REVIEWS:
There's really no middle ground when it comes to an opinion of Korn's music - you either worship them as one of the saviors of a new form of metal in the 90s, with unparalleled intensity and darkness, or absolutely loathe them, finding their style way too simplistic and juvenile and the vocals of Jonathan Davis annoying. I actually tend to lean more toward the former - certainly do have their musical limitations (there's really only so much the band can do with this sound without seriously expanding it, as it's mostly effects based, not really song based), but their best moments are quite a powerful, harsh reality, and they are usually at the very least interesting.
The sound is built on Davis' twisted "Tasmanian Devil" vocal style (which builds on Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton's more psycho moments), guitarists James "Munky" Schaffer and Brian "Head" Welch coming up with some totally wild effects on their seven string instruments (they're not experts on their instruments for sure, but are capable enough, and can impressively replicate their sound live), and the hip-hop like rhythms and grooves of bassist Fieldy and drummer David Silveria, one of the more tighter units out there. The lyrics of Davis have a cool, insecure awkwardness about them - at many times they're not even coherent or intelligible, which gives them a sort of charm. Coming out of the resulting collaboration is one of the more original sounding bands in this decade, one that spawned a ton of newer bands, including the Deftones and Limp Bizkit, two bands which Korn helped break through, the nice guys they are.
Their self-titled debut broke the ground for a new sub-genre of "new metal" bands and is their most powerful and crushing work to date. The follow-up Life Is Peachy was a bit of a letdown, feeling a bit immature and rushed in many places, but it was still fairly strong, while the third album Follow The Leader was more of an expansion of their sound, and was their commercial breakthrough with two smash singles "Got The Life" and "Freak On A Leash". Their last two albums have gone into a surprisingly more creative and melodic, though not always better, direction.
--Nick Karn
The biggest problem I, or mostly anybody else has about this band is the tendency of our current sorry music industry to overrate these new bands. Why? Well, if you look at the state of rock currently, here's where we stand: Rap is ruling the airwaves. Since rap is based almostly solely on rhythm, any rock or metal group with even a little melody is going to be shunned to the depths of the underground.
And this is why Korn rules currently. They make no attempt at all to make a melody in their songs---most of guitarists' Munky and Head's noodlings are open and closed postion power chords, sprinkled with layers of electronic guitar noise (they have QUITE a HUGE effect pedal setup live, from what I hear). But overall, what the band depends on more than anything else is a groove, a rhythm. Now, it is quite possible to rely almost entirely on rhythm over melody, Sepultura have made quite a living on this, as did Pantera in the excellent Far Beyond Driven, but two things prevent Korn from perfecting this style like the aforementioned bands did. They have no grasp of melody. See, even in the almost entirely rhythm dominated Sepultura catalogue, there was honest to God chord progressions that made sense and made you want to listen. Korn has only accomplished this very rarely---in such deservedly classic tracks as "Blind" or "Got the Life". Those tracks work because they have a chord progression that grabs you, hooks you in and makes you want to listen. And in that case, it is very easy to overlook the very tired lame angst poetry of Mr. Jonathan Davis, or his horrid singing voice. He does the growl EXCEPTIONALLY well, which is part of the reason "Blind" works so well. Even I will admit to feeling a rush when he starts screaming "I'm BLIND!!!" at the end of the song. However, as bad as I found most of Follow the Leader, the new stuff off of Issues (which is all over the radio by the way) is much much worse as Mr. Davis has abandoned his great scream for some horrific attempts at singing. Matter of fact, now that I think about it, he sounds almost exactly like Marilyn Manson when he tries to sing.
Also, I have a problem with Mr. Fieldy and Mr. Silveria. Fieldy's bass was sare I say it, very solid on the first release. And it was probably ok on the second (I've never heard Life is peachy, other than Adidas). Then Follow the Leader came along, and he switched to that absolutely awful weightless slapping. My God, it is so musically pathetic to detune your bass that far and slap the low string to the beat. And David kicked ASS with the percussion on the first album. Then, in comes my favorite mixing man, Brendan O' Brien and once again screws with the sound. Now Silveria sounds like weightless crap on the later releases. So, clue me in people. How can a band be "heavy" when the bass has no depth to it, or the drums? Hell, even STP's "Down" off of No.4 is heavier than anything in the recent Korn catalogue.
korn is satan! these guys can't sing, can't dance, this shit's meesed up! they wack homes they really fuckin' fake. fist off they need to cut the shitty haircuts! tone down the shitty music and be pussy soft rock stars! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
KORN FUCKING ROCKS I DONT CARE WHAT ANY1 SAYS BOUT THEM THEY ARE FUCKING AWESOME.
-KoRnKloWn34
P.S. KoRn FUCKING ROX!!!!!.....sry bout the caps.......
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
One animal of a debut, Korn's self titled release was the first showcase of their powerful sound, a frighteningly uncompromising journey through darkness and pain with one hell of a twisted singer. People can say all they want about this band having "no talent" because their instrumentalists have a limited musical ability or that Jonathan Davis can't sing - this is some seriously harsh, bloody work with the completely in your face feel in the riffs, background effects and the rhythm section's tightness and the profound and controversially violent lyrics, and the way Davis treats his vocals almost like a guitarist would throw out a complex riff or solo (improvised scat-singing, and going from whispers to warped screams) is highly incredible.
The opening track "Blind" slowly fades in for a bit with a dark riff and then proceeds to hit the listener with a furious rush of energy after the awesome 'ARRRRRRREE YOUUUUUU REAAAAADDYYYYY' scream entering just previous. The dark nature of the song, the 'I can see, I can see, and I'm going blind' bridge, and the cool, funky fade-out section make it arguably their career highlight. "Ball Tongue" features an interesting display of intense emotion, excellent basswork, creatively whacked out guitar and fascinantingly unintelligible vocal wordplay in the chorus (as well as a weird sounding instrumental bridge).
"Need To", more than anything else, brings the rhythm section upfront, while "Clown" and "Divine" are hard, angry, aggressive self-righteous tunes, that have a classic "I'm not as good as you, I'm better than you" attitude, both absolute explosively vicious and explicit rants, while "Faget" effectively takes you into the locker room of Jonathan Davis as a high school student, being relentlessly teased and feeling immense pain for his torment - the unadultereated rage expressed throughout the lyrics and music (great drum intro too), really comes through, and it was definitely a personal theme song in high school for me, and many others.
The intro to "Shoots And Ladders" provides nice contrast, with a more intimate bagpipe section from Davis (beginning the tradition of one song per album featuring bagpipes), but later on, the song explodes, lyrically showcasing the violent side of nursery rhymes and providing the opportunity for more vocal workouts and astonishing band chemistry. While more excerises in aggression come in "Predictable", "Fake", and "Lies", follow, all of them blistering in intensity and each having their own unique and effective arrangements and middle sections.
"Helmet In The Bush", meanwhile, is another very unsettling track, having a confusing nature throughout its' musical arrangement and awkward lyrics, but it's still quite convincing, while "Daddy" is the ultimate in terrifying album closers, bringing the abuse theme to terrifying proportions, with the apocalyptic guitar work, intense riffing and frightening lyrics culminating in the ending section which actually features Davis crying over haunting backing music, before the album fades out. Overall, Korn is a fairly high-quality, uncompromising and influential scene-starting debut.
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COMMENTS
A decent album. There I said it. The rhythm section sounds great, unlike any of the later releases, and Korn almost sound metallic through this record. This is one of the rare times when the grooves WORK. But hey, anybody who thinks Munky and Head are anything more than mediocre guitarists should try playing "Blind" (their best song, IMHO). I mastered that riff in about 5 minutes. SImplistic. Still, a decent album, but it would be a constant decline after this. I'd give it a 6.
[email protected] (Andrew McQuillan)
The first half is really damn good up until after Shoots and Ladders but then tracks 8-11 I can't really remember well. Daddy is a good song though, quite angry and haunting and shit. Then there's that secret track.
THEY WERE THE SHITTIEST BAND IN THE WORLD! THEY SING STUPID SONGS ABOUT RAT HEADS AND CAT HEADS AND BITING BATS AND IDIOTS SPITING AND DRINKING THE SALIVA! EW! THAT'S NASTY! THE LEAD SINGER IS ON DRUGS! HE FUCKED HIS SISTER! HE SNORTED TASTY AMOUNTS OF COCAINE! BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF HIS FATHER! ROBBED 10 BOTTLES OF JACK DANIELS! HE ALSO DID HIGH SPEED HIJACKING OF A FAST CAR! STOLE HAIR FROM A BARBERSHOP! HE SMELLED LIKE NASTY FILTHY TOENAILS! HE ALSO ATE DISGUSTING GREEN BLOBS OOZING IN THE GARBAGE! AND HE NEARLY DIED OF AN ELECTROCUTION! KORN SUCKS!
ok i just wanted 2 say pedro andino, FUCKHEAD, *cough*, is a fucking idiot. im not saying u have 2 agree with me and say KoRn is awesomely the best band ever, but if u hate them say it once and stop fucking making up all these gay ass things about stealing peoples hair and sniffing it. if any1 deservers 2 b put in jail its u 4 being 1 of the most fuckheaded idiotic morons i no, u cant make up shit and expect people 2 believeit. OK U HATE KORN WE GET IT STOP POSTING U FUCKING IDIOT UR A COCK SUCKER WHO NEEDS SOMETHING TO DO BUT BITCH AND MOAN ABOUT KORN, AND SUCK COCK!!!!!!
LoVe, KoRnKloWn34...... : )
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
An important followup after a massive debut album, Korn's second release Life Is Peachy definitely seems like somewhat of a step backwards. The final product was rushed in the studio, and it shows - the songwriting is weaker, more immature, and less consistent, while the material near the beginning of the album in particular sounds undeveloped. The 50 second opener "Twist", while being the most stunning example of Jonathan Davis' vocal manipulations, feels like an afterthought, as do the standard-sounding, too simplistic tracks "Lost" and "Swallow", as well as the insignificant instrumental interlude "Porno Creep". Even the hard-hitting and forceful "Chi" sounds a bit too much of a musical retread.
"Good God", however, picks up the slack after somewhat of a slow start for the band - the pure screaming fury of the chorus 'won't you get the fuck out of my face' is a powerful wake up call, while "Mr. Rogers" is an incredible first half closer, a tormented childhood song with an interesting perspective, watching that children's television show (for which the title character is named) stoned completely out of mind. However, it's back to "head up the ass" immaturity again in the second half with "K@#%", which is nothing more than expletives against women, and the sing-along minor hit single "A.D.I.D.A.S." with its' perverted anagram chorus ("all day I dream about sex"). The upside to these songs, however, as childish as they may be, is that they are quite telling commentary on today's youth.
Elsewhere, the album includes a couple of cover songs, including the groovy and intense take on Ice Cube's "Wicked" featuring Chino Moreno from the Deftones on vocals in the verses, and the brief version of War's "Low Rider" finds Fieldy taking lead vocal duties with Davis again on bagpipes. Rounding out the album is the tortured "No Place To Hide", the clever "writer's block" lyrics and great playing of "Ass Itch", and another truly terrifying child abuse closer in "Kill You", which is a vicious and hateful tune directed towards another enemy in Davis' life, one of his childhood babysitters. The overall verdict on Life Is Peachy is that, despite it's weaknesses, it's still an enjoyable, although somewhat unfulfilled, effort, and an effective transition to their next release.
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COMMENTS
I'M TIRED OF THIS GHETTO BASTARD! WHY DON'T YOU ASK MICHEAL J. FOX WHAT HE'S DOING FOR THE YUPPIES? WHY DON'T YOU ASK SYLVESTER STALLONE WHAT HE'S DOING FOR THE ITALIANS? KORN HAS BEEN POLLUTING THE AIRWAVES OF THIS NATION FOR FAR TOO LONG! THIS RECORD OF INCEST, GORE, RACIAL SLURS, SEXIST COMMENTS,LEWDNESS, AND POOR SPELLING WILL SEE THEM JAILED, BANNED,AND WITH THEIR FEELINGS HURT! YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING? THIS BAND IS PURE CACA!
Ugh. I liked the debut and Issues, but this sucks. Some of the tracks are good. But most of this is unlistenable. This doesn't deserve the same rating as odelay. I think there is a limit. But ok. Mmm. Perhaps I'm too harsh. Half of it is ok, but the other half... is so BAD that, simply makes this a shit. Unless you want to pay the price of a lp-length album for a ep-length worth material.
(Nick Karn's review)
Korn spent somewhat more time in the studio at work on their third album Follow The Leader, apparently learning from the mistake of the rushed last album. They even decided to switch studios and abandon the leadership of longtime producer Ross Robinson. What results is an attempted expansion of their sound, and the album's impressive quality is due in part to the astounding display of varied guitar effects to give each song a distinctive style, and on the vocal screams of Jonathan Davis are still prominent here as they were on the first two albums, but his voice has become a bit clearer, and the lyrics are somewhat easier to understand, less juvenile, and more convincing. It also doesn't hurt that the band's musical ability has improved, making their aggression a bit more effective.
The album's first single and breakout hit "Got The Life", makes this change most effectively, and its' actually quite an excellent sing-along track, which is surprising since melody isn't really the band's strongpoint. Another big hit, "Freak On A Leash", has eerie guitar parts and vocals in the verses, and a hard scat section. "It's On", meanwhile, is a brutal-sounding, although slightly simplistic, opening cut. "Dead Bodies Everywhere" and "B.B.K." are among the best showcases of Fieldy and Head's effective "effects", as well as being strong band compositions, and the lyrically disturbing "Pretty" is about as far removed from the title as you can get - the emotions conveyed here are hardly subtle.
Earlier releases only hinted at a hip-hop influence, but on a few tracks it totally breaks through, most notably on "All In The Family", which is an absolutely hilarious lyrical insult battle between Davis and guest vocalist, Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst. "Children Of The Korn" and "Cameltosis" also feature outside performers, this time in the face of hardcore rappers Ice Cube and Trevant Hardson of Pharcyde respectively, and they gel impressively with the band's sound. As the album progresses through the second half the songwriting quality slips a bit, and there does seem to be a slight hint that the band is running out of ideas, but the rest of the tracks aren't really weak - "Justin" has one of the best riffs in the whole Korn catalog and is an outstanding tribute to a terminally ill young fan, "Seed" has a little bit of a progressive vibe in parts, "Reclaim My Place" captures rebellious anger effectively, and the closer "My Gift To You" has both beautfiul and harsh sentiments, lyrically and musically (and marks the traditional bagpipe appearance). A very enjoyable and impressive release, and it will be interesting to see whether or not they can overcome their limitations hinted at a bit here with the next album.
Update: Okay, this one's grown off me a bit to the point where I find it to be the second weakest Korn album instead of the second best, though it's still good. Just not 8 worthy. Wait for a rewrite.
Just remember, Korn freaks, that I am being generous with this rating. Why, you ask? Well, it pains me to say this but "Got The Life" and "Freak On A Leash" are GREAT songs. Thats right, you heard me say it. Call me a hypocrite, but those songs are so damn catchy. Despite Jonathan Davis' horrid attempt at singing. Despite his childish, teen angst vocals. And that's why most of the album falls flat on its face. Now, I thought Mr. Davis did a superb job on tracks like "Blind", or "Shoots and Ladders" or even "Got The Life" on THIS album. And I love his vocal tone after he screams go in "Freak On A Leash". THAT'S darn cool. But then he tries to sing.
For example: The beginning of "Dead Bodies Everywhere". God, I cannot even explain it, but his voice is so annoying. It sounds like some cheesy cartoon character. He even sings like that in some parts of "Freak On ALeash". Jonathan, buddy, you CAN'T sing. Growl. Thats what you are good at. Stay out of the higher registers. Secondly, for some reason thats completely beyond me, teens who know shit about music theory think that Munky and Head are some kind of guitar demigods because they added a string. Well, guess what boys and girls, they're NOT.
First off, Steve Vai, an INFINITELY better guitarist than either of Korn's invented the seven string. What Munky and Head do for the most part is play suspended overdistorted power chords. They don't even have any palm muted crunch to create a catchy riff here and there. They never solo, never play anything interesting or musically involving. Here and there they might throw in some weird note bended so far it sounds like noise, but really what is the point? Anyway, I can get past that if they could write something cool. They did write some cool (if uncomplicated) riffs for "Freak on a Leash" and "Got the Life". And "It's On" rocks pretty hard.
And finally, some of Jonathan's lyrics are painfully awkward. Take the aforementioned "Dead Bodies Everywhere". Ick. So, overall, this album is not a very enjoyable listen. I gave it a few shots, but dammit, these new wave groups are nowheres near as good as people make them out to be. Don't even get me started on Limp Bizkit. Korn are fucking METALLICA compared to those trendy fucks. I mean seriously, how can you have any respect for a band that made up a song that consists of nothing but a trendy frat boy screaming "Get the Fuck Up". Geez.
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COMMENTS
DID THEY CUSS? YES! DID THEY SUCK? YES! DID THEY SMELL? YES! I HATE KORN!
ok um pedro proving my point is a fucking idiot did they smell? HOW THE FUCK COULD U SMELL THEM BY LISTENING TO THEIR MUSIC, U SUCK!
-KoRnKloWn34
P.S. PEDRO UR GAY THE WORLD WOULD B BETTER IF U JUST WENT SOMEWHERE AND SHOT UR SELF IN THE FACE SO GO & DO IT STOP TALKING SHIT AND PUT AN END TO ALL UR HATREDS 2 EVERYTHING!
They got an unusual soudn on this record but that's about as much as you can say. The songwritign is so repetitious, these guys make Limp Bizkit look like Mozart by comparison. Limp Bizkit coul actually write a good song 'Re-arranged', 'The One'. But they are better mainly because of the album life is Peachy, which shows the Korn are capable of having fun. They are capable of semi-serious rock music that is good for tapping your toes to. I actually could imitate John Davis' voice very well and made a mock Korn song that I wrote and it's my favourite Korn song! But Pat D is right. They had oddles of unusual guitar tones but I think Stephen Hawakings could play the guitar better! All Munkey and Head do are play endless repetitions of a short riff on the bass note of the guitar. The music, aside from John's screaming and suicide inducing lyrics, is alright if it weren't so repetitious. Dead Bodies Everywhere I even like, quite a bit. 3/10. None of teh sogns are really bad, except All in the family and I hate Got the life for whatever reason.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
The previous album, while still a good effort, showed that Korn was starting to run out of ideas, and that's apparent on the lead single to Follow The Leader's 'follow up' album Issues - that song, "Falling Away From Me", is one of the weakest and most tired-sounding tracks of their entire career due to the recycled riff and lyrics, and it only gets mildly interesting at the harmonic middle section. The rest of the album finds the band attempting to break away from their undoubtedly formulaic sound, with somewhat more in the way of melody and intelligent lyrics than before (neither are a particular strength of the band), and Munky and Head's seemingly endless supply of guitar effects continue to add much needed texture and variety to the songs. Both of those aspects come together in "Trash", which is the exact opposite of its' title as arguably the album's signature song - it's got a great beat, perfect vocal delivery and actual catchy chorus. "Make Me Bad" and "Wake Up" benefit from almost ambient, calm verses (due to the guitar sounds and even piano in the former) contrasting with the usual pulverizing choruses and newfound hooks.
"Hey Daddy" and "Somebody Someone" also benefit from the creativity of the guitars and strong rhythm playing - the former has great vocal wails at the end of every verse line and the former has nice Fieldy bass work, and "Beg For Me" is a fine example of the tortured mind of Jonathan Davis coming through in a song. Even the short interludes between songs are interesting and add to the mood of the album - "Am I Going Crazy" has eerie backward vocals, "I Wish You Could Be Me" is both silly and terrifying at the same time (you'll understand why if you hear it), and the atmospheric "4 U" has quite a different sound than any of the band's other material and could have been developed into an awesome full number. Unfortunately, the last few more half-baked tunes (the dumb anthem "Let's Get This Party Started", the boring "No Way", "Counting" and "Dirty") keep this from being on par with Korn's better albums, but the best material is a sign that they could possibly expand their horizons a bit more and evolve musically.
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COMMENTS
THEY FONDLE THIER GENATILA ONSTAGE! I WILL SAY GET THE GUN! GET THE GUN! SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT! GET THE GUN! GET THE GUN! SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT! ESTAS HABLANDO CACA! ERES UN DESGRACIADO! UN IDIOTA! UN CHARLATAN! UN BURRO! HEE ! HEE! HEE! THAT'S SPANISH.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Man, I really feel torn about this album like no other in Korn history. On one hand, this is somewhat of a step forward for the band in making the music and melodies more developed than they were before - there are some really cool creepy goth-styled atmospherics and embellishments that sound more sophisticated than anything previously, especially with the guitar effects and such being their usual quality, and the flow of the vocal hooks are definitely more pronounced (they're showing continued improvement in this area over the last couple of albums, and that's something). Plus, the album cost, like, a couple million to produce, and the sound does indeed live up to that - very well-recorded, with all the instruments, effects and textures coming through nicely. But unfortunately, while the strengths of the band are magnified in this setting, so are the weaknesses.
What do I mean? Well, as much as the lyrics and vocals of Jonathan Davis had a bit of a laughable, awkward quality to them before (okay, a really laughable quality), they probably reach their peak in irritation here. Maybe it's due to the fact that this time the angst rantings are the focus of every single song and this 'hating me', 'all this pain', blah blah blah lyrical slant has been beaten to death in this first place, and that he's making way more weaker attempts at singing (which he doesn't do anywhere near as well as his convincing growling), but... I dunno. Fact is, I think this band desperately needs a new lyricist, because I don't think this juvenile crap works when the sound is trying to become more ambitious. Plus, some of the riffs are lame one or two note recycled stuff that had already been done better ("Bottled Up Inside", "Blame", "Beat It Upright" for a few examples - "B" related ones)
Despite these distracting things, though, this is their most interesting album ever in terms of music and melodies, no contest. And no other song proves that better than the masterpiece "Hollow Life", maybe Korn's single best song ever (and certainly the best thing here). It's got such a fantastic creepy bell-tinged slow techno kind of atmosphere in the verses and actual subtle singing (occasionally falsetto, too!), and a huge pulverizing wall of choir vocals / heavy riffing contained within the chorus and bridge for a startling effect. See, it's stuff like this that allows this band to rise over their contemporaries. To a slightly lesser extent, "Alone I Break" has a menacing techno-ish rhythm and haunting, echoey guitars to go along with a dramatically orchestrated refrain (only the irritating chorus lyrics let it down slightly), and "Hating"... cool alien, watery guitar sounds and convincing snare-driven time signature shift! It grooves along nicely!
Most of these songs could really be analyzed in a similar way - really interesting textures and creative melodies (especially by modern metal standards), especially distracting lyrics and vocals. I also find it interesting that, like last album with "Falling Away From Me", the lead single is one of the least interesting and tired sounding things here, with a pretty standard Korn grind and lyrical 'excellence' going for it (though the 'wall of sound' effect in the middle effectively points the way to more successful experimentating later), and the rest of it is much more interesting sonically. How about the really weird ass guitar and vocal effects of the followup "Make Believe"? The vocal tone shifting and complex guitar coloring patterns of "Thoughtless"? The rumbling groove and double-tracked vocal sounds of "One More Time"? The bouncing-ball-off-the-wall tendencies of "Wake Up Hate"? All of these are admirable attempts at expanding their sound and vocal melody pallette. Now think of what potential this sound could have with a really poetic lyricist - like Ian Curtis (the ghost of Joy Division does come through the atmosphere of some of these songs, after all).
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COMMENTS
You know, i actually liked "Thoughtless" the first time i heard it, because for the first time I can remember, the Kornsters actually managed to put aside the "lets be as heavy as possible" quest and actually created a good vocal melody. And hell, Jonathan Davis actually proves me wrong with some really good singing for once. If the rest of the album is somewhat melodic, i might consider buying it.
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