By 2005, nu metal wasn’t ‘a thing’ anymore. Such pioneers as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Deftones were all enduring lineup turbulence and/or commercial downswings, and their place at the vanguard of alt music had been usurped by the next generation. The genre was so dead that it even had an honest-to-God funeral, thrown by Roadrunner Records to promote a Killswitch Engage album.
However, one band proved that nu metal still had gas in the tank, even if it came from the unlikeliest of places. Hailing from the hyper-isolated town of Perth, Australia, Karnivool made their full-length debut Themata: a hybrid masterpiece that gave turn-of-the-millennium angst its PhD.
