Kittie - Oracle (2001)

   Since nu metal was not a so unified style, it had various opportunities to mix different influences. But not many bands lived with the opportunity and they just stucked at some mix of hip-hop and metalcore. Fortunately Kittie was not one of them.
  The appearence of Kittie was also interesting because they sparked attention with their full female line-up. It was nothing new to see women in aggressive bands, in the underground scene there were plenty of examples for that before, but for the mainstream audience it was still new and extraordinary to see women growl, scream, headbanging and to play heavy music. The band never kept in secret that they sympathized with extreme styles, and death metal influences appeared in their music too. In general their song structures kept the simplicity and repetitive style of nu metal, but they often operated with heavier riffings than it was usual. That gave more reason to their heavy sound than bare attention seeking or contrast, unlike at most other nu metal bands. Even though they had plenty of girly moments and clear singing on "Oracle", the screaming vocal style they had in it's contrast was also wilder compared to others and uncommon to hear in mainstream music. It was definitely not the Linkin Park, Korn and Papa Roach-like line, their music was easier to find in the playlists of Slipknot and System of a Down fans.