenting with their sound in an attempt to step out of the shadow of scene kings Korn and Deftones.
My Mercy had actually been written shortly after breakout single Loco, but as drummer Mikey Cox told KindaMuzik: “That song was supposed to be on the first album. But it was so different, we thought people are gonna say, ‘What the hell is this?’ But with this album we weren’t afraid to do anything.”
The orchestral sweep still sets it apart from CC’s better-known songs, with guest appearances from Human Waste Project’s Aimee Echo and Elijah Blue Allman of Deadsy. PT
Korn – Camel Song (End Of Days OST, 1999)
After The Crow’s alt rock soundtrack topped charts and earned platinum status, countless blockbusters sought to recreate that impact. Few tried as hard as Arnold Schwarzenegger vs The Devil action/horror End Of Days, which prised the first original Guns N’ Roses song in eight years out of Axl Rose (the industrial-metal misfire Oh My God).
Limp Bizkit, The Prodigy, Eminem and Rob Zombie also rocked up, but top honours went to Korn with the track that opened the album, Camel Song. Despite being unavailable on streaming services and never played live, the track presents imperial-phase Korn at their absolute best.
A haunting opening where the guitars chime and disorient breaks into a funky swagger led by Fieldy’s clackety-clack bass. Jonathan Davis brings some classic Korn vibes in the addictive hook, wailing, ‘Sometiiiiiiime! Somewheeeeeeere!’ That all-out nu metal jam during the bridge is brutally heavy, too.
Ultimately, End Of Days the movie sank without trace, and so did the soundtrack – a fate it didn’t deserve. Had it fared better, perhaps this Korn cut would enjoy its rightful, celebrated place in their back catalogue. MM
Korn – Camel Song [Lyrics Video] – YouTube ![Korn - Camel Song [Lyrics Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/04ghxtlkfW0/maxresdefault.jpg)
Kittie – Do You Think I’m A Whore (Spit, 1999)
Frontwoman Morgan Lander was just 15 when Kittie were writing their debut album, Spit. Tracks like Do You Think I’m A Whore brimmed not only with teen spirit but righteous anger at an industry and mindsets that both judged and packaged them based on their age and sex.
It was one of the heaviest, most aggressive songs on the album but, as the band evolved, it was left behind and wasn’t played live for two decades. PT
Do You Think I’m a Whore? – YouTube 
Linkin Park – By Myself (Hybrid Theory, 2000)
Picking what non-singles to play from Hybrid Theory must be like choosing favourite kids; they’re pretty much all worldies. Still, it’s a shame that By Myself has been largely left on the shelf over the past 24 years, only being dusted off by Linkin Park once since 2003 (and that was for their full playthrough of Hybrid Theory at Download in 2014, so it kinda had to be played).
By far the most unusual song on the album, it’s an off-kilter, mechanical burst of catchy, nu metal riffs, clanking, industrial samples and swathes of 90s ambient EDM. Add in a typically raw and angst-laden 2000s showing from Chester Bennington and you have a song that really should be getting more love. MA
Linkin Park – By Myself (Live In Texas) – YouTube 
Alien Ant Farm – Sticks And Stones (ANThology, 2001)
To many, Alien Ant Farm were nothing more than a teeth-grindingly wacky nu metal crew who covered Smooth Criminal and dressed up as Karate Kid characters in a music video.
Dig below the surface, though, and you’ll find that debut album ANThology is a far more subtle, emotional and nuanced record than their public image suggests. On the rarely mentioned Sticks And Stones Alien Ant Farm show what a good band they really are. A scratchy, post-hardcore riff and a fantastic part-yelped, part-crooned performance from vocalist Dryden Mitchell steals a song that has far more in common with Glassjaw than it does Crazy Town. SH
Staind – Waste (Break The Cycle, 2001)
Staind’s third album, the five-million-selling Break The Cycle, was home to the inescapable It’s Been A While. Waste took a similarly angsty approach, building from a gloomy acoustic atmosphere to a raging finale, but it remains in the shadow of that monster hit.
The sombre feel comes from the subject matter, inspired by when Aaron Lewis encountered the mother of a Staind fan who had died by suicide. “It made me feel like she wanted me to give her answers for it,” he told Rolling Stone. “I did get a little angry, but I was angry at everything – angry that he killed himself and angry that so many kids feel that’s the only way out.” PT
Slipknot – Skin Ticket (Iowa, 2001)
It feels bizarre that the nastiest, ugliest album to ever top the UK charts has buried treasure on it, but precious little of Iowa’s tracklisting has persisted in Slipknot’s sets, leaving a vault of gems for those who stick the record on in full. Of these, none are as arresting Skin Ticket.
An extended, percussive intro draws you in, before Corey Taylor pours out misanthropy for the next six minutes: ‘Cancer and people conspire together / Running and running and going forever.’ It’s actually Sid Wilson’s favourite Slipknot song. “It takes you out of your everyday world to a super-dark place,” the band’s turntablist told Revolver in 2023. MM
Slipknot – Skin Ticket (Audio) – YouTube 
Ill Nino – Liar (Revolution, Revolucíon, 2001)
Although they never reached nu metal’s top division, Ill Niño were a vital force within it. They infused their music with Latin American influences and a fiery polemic that was often lacking in a scene that tended to deal more with the personal than the political.
Debut album Revolution Revolución boasted minor hits in What Comes Around and Unreal, but album track Liar hit harder than anything else on there. The song combines lilting acoustic guitar and Latin percussion with an absolutely crushing riff. It did grace the game Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter but remains a largely overlooked gem. PT
Static-X – Speedway (NASCAR On Fox: Crank It Up, 2002)
Working on the theory that fast cars and metal go together, the NASCAR On Fox: Crank It Up compilation threw up some remarkably bonkers covers, including Slayer playing Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild and Type O Negative putting their spin on Deep Purple’s Highway Star.
Not to be outdone, Static-X recorded a version of Elvis Presley’s Speedway, originally from the King’s 1968 movie of the same name. It works surprisingly well, taking the quiff-quivering old-school rock’n’roll groove and repanelling it with that instantly recognisable electro-metal stomp. Jesus might’ve built Ministry’s hotrod, but Static-X proved they could floor the accelerator too. PT
Papa Roach – Singular Indestructible Droid (Lovehatetragedy, 2002)
Papa Roach’s career-making Infest album was a hard act to follow. Lovehatetragedy didn’t come close to its predecessor’s five million sales, but it had some great tracks, one of which was Singular Indestructible Droid. “It’s pretty wild and one of the heaviest songs we’ve written,” singer Coby Dick (as he was then known) enthused at the time.
It certainly was, with slamming riffs, a powerful vocal and some atmospheric Native American chanting thrown into the mix. It also served as a tribute to Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson, with the title spelling out S-I-D and the screamed lyrics declaring their subject to be a ‘bloody human robot’.
Singular Indestructible Droid – YouTube 
System Of A Down – Ego Brain (Steal This Album, 2002)
Is SOAD’s Steal This Album a legitimate follow-up to 2001 masterpiece Toxicity or just a hastily bundled-out collection of offcuts? Tough one to call, though it has its share of great songs: Chic ’n’ Stu, Boom, Fuck The System, all the kind of things other bands can only dream of writing.
But there’s one song that never gets its fair due – the swinging, swerving Ego Brain, which sees Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian’s voices working in perfect tandem against some warped acoustic country riffing. Serj himself certainly has a soft spot for the track. “I was listening to Ego Brain the other day,” he tells Hammer. “I don’t think we’ve ever played that live, so I was thinking how cool it’d be to do it.” SH
Crazy Town – Change (Darkhorse, 2002)
The nu metal band that all nu metal fans loved to hate, Crazy Town struggled to follow up their 2000 megahit Butterfly and platinum parent album The Gift Of Game. Follow-up Darkhorse was a relative flop, but there were some decent moments buried within the album, though, most notably Change.
It followed much the same format of slick rap-rock, with frontman Seth ‘Shifty Shellshock’ Binzer tempering a little bit of self-aggrandisement with a surprising amount of selfawareness. Given he would struggle with addiction for the rest of his life before dying this year at just 49 years old, his questioning of whether he was capable of change takes on an extra poignancy. PT
Mudvayne – Skyring (The End Of All Things To Come, 2002)
This overlooked gem from Mudvayne’s second album features a very different vibe from most of the punchy nu-math-metal material that fuelled their rise to notoriety on debut L.D. 50.
Rather than relying on technical chops and outright aggression, they lean into a funky psychedelic groove and hazy backing vocals that slowly build towards a climax of screaming and chaotic nu metal clatter. They’ve played it live just 15 times in total, though frontman Chad Gray has described it as “one of my favourite songs from The End Of All Things To Come”.
Taproot – Transparent (Poem B-Side, 2002)
When nu metal B-listers Taproot released their Besides boxset in 2018, it contained a staggering 134 alternative versions, demos and previously unreleased tracks. The one track that really stood out from this little lot was Transparent.
Dating back to the sessions for the Michigan band’s 2002 breakthrough Welcome but never making the cut, it did appear as the B-side to their biggest single, Poem, and Japanese pressings of the album, becoming the deep cut of choice for the discerning super-fan in the process. There’s good reason too; heavy, churning and utterly infectious, Transparent is the finest album reject you’ve never heard. PT
Disturbed – God Of The Mind (The Sickness, 2002 reissue)
Disturbed’s debut album, The Sickness, was packed with classics – so many that God Of The Mind didn’t make the final cut. A pity, given how great it is. This is Disturbed at their Disturbed-iest, as animalistic snarls from singer David Draiman and some ominous bass usher in three minutes of adrenalised metal.
It was eventually added to the 2002 reissue, and, later, 2011 rarities comp The Lost Children, but it remains an under-the-radar classic – it’s only been played live eight times. Let’s hope next year’s 25th anniversary tour rectifies that. MM
Disturbed – God Of The Mind [Official Audio] – YouTube ![Disturbed - God Of The Mind [Official Audio] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NLedkN-UUBA/maxresdefault.jpg)
Drowning Pool – Numb (Desensitized, 2004)
Drowning Pool, of course, will forever be known for nu metal banger Bodies. The death of frontman Dave Williams just a year later understandably derailed the band, but they did get back on the tracks quickly.
Their second album, Desensitized, featuring one-and-done replacement Jason Jones, didn’t have a Bodies but it did boast a minor hit in Step Up and some interesting moments like Numb. In common with a lot of bands of the era, they wanted to expand their horizons, and Jason helped them do so here, with a rasping wail and a song that straddled bluesy hard rock and grunge as much as it did nu metal.
Limp Bizkit – The Truth (The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1), 2005)
This largely forgotten EP saw nu metal’s most braggadocious offspring abandon the proud silliness of Chocolate Starfish… and relentless self-pity of Results May Vary for darker, more serious subject matter, with everything from abuse in the Catholic Church, to political sloganeering, to Fred Durst’s indulgence in conspiracy theories getting a look-in.
Some of it worked, some of it really didn’t, but the title track(ish) remains one of Limp Bizkit’s great unsung anthems – a heavy, propulsive rager featuring one of Wes Borland’s finest riffs and a sneering, no-nonsense showing from Fred Durst. Six years later, Limp Bizkit released their next studio album and were writing about gold cobras, sharks and waving shotguns about. It was like this whole release never happened. Shame. MA
Limp Bizkit – The Truth (Original Version) – YouTube 
Evanescence – Like You (The Open Door, 2006)
There are no Evanescence deep cuts if you’re a fan of Amy Lee and co, but Like You doesn’t have the sheer cultural reach of Bring Me To Life or My Immortal. A hauntingly beautiful song tucked away on their second album, it was written by Amy about her late sister, Bonnie, who died at the age of three.
“It’s affected my life and definitely affected my music writing, and it’s made me who I am,” she has said of the tragedy. The nearest Evanescence have ever come to playing Like You live is using a section of it as the intro to Lithium on their 2012 tour.
Incubus – While All The Vultures Feed (Monuments And Melodies, 2009)
A lot of bands would kill to have the sort of songs that Incubus have jettisoned. While All The Vultures Feed was casually included on 2009 compilation Monuments And Melodies, fully formed but entirely lacking in an origin story.
The best guess is that it stems from writing sessions for the soundtrack to Stealth – a 2005 sci-fi thriller that made one of the biggest losses in cinematic history. At least one good thing appears to have come of it, though. Mixing churning guitars, brittle melodies and a pulsing groove, While All The Vultures Feed is a fantastic if little-known song. PT
While All The Vultures Feed – YouTube 
