912. Hybrid Theory

Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
2000

Tracks
1. Papercut
2. One Step Closer
3. With You
4. Points Of Authority
5. Crawling
6. Runaway
7. By Myself
8. In the End
9. A Place for My Head
10. Forgotten
11. Cure for the Itch
12. Pushing Me Away

This might be the most early 2000-sounding album we've had so far. I can sort of see the appeal of blasting this and giving into the angst. But every song sounds the same.

Which makes it difficult to select a favorite track, but I suppose I would choose "Runaway." After an artist commits suicide, every creation they made takes on a different meaning. But metal music always sounds like a cry for help to me anyway, so listening to this didn't generate much insight for me.

Hopefully we will get back to some good music soon, it has been pretty brutal lately. At least this was short.

RATING: 2/5

909. Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water

Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water
Limp Bizkit
2000

Tracks
1. Intro
2. Hot Dog
3. My Generation
4. Full Nelson
5. My Way
6. Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)
7. Livin' It Up
8. The One
9. Getcha Groove On
10. Take A Look Around
11. It'll Be OK
12. Boiler
13. Hold On
14. Rollin' (Urban Assault Vehicle)
15. Outro

God that was annoying. I know Limp Bizkit has a lot of competition in the irritating metal department, but he outshined everybody with his "Outro," which consists of Ben Stiller laughing for no apparent reason. Maybe they asked him if he wanted to contribute to a Limp Bizkit album, and recorded his response.

I suppose "Hold On" was bearable, but the rest of the album was consistently obnoxious. It's rap metal, so I really didn't expect anything else. I think this has been removed from subsequent editions of the List, if that makes anybody feel better.

At least we have Radiohead right after this to cleanse our palates.

RATING: 2/5

887. Slipknot

Slipknot
Slipknot
1999

Tracks
1. 742617000027
2. Sic
3. Eyeless
4. Wait and Bleed
5. Surfacing
6. Spit It Out
7. Tattered and Torn
8. Me in Side
9. Liberate
10. Prosthetics
11. No Life
12. Diluted
13. Only One
14. Scissors

Another heavy metal album, and by now I am certain I have nothing new to say about the genre. I don't think Slipknot has anything new to say either.

Just one more metal album that is a relentless onslaught of noise and yelling, where you can't distinguish one track from the next. Now, I know there are subgenres of metal: Thrash, death, and whatever other ugly word they manage to incarnate. I guess they are blending a lot of those, to make a really unpleasant nu metal album. Hurray for innovation.

Should be avoided at all costs.

RATING: 1/5

884. Make Yourself

Make Yourself
Incubus
1999

Tracks
1. Privilege
2. Nowhere Fast
3. Consequence
4. The Warmth
5. When It Comes
6. Stellar
7. Make Yourself
8. Drive
9. Clean
10. Battlestar Scralatchtica
11. I Miss You
12. Pardon Me
13. Out From Under

Another nu metal album, but this one is slightly more accessible than the other albums of this genre on the List. This likely means that metal fans despise this album, and see it as some sort of artistic compromise. 

But it does make it more bearable, if not particularly remarkable. It is very much of its time, not at all complex, and nowhere near as annoying as other metal entries on the List. 

I am not really sure who the intended audience is supposed to be. Like I said, it is probably too mainstream-friendly for true metal heads, and normies will think it is too metal influenced for their taste. So it just kinds of sits in the middle. 

RATING: 3/5

877. Follow the Leader

Follow the Leader
Korn
1998

Tracks
1. It's On
2. Freak On A Leash
3. Got The Life
4. Dead Bodies Everywhere
5. Children Of The Korn
6. BBK
7. Pretty
8. All In The Family
9. Reclaim My Place
10. Justin
11. Seed
12. Cameltosis
13. My Gift To You
14. Earache My Eye

So we are currently just ping-ponging from nu metal to electronica, which in my opinion are the only two radio stations in hell. Hopefully, someone like Nick Cave will come along soon and remind us that other styles of music exist.

Korn is bearable sometimes. Surprisingly (based on the title), my favorite track was "Dead Bodies Everywhere." Most of the time, though, they were incredibly obnoxious and immature, with braindead lyrics and generic thrash tracks.

I would imagine even people who liked a few of these songs would find an hour and ten minutes of this style of music wearing. 

RATING: 2/5

873. System of a Down

System of a Down
System of a Down
1998

Tracks
1. Suite-Pee
2. Know
3. Sugar
4. Suggestions
5. Spiders
6. DDevil
7. Soil
8. War?
9. Mind
10. Peephole
11. Cubert
12. Darts
13. P.L.U.C.K.

Ugh more metal. This is nu-metal, which distinguishes itself by blending other styles together. But metal has such a, um, shall we say, strong personality? It still retains its texture even if you throw in other elements. And I just hate this particular texture.

My distaste for this style of music is painstakingly documented on this blog, so I won't harp on it too much. I guess these guys did get political in their lyrics, which certainly makes it more interesting. Of course, it was very difficult to discern what they were saying.

In the end, I find it amounts to the same thing, whether it wants to call itself nu metal, old metal, or thrash metal: headache-inducing noise. 

RATING: 2/5