From Ashes to New and Point North are top of the class in a new cohort of nu-metal bands.
As someone who discovered music in the early aughts, I cut my teeth on acts like Linkin Park and P.O.D. That rock-meets-rap fusion once demarcated a cultural moment, the turn of the millennia caught in amber. But in recent years, we’ve started to see a resurgence that makes it impossible to pin a stand-out nu-metal track to 20 years ago. Machine Gun Kelly is just one example of the genre-bending that has once again led playlists.
From Ashes to New is a band whose career began in the lag between nu-metal heydays. Their sprawling two-leg Blackout Tour is proof that they’ve just been biding their time, waiting for a moment of resonance like this one. I caught their tour stop in Denver, with support from fellow nu-metal freshmen Point North and tech rapper Ekoh. The ferocious delivery of the night’s material was proof that everything old is new again.
And truly, this is not simply a retread of old ground: both From Ashes to New and Point North are serving up fresh takes on old templates. The nu-metal of today is slicker, more electronic, darkly dystopian. Whether delivered in three piece format (Point North) or as a full five piece including two lead vocalists (From Ashes to New), both bands relied heavily on the augmentation of programmed tracks that wove seamlessly in and out of their performance. From Ashes to New wore stage clothes and makeup that translated their post-apocalyptic soundscape to the visual realm.
Each of the artists also delivered their own take of another core tenet of nu-metal: confessional lyrics, slammed against the stage, shattering on impact. Even Ekoh’s tracks, though framed in a style that often slips towards frivolity, were scathingly soul-searching. What does it look like when we blackout, individually or societally? Each artist answered in their own way.
Overall, I left the room with the deep satisfaction of knowing that the future of the nu-metal genre is here— and it’s in good hands.
from ashes to new
Point north
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