alright forte... i'm gonna try to answer your question... i'm by no means an expert (just really opinionated) and i could teach you all the music theory i know in less than 5 minutes with a guitar...

nu-metal like any other genre seems to be less about specifics and music and more about a representation of a lifestyle through the media... nu-metal wants to represent itself as something new/different than typical metal so they borrow from the last big styles in the mainstream... (dance beats / 'tortured' grunge lyrics / gangsta tough rap) then mix those elements into metal... not every band borrows as much from those 3 styles but you can usually find 2 of the 3 in most nu-metal songs...

as far as tempos go it's usually a slower than typical metal and not nearly as drilling... the beats are usually a little funkier and a little more laid back... slighty more groove and a little less pummelling (same goes for the bass)... most songs usually feature more rhythmic and stylistic changes than a typical metal song too...

the guitar parts usually feature some good dissonant counter melodies... seems like the instrument is played more like another percussive piece in the band rather than a melodic one... guitar solos are a rarity...

the soft/loud vocal styles that gained popularity with grunge still abound... most verses are spoken or mumbled or painfully pulled from their souls but the chorus is usually always screamed with great abandon and the catch line repeated at least a dozen times per chorus... the rapping comes into play as a way of propegating a tough inner city image to the band...

that's about as analitycal as i can get towards that genre... personally i'd say the best nu-metal album is fear factory's demanufacture... a little on the industrial side but probably my favorite metal album ever... one of the originators of the style at that too...

but i'm with victriol when it comes to 'new' metal i hate the term stoner rock... but that's pretty much what it is... bands like fu manchu / kyuss / queens of the stone age / nebula / monster magnet... bands that listened to more black sabbath and less iron maiden... i'd say monster magnet's 'dopes to infinity' album would be at the top of my list for that style...

good? evil? i don't really care... i just wanna smoke my pipe and play my bass...

That was one of the best explanations/descriptions of nu-metal I have seen as of yet. I couldn't have done it nearly that well. Good job, I hope he understands the difference now. If I didn't before, I would after reading that

thanks

i suppose being an opinionated analytical media student paid off hehehe... now if i could only get a 'real' job i'd be set...

lol.

...

And they don't know how to mosh, either, man......

Music is music is music.

Yeah, Music IS music, But almost all music can also be placed in a genre, no matter what. A lot of the bands someone may consider nu may also be considered good music to someone else, Nautikal, as you have pointed out. But you must also understand WHY people don't like it. When I open a magazine that has featured bands like Opeth, Venom, Morbid Angel, Dimmu Borgir... and the likes, I DON'T (on any circumstances) want to see a huge ass centerfold of Slipknot. It's crappy.

Thanks a lot Pan, but now I wonder... then how's metal? Heh. Oh well. Bump that. I don't really care anyway.