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Album: "Issues"
(1999) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight With Korn being popular in the mainstream music scene now, I expected this to be their most commercial release yet. well, it's not. It's actually more underground in style than anything that they have released before. This is a very dark and disturbing album with dreary and eerie sounds that just wouldn't work well on commercial radio. If you think that this CD is another "Follow The Leader", you need to think again. There are no catchy radio songs, rap songs, funk songs, or silly songs here. This is pure dark, angry and heavy rock music with industrial touches as well. There are many electronic sounds layered in with the guitars, bass and drum beats. This CD flows extremely well from start to finish. Every song fits here with nothing getting in the way or seeming out of place. The songs themselves feature a lot of variety and diversity. They make many changes along their playing course never coming off like typical verse/chorus/verse tracks. The songs are an emotional roller coaster ride for the senses as they twist and turn in different directions ranging from slow paced and moody to all out energy packed rage. The feeling of the CD is very dark with a haunting edge to it. It creeps along in an eerie fashion before it explodes into pure aggressive mayhem. Jonathan Davis does a lot of different things with his vocals here. He sings with melody, screams with anger, shouts, yells, and even experiments with distortion from time to time. This CD is a must for people that enjoy dark heavy rock music.
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Album: "Follow
The Leader" (1998) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight Korn return with their follow up release to "Life Is Peachy". They have definitely matured as a band and have finally figured out how to include melody into their songs. They basically use to record the same song over and over again with big empty gaps filled only by Jonathan Davis' word blurting shouting. The bass and drums were too dominant and the music basically stopped playing during the vocal parts. I respect the band for doing something original, but it got old fast. Well, this album features a lot of variety and changing emotions as well as song structures that actually include harmony. The band is still very heavy with thrashy guitar riffs, funky bass lines and harsh drum beats. However, everything seems to fit together now making for much tighter music that is actually quite interesting. They even mix in electronic effects throughout the songs to make them sound even more full and complete. This is a direction that I always wanted to see them go. I would still like to see them take this element even further. Jonathan Davis has a voice and singing style that is unique to him and it works perfectly with the music. It's good to see him actually carry a tune now. He has the ability to sing and proves it on this album. He still spits out his emotional word blurting shouting of anger, but also blends singing with it as well. The lyrics are very well written making you want to pay close attention to what Jonathan has to say. The lyrics speak bluntly about how screwed up life can really be. So people that lead a happy little perfect life won't be able to get anything from these songs. One of the highlights of this album is "Got The Life". This is the most structured heavy rock style song on the album. It proves that the band has it in them to make very catchy songs with excellent rhythms and beats that don't come off sounding like hip-hop. Speaking of hip- hop, this album does feature a couple of more rap style tracks with a guest appearance by Ice Cube. While I'm not the biggest fan of rap music, I actually like these songs because they include thrashy guitars with Jonathan Davis joining in from time to time as well making things a lot more enjoyable. For the most part this is very angry and aggressive music with pissed off vocals that are very passionate and emotional. There's a lot of variety from song to song. Another song here that stands out is "All In The Family". It features Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit putting down Jonathan Davis while Jonathan attacks back with harsh words for Fred as well. They go back and forth putting each other down and it's quite hilarious. But in the end I feel that Jonathan gets the upper hand. It's songs such as this that are very original and make this album stand out so much. There isn't a bad track to be heard here. They're all lengthy for the most part and are never rushed. They blend in a lot of changing elements that keep them sounding fresh. Calm moments turn into all out fits of rage. It's all quite emotional. Korn is one of the originators of this funky heavy rock sound that many other bands have attempted to copy, but clone bands are never as good as the original. It's good to see Korn staying ahead of the game with this release. I can't wait to hear what they come up with next. But this album will hold my interest for a long time to come.
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Album: "Life Is
Peachy" (1996) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight This is the second release by Korn, and I like it a lot. Each song on this album is just as psycho as the next. This band has mastered the ability to go from extremely mellow to all out full force rage. Each song begins slow and melodic, and then explodes into screaming madness. The guitars are heavy with thrashing power chords. The bass guitar is up front to create a funky vibe. The drums slam hard to complete the insane package. The singer basically talks quietly with a slight hip-hop style, and then bursts out into screaming fits. The music of course follows right behind him. This is definitely angry and aggressive music.
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