NEW NOISE
TALLAH
Twenty years after its heyday, nu metal is rearing its head in the sound of a new generation of bands - and Tallah are taking it to wild new limits
WORDS: YASMINE SUMMAN
NU METAL’S HEYDAY seems like a fragmented memory. After its decline through the mid-2000s in the wake of third-wave emo and the metalcore boom, the genre’s growth became stagnant, save a few massive names who clawed their way out of the pit in time. Two decades down the line and ‘nu core’ is breathing new life into the genre - just with less of the baggy pants and liberal use of hair gel. That’s where we find Pennsylvania’s Tallah, who are taking nu core by the helm in an effort to “make metal disturbing again”, in the words of vocalist Justin Bonitz.
“When you look at what happened back in the 70s, 80s and 90s compared to what’s going on now, metal definitely used to be a lot more twisted, edgy and frickin’ crazy,” he says. “We want you to feel uncomfortable. If you’ve ever seen The Fly with Jeff Goldblum, that’s the same way I want people to feel when they listen to our music. I don’t want them to be scared; I want them to be so disturbed that they feel depressed, like, ‘Oh, I need a shower…’”