The ‘00s were a wild time. Razr flip phones. MySpace Top 8’s. Shrek. Paris and Perez Hilton. Limp Bizkit and Korn showing up on MTV’s TRL to the same frenzied fan reaction as freakin’ *NSYNC. Of course, at the dawn of the 21st century, nu-metal was king, but then things got — quite literally — progressively weirder.
It was a decade where all of metal seemed to get a huge profile boost within the zeitgeist — anything from backwards-red-baseball-cap braggadocio, to Grammy-winning prog weirdness, to depressively beautified black metal, to the death, groove, thrash and classic-metal-inspired upstarts that drove the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.
It was a hell of a ride, but which of those turn-of-the-millennium metal records endure as timeless classics? We asked you to pick your single favorite headbanging Y2K opus — check out the top-five vote-getter below.
Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
Whether they liked it or not, Virgina thrashers Lamb of God were thrust to the forefront of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene at the dawn of the ‘00s. And while the precision guitar judding and bone-breaking drum battery of early albums New American Gospel and As the Palaces Burn hoisted them onto that mountaintop, it’s 2004’s Ashes of the Wake that saw the group fully plant their flag as a generational godhead.
Honestly, even if Ashes existed as just opening pounder “Laid to Rest,” the record would have made heavy metal’s hall of fame. Thankfully, it goes hard for another 10 tracks of furiously dialed-in, scathingly political, and brutally unbowed bang-abouts from a band who in no way compromised their intensity for their major-label debut. Incendiary, to this day.
Deftones – White Pony
A couple different versions of White Pony crossed the starting gate in 2000 — one beginning with the cough-syrup-glazed hypnogogia of “Feiticeira” and the other almost instantly re-released with the nu-grooving rap-rock of “Back to School (Mini Maggit)” in the first position. The latter edition was seen by the band as contentious record label repackaging, but no matter how you heard it first, Deftones’ third album was a revelation.
Few Deftones singles remain as equally menacing and sensual as “Change (In the House of Flies),” and few rock duets pack the gut-punch of the Maynard James Keenan-assisted “Passenger.” Meanwhile, the rest of the record seesaws between nocturnal creepiness, Chino Moreno’s expertly breathy romanticism, sub-zero guitar-gazing and more. Nearly a quarter century later, it’s clear we’re never going to put this Pony down.
Slipknot – Iowa
The Iowa nine got meta-referential and utterly ferocious on the 2001 follow-up to their insta-classic self-titled debut. In the wake of that success, Slipknot only got nastier. Take extra-depraved standout “People = Shit” where savage blasts and detuned groove-bomb guitar riffs violently scrape up against Corey Taylor’s extra-nihilistic worldview.
All told, it may be Slipknot’s most extreme statement— a blessedly unholy affair, like getting gored in the chest over and over again by the album art’s bestial goat. It’s centerpiece might be called “The Heretic Anthem,” but faithful Maggots worshipped this one the moment it dropped.
Gojira – From Mars to Sirius
French world-builders Gojira didn’t need to beat the message of their eco-conscious From Mars to Sirius into our skulls — their progressively bombastic music did a damn fine job of that already. After all, it’s “The Heaviest Matter of the Universe,” if the tracklisting’s to be believed.
What’s sure, though, is that there are many layers to Gojira’s monumental third full-length release. The disgustingly hypnotic, pinch-squealed progressive grooves of “Ocean Planet” exist among the rest of the record’s double-barreled blast attacks, melancholy chordwork and nature sounds of literal whale moans. Lyrically, Joe DuPlantier muses on marine cycles and climate change, the outlook of the latter only getting bleaker with time.
The album remains the backbone of Gojira’s heavy legacy as well as one of the most uniquely memorable albums of the ‘00s.
Tool – Lateralus
TOOL were already dark progressive legends by the time they crossed over into the millennium with Lateralus, but there’s something especially compelling, quixotic and outright synapse-snapping about the quartet’s third full-length. There’s a deceptive ease, for instance, to the meter-fucked feel TOOL bring to a song like “Schism,” making it inherently groovy beyond its idiosyncrasy — this naturally helped by bassist Justin Chancellor’s memorably waterfall-fingered eeriness on the track.
Inspired by Buddhist chanting, guided by ancient mathematics principles, and fully spiraling into a melodic abyss, Lateralus is just about the weirdest metal album to ever win a Grammy. It’s not only one of TOOL’s finest works, but one of the 2000s’ most endlessly fascinating releases.