When I look back at the last twenty years, there is perhaps no more important musical entity in my life than England’s EARACHE RECORDS (srs). Back when I was a little kid on a quest to find the fastest, most cock-smashingly brutal music I could get my hands on, I stumbled across a copy of the legendary Grindcrusher compilation, and I’ve been hooked on death metal ever since. As my gateway to metal, Earache will always have a special place in my heart– and when you care for someone as I do for Earache, it hurts to see them lose their way, stumble, and fall as Earache did in the 90s and 00s. I had written them off as yet another band/label/artist who has a brief moment of brilliance, burns brightly, then fizzles out before dying in undignified circumstances [via Vincent Van Gogh]. But I am happy to report that I couldn’t be more wrong! Earach is back on the horse, stronger than ever, and signing more relevant, exciting bands than ever (srs).

In this post, I will briefly recap the label’s history in three sections to bring newer readers up to speed on Nottingham’s finest export. I will then share my thoughts on their current signings and solicit suggestions on which bands the label should sign next– hopefully Dig is reading!

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As you are probably well aware, our favorite punching bag, Vince Neil, is heading to the pokey on February 15 for not knowing how to hold his booze and/or drop his car keys. But did you know he is also in trouble for not knowing how to file a 1040 tax form? Seems Vince forgot to mail in those pesky $1.1 million tax dollars last year. Oops!

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Unless you count current metalcore bands with a wiggerish slant (Emmure, Winds of Plague, Acacia Strain, etc.), the genre of nu-metal is all but dead. Once a nearly-unstoppable juggernaut of Kikwear pants, eyebrow piercings, and chinstrap beards, today it is but a dessicated husk, barely clinging to life. At its peak, nu-metal filled the airwaves coast-to-coast, but these days you’re most likely to hear it on a beat up boombox in the corner of a windowless basement printshop or third-rate auto parts store on the outskirts of town.

While the tastes of fickle music consumers may have changed, nu-metal has never sounded better. Many kids these days are too young to have experienced this unique genre the first time around, so I figured I would share some of nu-metal’s best artists that fly a little under the radar of current tastemakers — I’ll skip the big names that we all know (Korn, Kid Rock, Bizkit) and focus on the unsung heroes. And mark my words, you’ll see indie rockers ironically listening to hed(pe) within the next few years!

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Adema are the latest nu-metal to reunite in hopes of cashing in on barely decade-old nostalgia. They’ll play their first show in over five years at the Whiskey in LA on January 14, which, hey, uninteresting fact, happens to be the anniversary of my bar mitzvah.

Anyways, if you don’t remember this band, well, consider yourself lucky. The most notable thing about them is that their singer, Marky Chavez, is the half-brother of Korn’s Jonathan Davis (or something like that). They were definitely a last-generation nu-metal band – they got big in 2001ish, right around the time the American New Wave was starting its ascent to popularity – but I guess someone needs to be the first support act for the inevitable Korn/Limp Bizkit summer shed tour, right?

Anyways, here’s one of their videos. Don’t even bother watching it – I just thought this post looked too bare with no graphic or non-written content of any kind.

-AR

As ’90s nu-metal nostalgia reaches its peak (I FUCKING CALLED IT!), the parade of cash-grab nu-metal reunions continues. Joining the ranks of Limp Bizkit, E-Town Concrete, Crazytown, Snot, Cold, Slaves on Dope, and other terrible ear-raping bands I’m surely forgetting, TuneLab.com is reporting that Adema are reuniting and releasing a new DVD. Adema was never really known for much other from a) sucking, b) lead singer Marky Chavez being the half-brother of Korn’s Jonathan Davis. A guy I know once referred to Adema as “Pop-Korn” in casual conversation, and that’s pretty much the most hilarious / accurate thing that could ever be uttered about the band. Not to imply that Korn are genre-bending revolutionaries or anything… but, ya know.

Here’s Adema’s music video for “The Way You Like It” in case you need to be reminded of just how awful they were. I’d completely forgotten about this song… for the better.

At least American Head Charge just called it quits.

-VN