Korn
Issues

THE REVIEW

 "Jonathan Davis may not have created a masterpiece this time, but never before has he managed to make himself heard as in this case."

I believe that each decade, starting from the 1960s, has been vitally important for the birth and development of what we define as modern music. The '60s were the years of the new era, the '70s those of new genres (metal foremost), the '80s were the natural continuation of the previous decade, and the '90s were the years of experimentation. Excluding from the discussion, as is only fair, the sounds of the new millennium, which, rather than development, are leading to the total deficiency of masses and masses of listeners, I cannot but mention the experimental nature of KoRn. In reality, the band itself is synonymous with experimentation, as from their inception to modern times, they have always tried to take new paths, sometimes with full success.

"Issues" is perhaps the band's most experimental album from Baskerfield and at the same time their most characteristic. They move away from their primordial sound, Jonathan Davis himself is not the same as before; he is more mature, more willing to take risks, but he has not yet lost the desire to hit hard with his music. So goodbye to the "ghibberish" (Davis's singing style, which reached its peak with twist), farewell to desperate and tortured screams; now doors are open to darker, more melodic sounds, and most of the time, more "easy-listening", but not of low quality. "Issues" also marks a dividing line for a band at the entryway to a new reality, where KoRn struggles much more to be convincing: it is the swan song. However, for any listener wishing to approach the band for the first time, the album is strongly discouraged, as it's too different from the others, pushing those who hear it to fall in love with a band that, in reality, does not exist.

The album can be divided into two parts: the first includes the initial seven tracks, the second the remaining nine. The difference lies in the fact that while the first section's pieces have structures very different from each other, as you proceed, the songs start to become too similar. From this already one can understand that the further you listen, the more the overall quality decreases (although never falling below adequacy). An exclusive feature of this new work is the interludes, five in total, sprinkled throughout the album, as brief as they are interesting. Particularly "4U", a heartfelt song of less than two minutes, evokes a mix of melancholy and resignation in the listener. As for the songs, it must be said that this time the four from Baskerfield have chosen well the singles to extract: the crowning jewels of an already overall optimal album. "Falling Away From Me", "Make Me Bad", and "Somebody Someone" were the only good reason to stay constantly tuned to MTV in 1999. On one hand, we have the opening track ("Falling Away..."), which alone encapsulates everything contained in the album, claiming itself as a phenomenon never repeated in KoRn's entire musical career; on the other hand, we have track 11 ("Somebody Someone"), a perfect combination of melody and aggression, brilliantly avoiding the banal throughout its duration. "Beg For Me" is also fascinating, which, although it does not stand out among the band's greatest works, charms thanks to its blatant aggressiveness, becoming a perfect anthem for headbangers. Then we arrive at the so-called second part of the album. To be clear, nothing particularly blameworthy overall, but one cannot fail to notice the purely filler nature of these last tracks, further highlighted by the fact that the group wrote, recorded, and produced their longest album to date in just over a year.

Generally, the pattern followed by the pieces in question is typical of nu-metal tracks, but presented in reverse; thus we have verses characterized by calm and melodically dominant riffs, suddenly destroyed by frenzied and sonorously heavy choruses. From this, one realizes another obvious aspect: it is anger that is the true protagonist of "Issues", permeating every track with all its facets. One can choose between the "desperate" anger of "No Way" and the merciless fury of "Let's Get The Party Started", or the sadistic rage of "Wake Up" and that mixed with resignation of "Counting"; it's up to the listener in this case to decide which piece to make their own. That's that.

With "Issues", a window was opened that, unfortunately, closed forever with the release of "Untouchables." A sort of "psycho-somatic" music, a "delirium metal", an album that makes you feel on your own skin all the emotions it desires... and they are not feelings of joy. Jonathan Davis may not have created a masterpiece this time, but never before has he managed to make himself heard as in this case. 

Rating: 7