It was a happening time for heavy music at the turn of the millennium; nu-metal was entering its peak phase, the internet was beginning to take a hold of the industry and mobile ringtones were absolutely huge.


It was also a great year for fans of the genre, with a multitude of highly-influential albums gracing the world which are still considered legendary in 2020. In no particular order, here are ten of the best rock/metal records from 2000:

Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

While Linkin Park's debut album didn't take the world by storm immediately (with a #29 chart position), the huge success of singles like 'One Step Closer', 'Crawling' and 'In The End' helped spread them like wildfire to become one of the biggest bands in the world. A sublime mix of rap, metal and deck-scratching helped make this record stand out above the rest at a time when nu-metal was really exploding.

Hybrid Theory has well and truly etched its name into the musical hall of fame, and is also one of the highest-selling records of any genre in history, with over 27 million copies sold around the world. Not bad for a debut!

Linkin Park have a comprehensive 20th anniversary edition coming out soon to commemorate its legendary status, too.

 

Deftones - White Pony

Speaking of nu-metal, Deftones also released what would go down as their most. The band already had a pretty steady following from their previous record Around The Fur, but this masterpiece really cemented their legacy.


Equal parts haunting, heavy and manic, White Pony sounds like nothing else out there, which is why we still find ourselves regularly spinning this classic to this day. 


The whole thing rules, but our highlights include 'Digital Bath', 'Knife Party', 'Passenger' and 'Change (In The House Of Flies)'. Is it the best Deftones album ever? It depends on who you ask, but you can easily make the case for it.


The band returned to White Pony's producer Terry Date for their new album Ohms, which is out on September 25!

 

At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command

At The Drive-In's third album is widely regarded as one of the best post-hardcore albums of all time, bringing a raw and intense energy that remains unmatched today.

Relationship of Command gave the band brief commercial and mainstream success, which ultimately led to their break-up in early 2001, citing "excessive hype, relentless touring, artistic differences, and Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala's drug habits" as the reasons.


Hey, if you're gonna go out, may as well do it with a bang! They did get back together to release a new album in 2017, but it ultimately fell short of the legacy left by this one.

 

Mudvayne - L.D. 50

We weren't kidding when we said that nu-metal was entering full swing in 2000 - Mudvayne entered the fray with their debut record L.D. 50 too, which had the musical hallmarks of the genre at the time, but also used a lot of interludes complete with distorted voice samples and eerie soundscapes. Kind of like Slipknot, but still with their own flavour.


And yes, it has 'Dig' on it - the same one that sparked a tidal wave of "br br deng" memes. 

 

Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood

Marilyn Manson hit the triple with this one, successfully following up both Antichrist Superstar (1996) and Mechanical Animals (1998) in real style.


By this point, Manson was the poster boy and scapegoat for all things tragic and evil, so of course, Walmart and Kmart refused to stock the album at all, while a pastor in Memphis actually threatened to go on a hunger strike unless the album was pulled from shelves.


And while it wouldn't be a proper Manson release without the controversy behind it, the musical content on Holy Wood was actually really good too with 'The Fight Song' and 'The Nobodies' as notable bangers among the rest.

 

Pantera - Reinventing The Steel

Pantera were undoubtedly kings of 90s heavy metal, carving out their everlasting legacy throughout the decade with albums like The Great Southern Trendkill and Vulgar Display of Power, but it was in the year 2000 that their ninth and final album would round out their career with a real bang.


The Abbott brothers broke the band up in 2003, meaning this would be the last Pantera material they featured on; Dimebag Darrell was infamously shot and killed onstage in 2004 while playing with his band Damageplan, while Vinnie Paul died of coronary artery disease in 2018.

 

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

Ask any fan of doom or stoner metal what their favourite album is, and you would probably hear the word Dopethrone more often than not.


Like many other albums on this list, Electric Wizard's third is regarded as a genre milestone. It's not a pretty listen by any means; Dopethrone is one of the most filthy, slimy, fuzzy and lazy albums you can set your ears upon, but that's exactly the sound they were going for.


And if the cover art of a demon getting stoned wasn't a dead giveaway, this one was created to be listened to in a certain state.

 

Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

Everything about Limp Bizkit's third album reeks of the year 2000 - from the bizarre artwork and the text straight out of Microsoft Word, to the cheesy brand of rap-metal found inside.


Having said that, people couldn't get enoug Chocolate Starfish spawned some of Limp Bizkit's most iconic tunes including 'My Way', 'My Generation' and 'Rollin (Air Raid Vehicle)'.


People couldn't get enough either - released just one week before Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory, it sold an incredible 1 million copies in its first week alone.


Some people love this record, and some people flat-out despise it. But one thing you can't argue is that it has firmly left its mark as one of the most iconic nu-metal albums of all time.

 

Disturbed - The Sickness

Another absolutely monumental debut, and a pretty on-the-nose title given the current state of the world, The Sickness shot Disturbed straight to the top of the metal world with tunes like 'The Game', 'Stupify' and of course, 'Down With The Sickness'.


The recent spread of coronavirus actually boosted sales of 'Down With The Sickness' (as well as At The Drive-In's 'Quarantined', meaning people clearly still haven't forgotten about this record 20 years later.

 

A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms

Before Tool went on a hiatus, former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel showed Maynard James Keenan demos of his own written music, and Maynard offered his voice to the project straight away.


The powerful combination of Maynard's familiar crooning and Billy's penchant for songwriting made A Perfect Circle one of the most popular bands of the 2000's, and it all started with Mer de Noms.

'The Hollow' is, in our opinion, one of the greatest tracks to come out in 2000, and it's a beautifully-crafted album from front to back.

 

What are some other albums from the year 2000 you have fond memories of? Let us know!