It keeps the loud, downtuned guitars of metal, usually at a medium pace, and adds sounds that most metal bands avoid. The singing mixes clean, melodic lines with harsh, shouted ones. It took shape in the United States in the 1980s and reached a wide audience in the 1990s. Funk metal and rap metal are counted as part of it, and nu metal later grew out of it.
Artists it is known for: Faith No More, Tool, Deftones, System of a Down.
About 23,000 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have alternative metal among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Alternative Metal artists
Linkin Park
Deftones
Slipknot
System Of A Down
The Smashing Pumpkins
Limp Bizkit
Alice In Chains
Korn
Three Days Grace
Foo Fighters
The alternative metal artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.