“It’s sloppy and out of tune, but it seems to benefit the track”: How Ryan Martinie redefined metal bass playing for a new generation with Mudvayne

When John Entwistle died in June 2002, we had to wonder: would we ever see another young hard-rock band produce a bass guitar hero with similarly radical techniques and tone – someone who could step forward in the music while still nailing the foundation?

Check out Ryan Martinie, whose unique style separates him from the rest of the ‘nu-metal’ pack. On Mudvayne’s gold-selling 2000 debut, L.D. 50, Martinie punctuated death-metal screams, polyrhythmic stop-and-start grooves, and odd-time chainsaw riffs with percussive slaps and taps, ringing double-and triple-stops, and melodic arpeggios.

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