The current trend is nu-metal revival.

Pick a streaming platform, look for metal, sort by most listened, set to current year only.
The current trend is nu-metal revival.
Even IRL it’s become quite noticeable for me, the scene’s not that big where I live, and I see lots of adverts looking for people to form bands in the style, as well several cover/tribute acts cropping up. Not to mention the abounding mall-goth look.

Case in point, the list of most watched videos when looking for metal, featuring:
Linkin Park - Numb (2B views)
SOAD - Chop Suey (1.2B)
Evanescence - Bring me to life (1.2B)
Disturbed - The worst cover of The Sound of Silence ever (980M)

Followed by Slipknot, Korn, 5FDP, Papa Roach, etc.

I think we can all agree that each different decade had a new style to add to the metal genre, in the 90s extreme metal was perfectionated and we had pretty cool scenes like Florida's death metal, Norwegian black metal, Pantera's groove metal and post thrash sound, and in the 2000's the popularity of nu metal and the beginning of metalcore and deathcore. In the 2010's I think the most important metal trend was definitely djent, post-metal, metalcore, deathcore, the revival of OSDM, thrash revival, and traditional heavy metal revival.

But now we are entering the 2020s, which do you think are the most relevant trends in the metal world right now? I have 4 bands that I think are maintaining metal as a relevant force in mainstream music.

1 - Gojira

I think they are the most relevant of the new bands, they play well, sound good and have a mix of different genres in their sound

2 - Mastodon

The same can be said about them, a mix of different styles, they are a difficult-to-classify band, same as Gojira in that case.

3 - Meshuggah

As for sound and influence in the music of modern metal i think the Swedes have taken over, the popularity of the 7 and 8 strings guitars, the ultra-heavy sound of their music, is everywhere now.

4 - Lamb of God

I am not so sure that this band is liked by the forum, probably not. But they are the most important band of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal of the 2000s and the one that came on top since most of those bands already disappeared. I think they are important because they are still relevant and are a mix of the old groove sound of the 90s and the metalcore sound of the 2000s, like a synthesis of what modern American metal is.

In the past two decades, the metal scene has been lacking in creativity, with a noticeable trend toward reviving old genres. What is the most recent subgenre that gained popularity within the metal community? Metalcore? Deathcore? That stuff has 25 years old.

That's not even true. There's been plenty of new stuff, it's just not mainstream.

Point some out so I can listen to it. I'm not talking about adding more elements that are already in use in some genre.

What metal can I listen to and go "Whoa, this is taking it in a new direction"? Usually when someone recommends something that is "new" its just genre X with a bit more of some non metal element.

That's your problem right there, you're thinking of this in terms like "to create something new you can't be adding more elements" instead of thinking about art in general as a continuous organic process. Black Sabbath were "just" blues with distortion. Venom were "just" Motorhead with rawer production. Art in general doesn't tend to completely ignore the past and when it does it's usually misunderstood.

Answering to your question: just compare this with Venom or Mayhem and you'll realize how far we've come.

https://oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com/album/mestarin-kynsi

This is compounded by the fact that it's very hard to see such evolution except in retrospect.

That's not even true. There's been plenty of new stuff, it's just not mainstream.

I think at some point a genre like metal, or even rock, hits a wall where possible new directions are less possible without fundamentally changing into something different. What sounds or techniques could metal introduce without making it not metal?

That's your problem right there, you're thinking of this in terms like "to create something new you can't be adding more elements" instead of thinking about art in general as a continuous organic process. Black Sabbath were "just" blues with distortion. Venom were "just" Motorhead with rawer production. Art in general doesn't tend to completely ignore the past and when it does it's usually misunderstood.

Answering to your question: just compare this with Venom or Mayhem and you'll realize how far we've come.

https://oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com/album/mestarin-kynsi

I keep waiting for real country metal but don't find it. I thought that Panopticon would be a mix of blue grass and black metal but was dissapointed to find what I listened to as black metal tracks with a bluegrass track then back to black metal. Billy Strings should make a bluegrass metal album.

I"ll check that out. And sure there is a clear evolution of the sound of metal bands. I was just wondering if there was anything really groundbreaking coming out these days, something that is new. Not just more of something that has been done before.

I keep waiting for real country metal but don't find it. I thought that Panopticon would be a mix of blue grass and black metal but was dissapointed to find what I listened to as black metal tracks with a bluegrass track then back to black metal. Billy Strings should make a bluegrass metal album.

Billy Strings should make a bluegrass metal album.

Hi there, late to the discussion, but Argentina has larger problems other than a loan of 45 billion from IWF. 20 years of decadence in every aspect of our life. Not to defend Milei here but he is a reflection of the others failiure. More than 100% of inflation is more than enough to undersatand why the far right (as you call it) is quite popular recently.
On topic, I guess that maybe the DSDM and it mixture with depressive rock like Psychonaut 4 are like a trend here. But I dont know if this trend is frome the late 10s or this decade

This is true, but it's undeniable that metal hasn't created a new subgenre or style in a long time. The current trend of reviving old genres speaks volumes about the state of metal today.

That's a pretty narrow way to look at music.

For one thing, as Gravetemplar pointed out, there's been plenty of new developments in metal over the course of the last 2 decades. It's silly and unrealistic to stick to this criterion of making new subgenres when it comes to assessing the creativity of metal as such. One reason this doesn't make sense has already been mentioned - there's only so much ground left to explore before a piece of music would not be called metal at all. A lot of it has been covered, and even more importantly, brand new subgenres really should depart substantially from the existing ones to warrant that new label. And to go even further, for that to happen you'd have to exclude genre hybridization from consideration, all of those relatively smaller additions (whether from another sub/genre or not), and that's been one of the major sources of development.

And surely those little additions were in fact made (ironically, black metal, for which you said most bands sound the same, had a lot of such developments in the last couple of decades; you can't accuse Verdunkeln, Blut aus Nord, Emptiness, Deathspell Omega etc. etc. for merely playing revivalist/traditional black metal).
Bands carved out an identity for themselves. That's absolutely enough for me - a distinct identity, with masterful grasp of songwriting and passion, is all I would ask. After all, if there is little room for major advancements, and I think there it makes little to no sense to decry metal as a whole for being stagnant, especially when turning a blind eye to changes and shifts that are allegedly minor and insignificant.

If I am narrow, you are pretty stubborn man. I don't think underground black metal counts as a trend, but feel free to think that if you want. I am talking about the worldwide influence that metal had in the 90s, 80s, and early 2000s. Nobody besides people who write in this forum knows what Verdunkein is.

In that specific post, you were harping on the "state of metal" as evidenced by no new subgenre being formed, referencing bands reviving old subgenres.

Do you realize that this is an entirely different thing from whether underground BM counts as a trend, or worldwide (meaning mainstream) influence? And do you realize that I never claimed "underground black metal is a trend" in the sense of mainstream appeal (which I gather is what you are aiming at), which would be ludicrous? The issue of overall creativity in metal as a whole is entirely separate from the issue of big trends (= mainstream, or nearing that status).

Now, if you are interested exclusively in the latter, both in terms of discussion and interest in listening, then certain matters would become more clear, but still, you need to point that out clearly because "metal" without qualifiers includes underground stuff too.

Yo man, can we chill a bit? I love Luka Modric, I am sure we have some things in common. I just think the underground stuff that you listed is not very creative genre-wise. I like black metal don't get me wrong, but we have been doing the same stuff for almost 30 years. If you love it, it's a cool man, is not an attack on your musical taste.

But in the past we were doing different stuff with different sounds, creating new musical trends I just don't see it anymore. I see underground stuff, which is cool but I don't know how that is innovative in any way, I think we have some more room to explore, but we haven't found it yet.

I have no idea what it is that makes you think I'm not chill. I just have a specific disagreement, that is all.

Just to reiterate - honestly, I really doubt you have any meaningful listening experience with post-2000s metal, which is why your "it all sounds the same" doesn't hold water. It really doesn't sound the same, in neither subgenre in fact (this is were those relatively smaller additions, new developments and shifts come into play); and this is related to the issue of creating new subgenres, which isn't a good criterion at all (IMO) for judging the overall creativity of all metal, especially when you acknowledge yourself that objective circumstances are such that it is much harder to do so today. Another thing about trends is that you basically won't find them on the mainstream level (like, is there any "trend" around Sabaton?); gotta dig deeper man, if you're interested in metal as a whole and not only bands who keep metal "relevant in the mainstream". There are interesting micro-trends and tendencies for sure, but if you approach it from that point of view, wanting it to sounds so different from the established subgenres, that won't work, and it'll only keep you from engaging with music on a deeper level where smaller nuances can be properly appreciated.

That's your problem right there, you're thinking of this in terms like "to create something new you can't be adding more elements" instead of thinking about art in general as a continuous organic process. Black Sabbath were "just" blues with distortion. Venom were "just" Motorhead with rawer production. Art in general doesn't tend to completely ignore the past and when it does it's usually misunderstood.

Answering to your question: just compare this with Venom or Mayhem and you'll realize how far we've come.

https://oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com/album/mestarin-kynsi

I concur with your point, as it aligns with what I previously expressed. This is a revival of a genre that was popular 20 years ago. It was the final era of metal's commercial popularity. For the past 20 years, mainstream metal has plateaued. However, underground metal has not been pushing boundaries, but rather playing it safe. I wanted to discuss the current state of the metal genre, but it seems that most of you are satisfied with it. I miss the times when each decade brought forth brand-new styles and sounds.

If I am narrow, you are pretty stubborn man. I don't think underground black metal counts as a trend, but feel free to think that if you want. I am talking about the worldwide influence that metal had in the 90s, 80s, and early 2000s. Nobody besides people who write in this forum knows what Verdunkein is.

Man you're dense. Black and death metal in the 90s sure as hell weren't charting, so they weren't a musical trend? Specifically industrial black metal was pretty trendy in the scene in the late 90s/early 00s but since it couldn't compete with Limp Bizkit it wasn't a trend?

What the absolute fuck are you going on about?