KORN - 'Korn'
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"Awesome", "killer", "cool" and "fucking amazing!" are just four of the expressions used by Machine Head main man Robb Flynn to describe Korn. Months back, the man shouted his praises to anyone within 10 miles. After a delay that will probubly only add to the bands cult stature, the UK finally gets to hear the cause of Flynns frantic fits basically if you like Pantera, Rage against the machine, prong and/or Nine Inch Nails, then you've already established common ground with Korn. Their intoxicatingly dark noise takes cues from all these bands.
It's a damaging combination. From Pantera and Prong, these californians take the odd riff, and the general aggression. From Rage, they appear to have learnt the art of great dynamics - to suddenly take the pace down low, then bring it back up and detonate it in the listners face. See the blistering 'Faget', where singer Jonathan Davis roars, 'All my life who am I?!'.
His voice overflows with cracked, frustrated emotion, often lapsing into uncontrollable screams like a mental ward regular, and this is where the Trent Reznor comparison rears its head. you can almost see the veins throbbing on the man's forehead.
There are personal demons her that wouldn't look out of place in 'The Evil Dead'. Davis, does however, vary his approach, depending on how psychotic/neurotic/any-thing-ending-in-'otic' he's feeling at the time, sometimes he tears through a twisted rap, sometimes he adopts a subtile, aching moan, other times, he tears through twisted rap, sometimes he adopts a subtle, aching moan, other times, he just shouts his bollocks off. But whatever he's doing , it sounds painful.
Korn have also injected their own special insanity into the music, crafting a horribly slazy gutar sound that matches their bleek outlook on life. At points its hard to tell which is gutar and whitch is a bass. Sickeningly down-tuned riffs are then hooked with bizarre squeals of guitar noise, sounding like nothing other than kittens in a microwave. If primus became deranged serial killers, they might sound like Korn. 'Blind', the album's opener, will surely become equivalent to Rage Against The Machine's signature hit 'Killing In The Name'. Introducing us perfectly to the band's quirky bruising ways, it's a textbook example of build-and-release rock. A light hi hat rhythm gets rhythmically stabbed by a guitar scrape, before exploding into one of the year's most bass-heavy riffs. 'Korn' may occasionally waver below this high standard over the course of it's 65 minutes, but then this is just the beginning. There are five new freaks on the block.
Everything you need to know about KORN.
Formed: 1993 in Huntington Beach, California.
Previous LP's: None.
Biggest Hit: No singles released thus far but the video for Blind has gone down a storm on MTV.
Current line-up: Jonathon Davis (Vocals/Bagpipes), Fieldy (Bass), J Munky Shaffer (Guitar), Brian
(Guitar/Vocals), David (Drums).
Studio Vibe: The album was recorded at Indigo Ranch Studios, Malibu. Although you'd think it to be
frought with tention on first listen, a between-song snippet of Korn having a laugh suggests otherwise.
Cover of LP: A small girl sitting on a swing, with a menacing, Freddy Krueger-like figure standing over
her.
Dodgy Subject Matter for LP: Hatred, self-loathing, angust and paranoia, your everyday
common-or-garden head-fucks.
Next Move: Following there recent LA2 (rock club) show with Paw, a
full U.K. tour is planned for early next year.
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