Nu 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.
Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, bassist Mike D'Antonio, and drummer Justin Foley. Howard Jones was the band's lead vocalist from 2002 to 2012.
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group, and is known for its public protests against gay people and for its usage of the phrases "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers". It also engages in hate speech against atheists, Jews, Muslims, transgender people, and other Christian denominations. The WBC's theology and practices are widely condemned by other Christian churches, including the Baptist World Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention, and by politicians and public figures, including former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual transgression".
Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, that originated in the late 1980s. Metalcore is noted for its use of breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages conducive to moshing, while other defining instrumentation includes heavy and percussive pedal point guitar riffs and double bass drumming. Vocalists in the genre typically perform screaming; more popular bands often combine this with the use of standard singing, usually during the bridge or chorus of a song. However, the death growl is also a popular technique within the genre.
Calculating Infinity is the debut studio album by American metalcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan. Recorded at Trax East Recording Studio in South River, New Jersey, it was produced by engineer Steve Evetts with the band's guitarist Ben Weinman and drummer Chris Pennie, and released on September 28, 1999, by Relapse Records. Calculating Infinity is the band's only full-length album to feature original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, who left the band in 2001.
Atreyu is an American metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California, formed in 1998. The band's current line-up consists of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, and bassist and unclean vocalist Marc "Porter" McKnight.
The Acacia Strain is an American deathcore band that was founded in 2001 and originally based in Chicopee, Massachusetts, but now based in Albany, New York. The group is currently signed to Rise Records and initially consisted of high school friends Vincent Bennett, Christopher Daniele, and Ben Abert, Karrie Whitfield, Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz, and Daniel Daponde joining shortly after. They recorded and released their debut album ...And Life Is Very Long in 2002 via Devil's Head records. Since then, the band has released eleven more full-length albums.
Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with metalcore/hardcore elements seen in the 1990s, deathcore itself emerged in the early 2000s and gained prominence beginning in the mid-2000s within the southwestern United States, especially Arizona and inland southern California, which are home to many notable bands and various festivals.
Between the Buried and Me is the debut studio album by American progressive metalcore band Between the Buried and Me. It was produced by Jamie King and was released on April 30, 2002 through Lifeforce Records.
Jane Doe is the fourth studio album by American metalcore band Converge, released on September 4, 2001 by Equal Vision Records. The album was produced by Matthew Ellard alongside guitarist Kurt Ballou, and the artwork was designed by lead vocalist Jacob Bannon. It was the band's first album to feature bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller, and the last to feature guitarist Aaron Dalbec; Converge's line-up has remained stable since.
Axe to Fall is the seventh studio album by American metalcore band Converge, released on October 19, 2009, by Epitaph Records. It is the band's most collaborative album, featuring a number of guest musicians, including members of Cave In and Genghis Tron and Steve Von Till of Neurosis, who performs lead vocals on the slow, Tom Waits-esque track "Cruel Bloom". The album was produced by guitarist Kurt Ballou, and the artwork was created by vocalist Jacob Bannon.
Attila is an American metalcore band from Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 2005. Known for their rap and nu metal musical influences, they have released eight full-length albums since their inception.
The Divinity of Purpose is the sixth studio album by American metalcore band Hatebreed. The album was released in North America on January 29, 2013, through Razor & Tie and in Europe on January 25, 2013, through Nuclear Blast Records. The album was co-produced by Hatebreed, Zeuss and Josh Wilbur. According to band frontman Jamey Jasta, the album will be "all pit, no shit." On November 12, 2012, the group debuted a track from the album titled "Put It to the Torch" on YouTube.
Wrongdoers is the sixth studio album by American metalcore band Norma Jean. The album was released on August 6, 2013, and is the band's second release through Razor & Tie. It is the first album to feature guitarist Jeff Hickey, bassist John Finnegan and drummer Clayton Holyoak, and the last album with longtime guitarist Chris Day. Wrongdoers garnered critical acclamation by music critics at such publications as Alternative Press, Decibel, Exclaim! and Revolver Magazine, and sold 8,340 copies in its first week.
Christopher Joseph Fronzak, also known as Fronz or Fronzilla, is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist and founding member of the metalcore/rap metal band Attila. Aside from his work in Attila, he is also the manager of record label Stay Sick Recordings and clothing line Stay Sick Threads.
Guilty Pleasure is the sixth studio album by American metalcore band Attila. The album was released on November 24, 2014, through Artery Recordings and is the band's fourth and final release on the label. This album is also the last album to feature rhythm guitarist, Nate Salameh, who appeared on their four previous full-length releases and left shortly before the album release and only appeared in the music video of the song "Proving Grounds" but not "Hate Me" and "Rebel".
Beating a Dead Horse is the debut studio album by YouTube comedian Jarrod Alonge, self-released on May 26, 2015. The album features seven different fictitious bands created by Alonge to satirize the tropes and characteristics of alternative music genres such as metalcore, post-hardcore, pop punk, emo, progressive metal, hardcore punk and others.
Westboro Baptist Church carries out daily picketing in Topeka, Kansas, and travels nationally to picket the funerals of gay victims of crimes or anti-gay attacks, as well as those of people who have died from complications related to AIDS. It also pickets other events related or peripherally related to homosexuality. It is the protesting of military funerals that led to the organization receiving much attention for its small size. Protests done by Westboro Baptist Church are characterized by defacement of the American flag, hate speech said by members to onlookers, and members holding signs with predominantly homophobic and anti-American statements.
