Band:	Korn
Album:	Korn
Style:	Nu metal
Release date:	October 11, 1994
A review by:	Herzebeth

01. Blind
02. Ball Tongue
03. Need To
04. Clown
05. Divine
06. Faget
07. Shoots And Ladders
08. Predictable
09. Fake
10. Lies
11. Helmet In The Bush
12. Daddy

Back in the old days when everything was easier and flowers were brighter and people weren't as "we're so Tr00 and Br00tall?" as today, some Californian guys decided to release an album so different and fresh that people first loved and then bizarrely hated deeply. That band is called Korn, but you all know this band already, so let me write about this, their first effort ever.

I can't recall the first time I heard this album and that's quite irrelevant, the fact that still when I hear it I go "Damn?these guys were cool" is absolutely significant (at least for me) because there are few albums, maybe 5 or 6, that after more than 10 years I still say those words if you know what I mean. This album is not technical, it hasn't amazing layers, there are no complex solos and even the lyrics are quite predictable; but it has overwhelming strength and the most amazing violent power I've heard in a Nu-Metal band, and maybe that was the primary feature you know? While other bands were focusing in being all progressive, elaborated and convoluted, Korn appeared and said, "We have cool music that's all" (the same thing happened when Nirvana arrived remember?) so most guys immediately ran to buy this album and found exactly what they were looking for.

I'm not saying these youngsters did things stupidly just to sound hostile, they knew how to arrange structures and how to create catchy songs without sounding cheesy, so as you can see, even when they weren't technical they were marvelous in the songwriting department. Most tracks have a different pace, irregular beats and some other interesting characteristics which entertain the listener from the beginning to the very end. As I already said, the lyrical content is quite childish, they talk about weird fag teenager problems then they add lines like "you're suffering because of me, it's divine"; but what the hell, I love Suffocation, Torsofuck and Cannibal Corpse and they talk about raping dead girls or about eating some random fat chick's feces, so I guess I'm not the proper person to talk about childish lyrics.

This is Korn my dear friends, they are the pioneers of a genre I don't care if you like it or not, but this is a band who didn't hesitate to experiment with new forms of music, and I really respect them for that I mean they even added Bagpipes for fuck's sake, not to mention this is maybe the only Nu-Metal band who never went backwards in their career, they keep releasing good albums and are, to this day, one of the most important bands in contemporary music call it rock, metal, pop, country or salsa it would be the same for me and for many people all around the world.

Best Tracks: "Ball Tongue", "Shoots And Ladders", "Daddy", "Clown", "Blind"