Nu-Metalcore
Located in 2 routes
Nu-metalcore welds metalcore's chugging two-step breakdowns and screamed/clean trade-offs to the bounce, groove and texture of late-'90s nu-metal. Detuned seven- and eight-string riffs sit low and rubbery over syncopated, hip-hop-inflected mid-tempo grooves (~90-150 BPM), often with pinched harmonics, dissonant slides and DJ-style ambient samples. Vocals swing from guttural lows and shrieks to half-rapped, spoken or Deftones-style crooned passages drenched in reverb. The mood is anxious, claustrophobic and emotionally raw, the production bass-heavy and modern, breakdowns delivering nu-metal swagger rather than pure hardcore aggression.
History
Nu-metalcore crystallized in the late 2010s as a generation raised on Korn, Deftones and Slipknot folded that DNA back into metalcore's breakdown grammar. Emmure's downtuned 'Look at Yourself' (2017) and Vein.fm's chaotic 'Errorzone' (2018) pushed nu-metal bounce into metallic hardcore, while UK band Loathe's Deftones-worshipping 'I Let It In and It Took Everything' (2020) gave the style its ethereal, atmospheric blueprint and Chino Moreno's public blessing. Spiritbox merged it with djent, Tallah and Sanguisugabogg leaned into groove and shock, and Wage War's 'Manic' (2021) brought it to the metalcore mainstream. Labels like SharpTone, Closed Casket Activities and Pale Chord/Rise anchored a scene that turned a once-mocked sound into the dominant young-metalcore current of the 2020s.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Wikipedia: Errorzone (Vein.fm), I Let It In and It Took Everything (Loathe), Eternal Blue (Spiritbox)
- Kerrang! and Revolver coverage of the nu-metal revival / nu-metalcore wave (2018-2022)
- MetalSucks / Loudwire feature pieces on Loathe, Vein.fm and Wage War's 'Manic'