Emerging from the veil of the digital age, there are few artists who reach beyond it and palm the skies with fists and force. This is exactly what hybrid artist Nathan James has been doing. Releasing "Alienation" earlier this year, this flavor of nu-metal is hard to pass off, with a catchy chorus, heavy-tuned guitars, and the capability of rapping like we're back in the 2000s. It's safe to assume that there's a second coming of the genre, a re-revival, the mark of which, as Nathan states, is "Nu-Nu Metal." If you're new or unknown to Nathan James, I'll explain it easily: think of a jacked, tatted Marilyn Manson if he could rap and sing like Linkin Park, scream and have the aggression of Slipknot, and dress in bulletproof vests with white contacts. Give it a modern edge, and you have a man that has spliced himself into a musical monster within the genre, and Nathan appears to be ripping the stars from the very skies he gazes upon.
Newly signed to CrowdKill Records—a new label spawned from Lorenzo Antonucci, former EVP of Business Development and A&R at Sumerian Records and guitarist of New York hardcore legends Sworn Enemy—Nathan is warming up for his first album, "Hollywood Mortician," releasing on July 11th. Coming off a tour with high-end metal acts Attila, Butcher Babies, Ded, and Dealer, Nathan has been all work and no play. He also isn't an amateur to the music world either; being a very sought-after entertainment photographer—capturing icons like Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber, Machine Gun Kelly, Avril Lavigne, Post Malone & many more—Nathan is a jack-of-all-damn-trades, an artist with the mind for capturing both moments and sound in time. Only having around five years of music making under his belt and yet racking up more than 12 million streams, the support of SiriusXM Octane and host Jose Mangin, and touring with mainstream staple bands, Nathan James has removed all the brakes and only knows forward.
"Will I ever adapt, or am I falling behind? Just another lost soul to join the fourth kind."
"Alienation" is an example of standing on the shoulders of giants. Delivering a drum and guitar syncopated rhythm with swelling echoed pianos, Nathan serves the verses on depersonalization and internal confusion by rapping in such a way that would make Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) proud. The clean-sung chorus is catchy as hell and is a side of Nathan that shows a lot of versatility as an artist. Looking upon his past discography, between tracks like "The Hanged Man", "Secrets Of The Shadows" (featuring Paleface Swiss), and "TOOTH TAKER," all tracks are on the more aggressive and harsh vocal side that cater to us more moshing types. Some tracks you will sing along to, some you'll dance to, and some (my favorites) you will hit strangers in a mosh pit to until one of you is leaking. Accompanying it is the music video released alongside it, a visual of Nathan watching himself on a movie screen with an exotic dancing alien, slowly blurring the lines where he and the extraterrestrial become one.
"Alienation" Official Music Video
Nathan James is an artistic splicer: interweaving hybrid genres of hip-hop and metal with industrial edge, capturing camera moments with top-name artists as a "photographer rock star," and creating aggressive, exotic, and self-reflective imagery and visuals within both worlds. Debuting his album, "Hollywood Mortician," on July 11th, I'm standing with open arms for this next phase of Nathan James. Welcome to the "Nu-Nu" world.
@thatsnathanjames
