Korn
Follow The Leader

THE REVIEW

A beautiful album for some, a break with the beginnings and a commercial turn for others, how this "Follow The Leader" can be described multiple times as one of Korn's best albums is a true mystery!

Here, from the sound of the first two splendid albums, the self-titled masterpiece debut and the excellent "Life is Peachy," there is very little. The metal rich in groove and rhythm is replaced by boastful rap-rock collaborations and a certain nu-metal like Limp Bizkit. It barely passes only because of the first three mas-ter-pie-ces, namely the explosive crossover strikes of "It's On," the explosive anger of "Freak On A Leash," and the perfectly fitting groove of the main riff of "Got The Life." Especially the awful collaborations are mediocre starting from the Davis/Fred Durst duet (Limp Bizkit) "All In The Family" which couldn't be more vomit-inducing, "Children Of The Korn" with Ice Cube is a scandal, not to mention "Cameltosis" which features another rapper I don’t even know, things get a bit better with good tracks like "My Gift To You", "Seed" and "Reclaim My Place" which resume the mad groove discussion of "Life Is Peachy," while the remaining "B. B. K.", "Justin", "Dead Bodies Everywhere" and "Pretty" are mediocre and frankly ugly. For almost the entire album Munky and Head seem overly drugged and limit themselves to silly effects and one-second scratched chords, but where have the beautiful, full, compact Pantera/Sepultura/Slayer-style riffs from the first and second albums gone?

There's nothing to criticize about the legendary Fieldy, he and his bass always do the best in every Korn album, Davis is less angry and his voice suffers, settling on calmer tones (with due exceptions, just listen to the senseless psychotic groans of "Freak On A Leash" and "BBK"), David doesn't seem very motivated, but as always he's precise as a Swiss clock, precision that makes him a good drummer. I would like to remind that the first 12 silent tracks are not due to superstition or other similar nonsense I've heard, it's official that together they form a minute of silence for the death of Justin, a fan of theirs who wanted to meet Korn before he died, and whom they even dedicated the eponymous song to on this "Follow The Leader."

Of course, there were production and mixing problems, but "FTL" is not the best that the Bakersfield group can present under the current circumstances, the same sequel "Issues" will be much darker, heavier, and musically more beautiful.