IF GRUNGE RULED the first half of the 1990s, the second half belonged to nu metal. Taking the best of metal, hip hop and anything else they found lying around, the likes of Korn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, System Of A Down and Linkin Park forged a brand new mutant strain of music that swept all before it, selling records by the million and dragging the entire metal scene into a brand new era. The critics hated it, of course. But then, what the hell do critics know anyway?

I first saw Korn live when they played to 800 people in London on their very first UK tour in 1995, and it was like little else that had come before it (bagpipes in metal? What lunacy is this?). It was thrilling to watch the scene they created snowball over the next few years, from Deftones’ genre-warping acrobatics to Limp Bizkit’s frat-boy hijinks to the arrival of System Of A Down and Linkin Park, who proved that the scene was capable of reinventing itself over and over again.

This special magazine from the makers of Metal Hammer captures the excitement of nu metal from its birth in the early 1990s to its current, much deserved resurrection. You’ll find classic interviews with the scene’s key players and the stories behind its biggest albums and greatest songs, all taken from the pages of Metal Hammer. And there’s also a rundown of the 50 greatest nu metal albums ever, as voted by you, the fans.

So, in the immortal words of Korn’s Jonathan Davis: are you rrrrready?