Korn
Issues

THE REVIEW

The influence of bands that are musically quite distant from themselves and the search for experimental sounds has always been quite evident in Korn.

With "Follow The Leader", there is a noticeable shift towards the typical sounds of Limp Bizkit, "Untouchables" turned out to be a very experimental album and difficult to listen to, even if not bad, "Take A Look In The Mirror" sees the influence of Korn from nine years before. The most evident case is the unexpected turn of "See You On The Other Side", whose melodies slightly wink at Nine Inch Nails (despite never having heard a hint of melody in NIN. It might be the drummer who seems to be playing a Mondialcasa drum set, the keyboards that remind me a lot of the cut-and-paste of dance music, or maybe Reznor doesn't even know where metal lives...).

"Issues" instead represents a rather transitional point, published in 1999, a year after "Follow The Leader", the album with which Korn had definitively plunged into the commercial realm without ever really leaving it and without completely selling out their music, though they came close. It is in this metallic-commercial atmosphere that "Issues" is produced. The most evident features are the electronic nuances, a prelude to the Industrial atmospheres of "Untouchables", and a great hardening of the sound compared to FtL, although far from the devastating hardness of the origins and to a lesser extent from that of the two subsequent albums.

The predominant emotion in this album seems to be sadness: the wonderful intro Dead begins by saying "all I want in life is to be happy" with an almost cheerful tone. This is where the dark Falling Away From Me begins, a very well-made track, alongside the repetitive but good Trash, which confirms the impressions from the first two tracks, namely a different stylistic imprint of this group, which never makes two albums with the same sound. Then comes the first of the various dark and claustrophobic interludes of this album, some of which, like the present 4U, are not very fitting. It kicks off again with Beg for Me, a song with a tight and engaging rhythm, followed by Make Me Bad, one of Korn's most commercial and less violent songs, which is considered very beautiful by some and a real flop by others. Wake Up is a rather nice track, neither disgraceful nor too praiseworthy, and the same goes for the passionate Hey Daddy. With Somebody, Someone we find another one of Korn's most commercial songs, certainly not a masterpiece but a very good song capable of combining dark melodies with heavy sound.

No Way follows somewhat in the footsteps of the wonderful Need To from five years earlier. Although it doesn't reach its beauty, the guitar riffs manage here too to evoke the emotions of a dark, oppressive, and looming atmosphere, creating one of the best songs on the album. Let's Get This Party Started is also very dark and violent, a good track that preludes the two fantastic closing songs of the album: Counting and Dirty. The first features perfect riffs and an excellent drum work, making it a great song that, however, cannot compare to Dirty: the right music to describe a nightmare, where hate, anger, and a bit of fear mix, taking your breath away.

Therefore, this is a good album, that intentionally manages to convey the sadness and the anger that characterize Korn, although not with the same effectiveness as other works of the group. An album that is very unique, certainly not a masterpiece, but difficult to replicate, in conclusion a work more than sufficient.

PS: I know there were already three reviews of "Issues", but they seemed to be done by kindergarten kids. Sorry for the digression on Nine Inch Nails, but CyCoCiccio was much faster than me, and also for the not very elegant terms of my first review.