From “Get the fuck up” to “Go!” nu metal has always been about forward momentum.
Not simply from a physical, mosh pit driven place but an elemental one as well. Nu metal is about shredding the rule book for mulch, tearing up what worked yesterday in favor of things that don’t but feel awesome regardless. It’s about giving The Beatles the finger and bowing down at the altar of Faith No More instead. About singing when you can’t sing, rapping when you can’t rap. None of that shit matters; just get the fuck up motherfuckers, go.
Unlimited, the new EP by Texas born Empty Shell Casing, is all forward momentum. A six track mixtape that refuses, for even one 1/100th of a second, to let up in terms of both energy and quality. It fuses the bounce riff valhalla of a band like Switched or Chimaira to the digital happy-hardcore of Mad Capsule Markets. Every song, from opener “MT” to finale “LESS THAN NOTHING,” is like getting into a sixteen car pile up and walking away unscathed.
What so seriously divides Empty Shell Casing from their metal peers is effortlessness. Where other acts sweat over every divided eighth note, every djent breakdown, every carefully considered palm muted accent; Empty Shell Casing just accomplishes with the same level of effort a mortal man might put into toasting a Pop Tart. For as dizzingly complex and innovative as these songs are, they sound like five friends in a practice space tossing ideas back and forth with a grin and a “Hey you know what would sound cool?”
And this is what divides them from their hardcore peers as well; Empty Shell Casing are fun. There is nothing unapproachable or hostile about their sound. Unlimited has plenty of clean singing and nifty hooks to keep you engaged but it arrives at them on their own schedule. If these songs have traditional verse-chorus-verse structure I cannot tell. It’s a flood of ideas, a tidal wave of inspiration, nothing about it feels conventional or contrived. It is unprecedented to all but the most dedicated of nu metal ball knowers, who will recognize its innovations were bubbling up in the French crossover scene of the late 90s/early 00s and should simply marvel that a band in 2026 can pull it off so well.
Unlimited is a before-and-after moment for nu metal. The bar has officially been raised. It is an instant, genre defining classic. If you like nu metal, you like this. If you don’t like this, you don’t like nu metal. Simple as. Have you ever wondered what it must have felt like to discover Korn in 1994? Or Slipknot in 1999? Now you can.
