Nu metal is a melting pot of genres, just as America is (supposed to be) a melting pot of cultures. As such, nu metal has never been a purely white man's game, with elements of hip-hop, funk, and R&B in its bone marrow. Rock and roll itself is Black at its core, and anyone who is claiming otherwise does not know their history, or is so far up a certain Memphis king's ass that they're too far gone.
As we close the books on Black History Month this year, let's take a look at some of the unapologetic Black excellence in this nu world of ours, from its late Eighties roots to the newest fruit.
Rage Against The Machine - "Guerrilla Radio"
"Guerrilla Radio" is the second track off of Rage Against The Machine's 1999 album The Battle Of Los Angeles, being their only song to chart on Billboard's Hot 100. It also lead them to their second Grammy win.
One thing that people notice when they listen to Rage Against The Machine is the guitar and its extremely unique distortions. In one part of "Guerrilla Radio," listeners will hear what sounds like... a harmonica?
Except when they go to watch the music video, they discover the harmonica they were hearing was actually a wah pedal.
This is the work of Tom Morello, guitarist, Harvard poli-sci graduate, and outspoken activist. Over the decades Morello found increasingly unconventional ways to make music, being the inventor of the famous "Arm The Homeless" Frankenstein-esque guitar made of used parts from various bargain bins.
In the past, Morello has opened up about the prejudice he and other Black people in the rock scene struggle with, some of which continue to this very day. In an NME interview, he stated:
There’s a large subset of the audience that is shocked and upset when they hear me talk about self-identifying as black. They’re one step short of offended but I’m Kenyan, dude. I’m straight-up, Africa black. It’s not always a malicious prejudice but there is that ingrained prejudice in the DNA of rock, despite the fact it was invented by black people.
Rage Against The Machine has been vocal on issues the Black community suffer even outside the music scene, such as name-dropping figures such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, a currently-incarcerated journalist and political activist in "Guerrilla Radio."
Sound off Mumia gwan be free / Who gottem yo check the federal file / All you pen devils know the trial was vile
Which is to be expected. It's Rage Against The Machine, after all.
-Rosie D'Aiuto
Sevendust - "Black"
While the chorus of "I'm minding my own business, I'm doing nothing wrong" sounds like a milquetoast take on the state of things through the modern lens, it is actually something far more powerful. The song isn't explicitly about racism, but just as it was with Night of the Living Dead some three decades prior, the meaning isn't lost on the creators, nor is that reading discredited whatsoever. It isn't a dismissal of conflict, but rather an examination into its necessity. If people stayed in their lanes a little more and focused on themselves, perhaps we'd be in a better place. In the sociopolitical world we're in, with bathroom bills, ICE raids, and egregious oversight, this message is sadly very pertinent even now.
What is especially shocking is that this song, which has since become a signature track for the band, almost didn't make the final cut for their 1997 self-titled debut album. When producer and Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French, who was also part of the band's label TVT Records told the band that "Black" was the strongest track of the bunch, guitarist John Connolly thought he was "fucking with us." Turns out the man behind licensing the hair metal giants was onto something, as the track helped Sevendust's first LP break records for the mostly hip hop-oriented label they were on, setting them on course to be one of the brightest stars of the 2000s alt-metal explosion.
-Lucia Z. Liner
Loathe - "Screaming"
Deftones worship is all the rage in the year of our lord 2026. When Loathe released I Let It in And It Took Everything in 2020, it was unheard of. Loathe are the architects, and the band who can most likely be attributed with revitalizing the interest in that sound. As it pertains to this new era, Loathe did it first, they did it best, and goddammit, nobody’s topped it since.
Where I Let It In and It took Everything excels, and where all others falter, is the ways in which the band evolves the sound. Plenty can release a Deftones song, yeah, but Loathe crafts their love into something entirely their own. That concept is explored perhaps most in-depth in one of the album’s highlights: "Screaming" . A combo of intricately paced drums from Sean Radcliffe, chunky riffs from Erik Bickerstaffe that have just the right amount of fuzz, and a pumping bassline from Feisal El-Khazragi lay down an atmosphere for vocalist Kadeem France to soar through, peaking in high cleans in the songs chorus and barrelling through the harsh sections surrounding with ease. "Screaming" feels like a dance, one that invites you to float alongside the band, before landing swiftly onto a pillowy piano outro, carrying you into the title track.
Loathe is one of the most influential nu acts of the modern age, and it’s easy to see why. "Screaming" showcases the band at their absolute tightest, a highlight amongst highlights and a shining star that many revival acts look to to find their path.
-Sam Owens
UnityTX - "ROC SH!T"
The Dallas/Fort Worth metro area is rapidly emerging as a hotspot in the nu-metal revival, with multiple bands making it to this list and making a genuine marriage of underground hip-hop and metal look better than it ever has. Leading the charge is Dallas’s UnityTX, and 2023 single “ROC SH!T” is a hell of a mission statement, blending trap-influenced drum patterns with uncompromisingly brutal hardcore riffs and triplet-flow roars from frontman Jay Webster. The band has been through hell and a half to get here, grinding its way through DIY scenes since 2014, with Webster writing most of the band’s 2019 Madboy EP while homeless. In a 2023 interview with Metal Hammer, the vocalist says that one of his main motivations for pushing through is to carve out space for people of color in a heavy music scene that preaches acceptance but doesn’t live up to the ideal:
My whole motive was to open the door for kids who look like me. It’s alienating to be in a circle of people who claim to be outcasts but don’t accept you being there. And once you speak out on things like this, you start to get more naysayers - people are like, ‘Why does it have to be about colour?’ Well, because wherever you look there are no Black or Hispanic people!
“ROC SH!T” is a song that demands respect and accepts nothing less–when Webster ends the song with a venomous “So suck my fuckin’ dick, I know my worth,” it’s earned in a way a lot of early nu metal braggadocio just never was. These guys have worked their asses off to get here, and aren’t taking no for an answer. With a second full-length album, Somewhere, In Between… dropping on March 14th, these guys aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
- Gabi Brown
Skindred - "Kill The Power"
In a time where bands were fusing metal with rap, funk, and jazz, Skindred stood out with their reggae influence. Frontman Benji Webbe brings his cultural heritage to the music he makes. He was born in Wales, but his parents were both from the Carribean. Their debut album Babylon brought them success with their single "Nobody" in 2005, as well as touring alongside Korn. It even topped the Billboard Top Reggae Albums chart. Sometimes though, it feels as if Skindred get forgotten about in the nu metal conversation. However, in 2023, "Nobody" gained traction again almost two decades later thanks to a TikTok dance trend. It's nice to see the younger generations rediscovering this unique group.
Kill The Power is the band's fifth studio album, coming out in early 2014. The album artwork features a Black power fist and Pan-African flag colors (red, yellow, and green). Webbe had this to say about the album:
"Kill The Power is for all them that are sick of being the underdog, and wanna step up and destroy all those who oppress and hold them down! Use this album as a backdrop to overcome and take your life back! We ain’t fighting the power no more – we are definitely killing it!!"
-Alex Cross
(hed)p.e. - "Serpent Boy"
Sometimes the celebration and jubilation needs to give way to rage. "Serpent Boy" from (hed)p.e.'s 1997 self-titled album is just that. The progenitors of "G-punk," a mix of reggae, gangsta rap, and hard rock call out dick riding and disrespect in equal measure, as MC Underdog spits bars and truths, at least those not of the 9/11 conspiracy variety (not yet, anyway).
It's a song that, for all of its Nineties flourishes and faults, has aged rather well in this instant-gratification-happy age of social media. Hey, it got Dee Snider's attention, to the point where it was used on the soundtrack of his headtrip of a horror film Strangeland, meaning that it wasn't just Jay Jay French and his TVT Records venture that dabbled in nu metal post-Twisted Sister.
Just one question, though... what on God's green is a "skeezah" and how can one be on one' dick?
-Lucia Z. Liner
Body Count - "No Lives Matter"
Body Count is one of those bands that have always stood on business. Their debut album came out in 1992 featured the highly controversial track "Cop Killer", which was written in response to the rampant police brutality that Black people faced. Over two decades since that song was released, the corruption of the police force only became more widespread thanks to the rise of social media and incidents such as the murder of Eric Garner.
Body Count released "No Lives Matter", in reference to Black Lives Matter, as the first single from their 2017 album Bloodlust. In the song, Ice-T opens with a monologue critiquing people who combat the Black Lives Matter movement by saying "all lives matter". The rest of the song then goes on to say that Black lives, as well as other oppressed groups such as other people of color and poor people, have never been treated like they've mattered. Quite the opposite, in fact. The track is also a call to arms for people to work together in order to enact change in society. Other songs featured on this album include "Civil War" and "Black Hoodie". Even in the years since Bloodlust came out, the band has continued with their political messaging with songs such as "Point the Finger" and "Bum-Rush" on 2020's Carnivore.
Most recently, Ice-T and Body Count have revitalized "Cop Killer" in response to the ICE raids which have resulted in the murders of citizens such as Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti.
-Alex Cross
Empty Shell Casing - "Grasp"
Being seen as a musician in an unaccepting or even hateful community is hard, and this definitely applies to the hardcore scene. It can seem sometimes that everyone has a target on your back, especially for people of color. I feel like it is my job, as someone who frequents hardcore spaces, to give my field reports about the good as much as the bad and fixable.
That being said, Empty Shell Casing really deserves the attention of the masses. Comparing the band to there contemporaries just wouldn't do them justice. Empty Shell Casing, while isn't the first nu metal band in the hardcore subgenre, really does something unique. From the merch paying homage to horrorcore rapper Necro, grainy Headbangers Ball-styled videos, to nonconformist lyrics. It's so hard to put them in a mold, as ESC are wholly there own thing.
When I first heard "Grasp," I think I knew this band was going to make 2026 their year. Maybe I'm reading into things that aren't there, but "Grasp" is a giant middle finger to critics. It can be interpreted as much about an ex-friend as much as shedding internalized, personal self-hatred.
The lyrics that stick out the most, though:
"Oh, I don't wanna be stuck in this scheme (Scheme) /
Happens time and time again, I get stuck in this scheme (Scheme)"
-rosiegothicc
MC Taya - "NERDS&NOIAS"
Brazil gave us Max Cavalera, who absolutely should be celebrated for all he's done for the nu world. But if he is the king of Brazilian heavy music, MC Taya should be crowned queen. Bars, belts, and barks all populate this song, which is as nu metal as it gets, from moment one's record scratching and harmonic-laden riffing in drop B. Her effortless swagger and seamless vocal transitions leave so much to be loved here, and if you don't speak Portuguese, her flow is one hell of a listen, even setting the instrumentation to one side.
Plus, I dunno, seeing a Black Brazilian woman with white boy posse in tow just hits a level of "yas queen" that I didn't think possible.
-Lucia Z. Liner
InDharma - "Pêndulo"
As hype as I am to see nu metal becoming a site of cross-pollination between underground hip-hop and hardcore scenes, we’ve got to stop and acknowledge that the Latin American underground has been ahead of the curve for years. São Paulo crossover act InDharma may have one EP to their name, and is currently on an indefinite hiatus, but that 2024 release is so full of ideas it demands a listen, bouncing effortlessly between drill, high-octane bounce riffs, and Brazilian pop rock by way of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. by Incubus. One of the most unforgettable moments on the album is the track “Pêndulo,” which I gave a nod to in our 2024 Agendy Awards for “Best Linkin Park Song” in a year that included an honest-to-goodness Linkin Park comeback.
Here’s the thing, though: “Pêndulo” is just that good. The band approaches the power ballad with a tight, no-nonsense zeal that gave Hybrid Theory and Meteora their lightning-in-a-bottle energy, backed up by legitimately massive string and vocal samples. Twin emcees Rappa Nui and Nego Max have absolutely electrifying chemistry on the mic, the former dropping some titanic full-throated choruses and the latter contributing some incredibly hooky rapid-fire verses. “Pêndulo” at its core is an ode to resilience–both emcees talk about life in its ups and downs as a swinging pendulum they’ve learned to ride, and the meaning they’ve found in curiosity and struggle. Nego Max repeats “I wasn’t born ready, life prepares me” like a mantra, projecting confidence and strength while acknowledging the challenges and inviting listeners to join in a shared struggle. We might not get another release from this group, but we are so incredibly lucky to have something like this in the world.
- Gabi Brown
Dropout Kings - "Yokai"
Black Cat Bill is a monster. I remember seeing this band open for Otep on her KULT45 tour in 2018, at a nothing music bar in Findlay, OH, and I was blown away by the energy BCB and Adam Ramey (gods rest his soul) brought with their band. The title track from their latest album Yokai is all Bill, celebrating his blerdiness (that's Black nerdiness, for the uninitiated) with his whole chest. While this particular song is more hip-hop than metal, Bill's energy is punk, it's rock and roll, and I can confirm from firsthand experience that it's infectious.
For those who insist on something heavier, though, try out "Bad Day" and I double dog dare you not to yell along with "fuck a 9 to 5."
-Lucia Z. Liner
Ho99o9 - "Christopher Dorner"
Ho99o9 are about contradictions. Their no-holds-barred approach to mixing rap, rock, and techno has long surveyed the absurdities inherent in hip-hop and American culture at large. "Christopher Dorner," released on June 19—a date already rife with meaning and, sadly, controversy—is a prime example of Ho99o9 confronting these contradictions head on. Invoking the tale of Christopher Dorner—a retired LAPD who killed three officers, the daughter of a police captain, and wounded three others after being fired for reporting the use of excessive for before ultimately taking his own life in a burning cabin during a police shootout—the track dissects the ambivalent experience of being Black in America. Opening with "You told my country lies, and you told me that I should fight / I put my trust in you and you led me to the fire / I got a taste for revenge tonight and nobody gonna leave alive," the song posits Dorner's tragic story, when viewed in its simplest terms, was likely doomed from the start.
But the track isn't just about Dorner. It's release on Juneteenth in the tumultuous summer of 2020 should make that obvious. The track calls for the entire system to be razed to the ground. Dorner's situation is merely a microcosm of the ways systemic racism bolsters capitalism and those who only care about power. More, by highlighting Dorner's story, the track also questions our own complicity in these very systems. It's a bleak, but necessary examination.
And yet, Ho99o9 know none of that matters if they can't get the crowd moving. Built on a raucous punk riff, the track explodes with energy and excitement. "Christopher Dorner" is easily the groups most successful synthesis of rock and rap up to that point. The guitars punch and punctuate the flows, giving the strong vocal performances an added edge. Rarely have Ho99o9 sounded so dangerous. It's no wonder megastars like Corey Taylor, Travis Barker, and Saul Williams would soon take note.
Sleep Theory - "Static"
Cullen Moore might have dubious luck with E-bikes, but damn if he isn't one of the most accomplished and exciting frontmen in modern heavy music. "Static" is anthemic, driving, and instantly catchy, making it perfect TikTok trend fodder. Moore refers to overstimulation and excess noise when talking about the titular static, a feeling no doubt amplified by his time in the Army. It is cutting through this that sits at the heart of nu metal, and as a Black veteran, Moore has quite the perspective on everything going on, and the voice to put his opinions forth.
Furthermore, the synths in this track are bound to get stuck in the listener's head after the first listen or two, burrowing this dance-metal banger deeper into the conscious.
-Lucia Z. Liner
Fire From The Gods — “Excuse Me”
Released in 2016, years before the murder of George Floyd would once again force conversations about racial injustice into the global spotlight, Fire From The Gods introduced their debut full-length Narrative with “Excuse Me” as an early defining statement of intent.
The track confronts themes long embedded in the lived experience of Black Americans: systemic racism, abuse of authority, and structural inequality. It channels the psychological weight of navigating institutions historically built to surveil, criminalize, and marginalize.
Through AJ Channer’s commanding delivery, the chorus lands with sustained urgency:
“I can’t walk this road forever / And I can’t forget the past / My soul is under pressure / And it’s killing me.”
Within the context of Black History Month, its message reads as chillingly prescient — not because it predicted a singular tragedy, but because it articulated an ongoing cycle whose most visible flashpoints, like those that would erupt four years later, remain part of a repeating pattern rather than isolated events.
The song’s closing moments sharpen that confrontation into a direct address:
“Excuse me, Mr. Officer, come out of my sector / No need to stress ya, no need for vex ya.”
Here, the language of politeness is repurposed into restrained defiance — a rhetorical pivot that encapsulates the track’s broader stance: resistance without surrender, confrontation without dehumanization.
-Diego Diaz Orellana
Filth - "Chin Check"
Released three years ago, "Chin Check" is a single by Filth, who combines hip-hop, nu metal, and deathcore to create their sound. Filth hails out of Shelby, NC and came to be in 2015 as a collaborative project between Black vocalist Dustin Mitchell and gutarist David Gantt.
"Chin Check" is the seventh track off of their 2024 studio album Southern Hostility. A confirmed headphone-rattler, Filth does not disappoint when it comes to making music that's as heavy as a neutron star and has the power to wind anyone up no matter what mood they're in.
"Me and my cat just started a fight with my neighbor and his dog," a commenter said under their official music video.
-Rosie D'Aiuto
Magnolia Park - "Shallow"
In hindsight, the success of "Shallow" should have come as no surprise. Showcasing Magnolia Park's moody mix of goth, metalcore, and R&B, the track makes the pain of a failed relationship raw and sexy in a way few up-and-coming bands could even hope to pull off. Musically and lyrically, lead vocalist Joshua Roberts takes center stage throughout the song's shifts. While certain numetal(core) acts can sound a bit stuck in the early 2000s when it comes to their MC's, Roberts succeed handily in bringing a modern sense of style and swagger to their vocals. The guitars hit plenty hard, but Roberts hits just a bit harder. The melodicism on display from Roberts, ably supported by some nice synth work, is what really sets this track apart.
The song is such a vibe, it's easy to miss the dark undercurrent of self-loathing in the pre-chorus. It takes skill to head into a chorus with "I hate myself more than you know / You know I had to let you go" and come off looking like a whiney fuckboy. Easy to imagine a certain Canadian child-actor-turned-rapper drowning that line in self-pity. In the hands of Magnolia Park, it's achingly self-aware. On paper, this whole thing could have been a second-rate fuckboy anthem. Magnolia Park make it soar.
-Drew Davis
FEVER333 - "Higher Power"
FEVER 333, fiercely fronted by Jason Aalon Butler, has been in the business of uplifting Black people in the scene since the early days of the nu metal “revival” (though we all know it never really left). The love the band preaches is potent, and nowhere is that more true than on their smash single “Higher Power” off their 2024 comeback record Darker White.
The song’s lyrics flip the title into a double meaning, rallying people of all shapes and colors to own the higher power and “give it to them,” emphasizing the need for resistance against oppressive authority. In the verses, Butler makes it clear that he aims to speak alongside all people, shouting out his support for Black people as well as immigrants, brown people, Asian people, and transgender people. Two years later, that intersectional support remains as crucial as ever to keep bringing the higher power of the people straight to the top.
The ability to package such a wide-reaching message of love and solidarity into under three minutes while still making an all-cylinders banger is something that should be studied. Someone else might have to take that on, though; I think I feel a FEVER coming…
-Charlotte King
