Korn, KXM,Stillwell almost Komplete Discography Review

Korn

Korn (1994)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Heavy Metal, Nu Metal

This album really takes me back to when I was a teen, I remember when I saw the “Clown” video for the first time, it was presented on MTV by Ruth Infarinato (a famous VJ at the time of MTV Latino America), and the video blow my mind. I was starting to really get into heavy alternative music at the time, I already had albums from 311, RATM and Deftones, so Korn was the next natural step. Called up a friend of mine who lent me “Life is Peachy” that didn’t have Clown on it, but I loved it anyways. It took me a while to get this particular album, I remember poping it in the CD for the first time and my dad trying to be hip and cool said that it sounded like U2, which is the oddest musical comparison I’ve ever heard in my life, so here we go with my review of one of my favorite albums of all time, enjoy.

Vocals and Lyrics: Jonathan Davis is a very messed up individual and he's not afraid to sing about it, he tackles lyrically some pretty complicated issues, vocally he’s has a little more to grow still but he does a great job on this album. 9

Instrumentation:

Guitar: Head and Munky really have a style of the own that will grow in latter albums, that consists of riff and working with pedals to make weird noises.

Bass: Reggie has one of the most original bass playing styles in heavy metal, a low end slap technique that adds a weird funk element in Korn’s earlier work.

Drums:  Silveria does a great job on this Album. 8

Melody and/or Structure: Korn uses a basic pop/rock song structure structure but instead of a slow they will go into a break or a break down get really heavy with Jonathan screaming. This pretty much characterize Nu Metal as a genre.  10

Sound, Production and Feeling: Album sound Ok, we will have to wait till life if Peachy for them to perfect their sound.8

Songs: They are all Korn classics 12

The Bad:

                                                                                                     

Originality: Like it or not these guys change the game in the metal world 12

Overall:  58

Korn

Life is Peachy (1996)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Rap Meal

This is the first Korn album I ever got my hands on, and it made my young 16 year old skater mind explode. I remember seeing the “Clown” video on TV and I set out to get the Album that had that song and I was lent this one by mistake. I loved it right off the bat, I had never heard anything so raw, and it really scared the shit out of my parents too, so it made it super cool. So here we go with my brief review of one of my favorite albums of all times.

Vocals and Lyrics: Here we have Jonathan at his aggressive peak, he sound crazy scary at moments, he’s freaking intense. Some of the lyrics like “Kill You” are pretty sick and messed up. And I’ll let him off the hook for the two lyrical fillers K%&$! And Ass Itch, which are two songs about not knowing what to write about.   10

Instrumentation:

Guitar: Head and Munky dig deeper into their style of Riffs and weird sounds.

Bass: Fiedly plays some really good funky bass lines.

Drums: David plays some super organic and relaxed drums, adding to the funky/hip hop groove. From what I’ve read he improved most of the drums and it has a interesting impact on the songs. 7.5

Melody and/or Structure: Some interesting song structures, while in the melody department there is room to improve. 8

Sound, Production and Feeling: This is the most aggressive, violent and dark Korn album. 2015 Korn should revisit what they did on this album, especially the funky grooves.  10

Songs: Most of the songs are Korn classic, but Wicked which is an Ice Cube cover is the ultimate rap sing along, with Chino Moreno (Deftones), that gives you a break from the darkness just at the right moment. 10

The Bad: Too short.

Originality: Korn was hungry, perfecting there style, this is a great album nuff said. Oh and Thanks to ADIDAS everyone was walking around like RUN DMC fans jajajaja 10

Overall: 55.5

Korn

Follow the Leader (1998)

Genre: Nu Metal, Alternative Metal, Rap Metal

I was 17 years old when this album came out, me and my friends were freaking anticipating this production, and you had to actually  wait till the album reached the record stores to be able to listen to it, you know I actually miss those days you really appreciate music more this way. So my dad brought it to me from one of his trips to the US so I was one of the first guys to have the album and I remember just popping the album in to my disc man and It was practically stayed there for a month or two it was the only thing I would listen to, this album even change the band I was in from grunge and alternative rock, we changed our singer and when started to play alternate metal, having some pretty crazy gigs.

You know, back in the old days band videos really kicked ass and also where very anticipated you passed whole afternoons watching MTV or Much Music to see your bands videos, there was no you tube, I remembers my lead singing appear at a rehearsal tripping that he had seen the Got the Life video (which was one of the coolest videos of its time) and that it was on MTV normal rotation to our surprise, normally they would slot heavy video late at night , and we stopped what we were doing to watch TV to see the Video.  

So lets get back to business and here we go with my review of one of my favorite albums.

Vocals and Lyrics: Jonathan Davis is at the top of his game with his sick and twisted ideas and his low self esteem make a lyrical climax, vocally he’s also at his best. Also there are some vocal guest like Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube and Tre Hudson from the Pharcyde, these dude bring the Hip Hop element to the album. 10

Instrumentation:

Guitar: Heavy riff, pedal effects and weird sounds with Guitars= basic ground work for new metal guitars

Bass: Heavy slapping, Hip Hop and funk inspired bass lines and some interesting pedal effects are Fiedly’s basic weapons in his arsenal

Drums: Silveria drumming is also influenced by Hip Hop but he knows when to go into heavy mode when it’s needed 7

Melody and/or Structure: Korn actually plays a bit with the song structures on a couple of tracks having some interesting results ( this becomes a big issue on latter albums that their songs become painfully predictable) , and melody wise Head and Munky are able to interweave melody in the heaviness, which is no easy task.   9 

Sound, Production and Feeling: Korn experiments with tons of pedal effects and this album sounds heavy, very crisp and clean. 10

Songs: A very dynamic album it’s pretty long but you barely notice you get so in to it 14

Originality: Korn breaks into the mainstream with this album they are at the height of their creativity, I highly recommend this album t10 
 

Overall:  60


 Korn

Issues (1999)

Genre: Nu Metal, Alternative Metal

When I got this album, I really was let down; it seemed that the band had total sold out, the heaviness and aggression was leached out of their music or it was very watered down. It seems to be the most explicitly commercial and radio friendly Korn production in their catalogue. Now the thing is that when I finally got to see these guys live the Issue songs where the best sounding and most effective in a live set and it made me reevaluate this album and rediscover this very interesting production.

Vocals and Lyrics: Jonathan is much less aggressive on this album and he sings more in general, lyrically he writing more about the pressures of fame, he does get winy at moments.  9

Add caption

Instrumentation:

Guitar: Head and Munky display show case of good riffs, more pedal effects and much more use of melody.

Bass: Fiedly lays out some good bass lines in this album especially a really funky bass in “Hey Daddy” probably his best work in the Korn catalogue.

Drums: David slow things down very centered on heavy grooves. 7

Melody and/or Structure: Melody wise Korn is very active at moments Jonathan, Head and Munky are working together; there is a growing sophistication in this department. While in structure some of the song follows a basic Korn structure, we have Wake Up that tries to mix things up.  10

Add caption

Sound, Production and Feeling: The mix has taken much of the heavy edge, other than that Brendan O’Brian’s production is pretty good, nice and clean, this really show cases the guitar effects.  9

Songs: In general the album's tracks are great but the best song is Dirty, we can observe a band that is maturing and getting better in their composition capabilities. 13

The Bad: Some of the interludes seem a waste of time and other wasted opportunities.

Originality: Here we have a band near their creative Zenith and this album is probably one of the best Nu Metal albums to come out. 10  

Add caption

Overall:  58

Untouchables (2002)

Genre:  Nu Metal, Alternative Metal

My story with this album, is little messed up,  this production leaked about a month before its release and they were on tour and there were going to play Santiago, Chile four days before the official release, so I traveled 800 km to see them live for the first and only time and see them play these new tracks that I really liked, but Korn like total  A-holes they didn't play any tracks from this album no even "Here to Stay" that was already  on the radio, the show was great but I'm still pist that they didn't give us that treat.

So I finally got around to reviewing one of my favorite albums of alltime, this is one of Korn's darkest albums where they are able to experiment, with good results and solid songs. Jonathan sort of runs out of things to bitch about so he does move out of his  comfort lyrical zone and for the listener it a  refreshing change, not to hear him whine about how bad his life is or was , Davis also vocally tries to push himself heading for some pretty high notes. Instrumentally the band sounds great  guitars dabbles with new pedal sounds, Fiedly has a couple of good bass lines and David experiments with octa pads and drum machines.

Overall: 59.1

Korn

Take a Look in the Mirror (2003)

Genre: Nu Metal

This album is a back to basic production, we have a band that has stripped down on guitar pedals (mainly because in live shows it was starting to become an issue that there would be confusions when to use each pedal for each song) , concentrating more on heavy riffs, Fieldy's bass lines are pretty good on some of the songs and David's drums go right to the point. Jonathan's vocals are more muscular and aggressive,  this is the last album that we'll hear Davis like this, after this album he doesn't scream or yell that much.

Even though I really like this album it does sound rushed, only a year has passed from their previous album Untouchables, the songs are getting predictable ,a problem that will plague future catalogue.

Overall:  57.3

 Korn
See You on the Other Side  (2005)
Korn
See You on the Other Side  (2005)

Genre: Nu Metal, Alternative Metal, Industrial Metal

So Brian Head Welch leaves the band and the first album that the band put out after his departure is just incredible, we have a band that comes out swinging with a fantastic batch of songs that are pretty well written and the band as unit do some interesting things on an instrumental level especially Munky is able to hold is own as the lone guitar player and he writes some super riff. Jonathan explores new lyrical terrain and vocally sounds reinvigorated.
But what makes this album stand out is the production it isn't as heavy, but you have the trade-off  of having a band explore a new sound pallet, using keyboards, production tricks and a lot of attention to detail. You have Atticus  Ross future member of Nine Inch Nails working the production with The Matrix and they are able to work very well Korn exploring new musical directions, there is a true meeting of the minds on this album producing a very distinct Korn album. Another thing that I like about this album is a good use of interludes between song adding to the trippy and whimsical nature of this album.

Overall: 64

Korn

Live and Rare (2006)

Genre: Nu Metal, Alternative Metal

Today I’m going to review a Korn compilation album that is composed of live songs recorded at a show at the legendary CBGBs, a couple of other live tracks from other shows + 2 or 4 (if it’s a the special edition) rare B-sides. The live stuff sounds pretty good and the songs off “Take a look in the Mirror” album is probably the best stuff to be translated into a live set, but I most note that they play the songs exactly how they are on the album, no surprises, it’s just a little bit rawer in sound. Personally I like it when band rework their songs or jam on their live albums. There are two covers in this release  “Another Brick in the Wall” (Pink Floyd) and the "One" (Metallica) (Note it’s a shorter version), they are well played in general. Now for the rare the B-sides for this album they sort of suck, "Earache my Eye" (upss this one is also a cover from Cheech and Chong) is a hidden track on Follow the Leader, leaving "Proud", "Sean Olsen" and "I Can Remember" as the only true B-sides, but Korn has many more B-side that should have made the cut and they should have left some of the redundant live tracks out.  

Overall: 60.5

Korn

 Unplugged (2007)

Genre:  Acoustic Rock, Alternative Rock

Korn's unplugged was a fascinating experiment because it is no easy task to make their song acoustic and actually make sense, but the actually pull it off reworking their songs a bit and using a ton of interesting orchestral instruments. You have the guest appearance of Amy Lee from Evanescence on Freak on a Leash and Robert Smith from the cure on a song mashup Trash/ In between Day.
Now there are a couple missteps in this album, the version of Blind sort of sucks and you can tell that Munky struggled to pull off the solo and the Radiohead cover Creep sadly was cringe-worthy.   
Overall: 56.3

 




Jonathan Davis 

Alone I Play (2007)

Genre:   Acoustic Rock, Alternative Rock, Experimental Rock

Now here we have a very interesting solo project by Jonathan Davis that he did after Korn's unplugged, he decided to dabble deeper in this more acoustic sound and experiment with world music and jazz. Davis is sort of a dick to his bandmates in Korn with this solo project because he works with some super pro musicians that can do stuff musically that the members of Korn can't on this project, like with L Shankar an old Peter Gabriel and Sting collaborator  who plays  violin in a very dark and mysterious way and add some traditional Hindustani vocals adding that that world music vibe.  Mile Mosley with his upright bass playing brings a jazzy feel to this album, while Shane Gibson's guitar playing is very interesting. And finally we have to Korn collaborators that were touring musicians at the time Zac Baird on piano and Micheal Jochum who played percussion in Korn's live set here plays a pretty unorthodox type of drums for rock songs.
Now on this album, Jonathan plays live songs that he had made for the Queen of the Damned soundtrack and some very interesting reworked Korn songs that I love to hear them in an interpretation. So this production is a pretty adventurous affair that mostly pays off.

Overall: 63

Korn

Untitled/Korn II (2007)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Nu Metal

Yet again Korn changes their sound and style, David Silveria has left the band so they have two guests to fill in his chair surprisingly the legendary Terry Bozzio plays on most of the album. Now it’s pretty jarring progression from the last album “See You on the Other Side” just dropping the electronic aspect, going for a darker sound and mood, trying to make sophisticated songs and taking themselves pretty seriously, with the exception of the "Kiss" track. So here we go with this brief review:

Vocals and Lyrics: Jonathan does a good but nothing to mind blowing; he doesn’t land any hit material like he did in “See you on the Other Side”, Jonathan does revisit many thymes on most of this album, except for Kiss which is a big and ironic F U song to Head that had written a tell all book about his departure from the band that revealed a ton of personal stuff from the other band mates. 9  

Instrumentation:  

Guitar: The songs in general are not a Riff and Guitar driven; Munky does an Ok job holding up his own, he’s not as lost in the mix like on most of “See you on the Other Side”  

Bass: You can hear Fiedly lands a couple of armaments using his trade mark slap technique.

Drums: The drums dominate this album Brooks Wackerman (Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies, Infectous Grooves…) and Terry Bozzio ( Frank Zappa) basically steal the show from the core Korn members.

Keyboards:  Zack Baird make his first appearance playing the key boards for Korn filling the void left by Head’s departure, this is his best album with them his sound selection for the keys are great just really adding  to the songs. 8

Melody and/or Structure: The band tries to shack up their song structure they don’t use the basic Nu Metal pattern (Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Break to Heavy part, Chorus)   and they really try to make more sophisticated songs. Zack brings in a melodic aspect that really helps the song.  10

Sound, Production and Feeling: Album sounds dark and you tell that Atticus Ross  ( Nine Inch Nail, How to Destroy Angels, Tapeworm…) had a heavy hand in this album, and  you Alan Moulder another Nine Inch Nails associate at the mixing table, so you understand why this album leans closer to a Nine Inch Nail sound at moment. 10

Songs: The album is pretty solid; there is only one straight up Korn type song which is “Hold On”, one brilliant pop song “Kiss” and the rest of the  production just explores their new style. 14

The Bad: The album needs one more “Hold On” to pick up the energy level; it drags a little bit -1 

Originality: This album is really good but at moments Fiedly and Munky are just not relevant in the songs, it feels like a Jonathan Davis solo album, but the roller coaster in Korn style changes is just begging, this album gets a high score in general because even though the change is jarring the material is good not the case for future albums. 10

Overall:  60

 Korn
Korn III Remember Who You Are    (2010)
Genre: Nu Metal
There are moments on this album that I think it is a very well produced demo the guitar and lyrics just feel incomplete, Munky and Jonathan seem not being able to deliver on this production, they recycle a ton of old ideas trying to keep this album afloat. On the other hand, Fiedly's bass playing and Ray Luzier the new drummer do a fantastic job with Pop a Pill a song that really depends on these guys the only really good song off this album.

Overall: 46.3



Korn

Path to Totality 2011

Genre: Nu Metal, Electronic, Dubstep

I had no idea what the hell Dubstep was before this album and when I heard it for the first time on this album I found it pretty interesting, but the thing is I feel Korn tries this experiment because at the moment they had a total lack of interesting musical ideas or songs. The dubstep artist like Skrillex, Noisia, Downlink and other who collaborated with Korn are the ones that push this album forward because the Korn songs themselves are not the best. This album sonically is very interesting with some sick low-end bass sounds, a ton of cool effects and production tricks are used.

Overall: 57

Korn
Live at the Hollywood Palladium 2012
Genre: Dub Step Nu Metal, Alternative Metal

The concert is dived into to part the dub step stuff and there more traditional metal stuff, and the contrast doesn't serve the album they should have rework some of their older stuff with a touch of electronic mojo to give the album a common direction and hear these songs in a new light. The instrumentation sticks to just executing the songs and the electronic stuff is pretty much play back or activated with midi triggers so it all exactly the same to the album, why make a live album and Jonathan Davis's voice sound really week at moments he sound like a cranky old lady.

Overall: 46

KORN

The Paradigm Shift (The World Tour Edition; 2014)

Genre: Alternative Metal; Nu Metal  

 Ok this is my Brief review on Korn’s latest album; it’s the first one with Brain Head Welch is back on the team. This particular edition has three new songs and eight live tracks. 

Vocals and Lyrics: Jonathan Davis’s work on the album is Ok; he doesn’t bring anything new to the table, on the studio tracks. On the live part of the album he sound much better especial compared to Live at the Hollywood Palladium, his voice sounds deeper and fuller. 6.5 

Instrumentation:

Guitars: Better guitar work is good, but somewhat of a letdown I was expecting a lot more. Head guitar work and riffs on Love and Death (his solo band) was much better than this. No solos or any crazy stuff from either guitar players, they should push themselves more as artists.

Bass and Keyboards: It’s funny to see how Fiedly competes or get totally covered by the keyboards; Zachary Baird plays them and he’s not even a full on member of the band he steals the shows on a creative level. They should make this guy a full member of the band if he’s going to have such a heavy hand in the songs.   

Drums: Ray is the only member of the band that pushes himself creatively, his drums saves this album more than once from being pretty mediocre at times.  6.6

Melody/Structure: Melody wise there is some progress Head seems to save the day here, Korn without him had a hard time with this. Now the structure of the songs is a problem they’re too predictable.7

Sound, Production and Feeling: Pretty clean sound, with a lot of electronic production effects here and there.9

Songs: The album starts strong but at half of the album it just goes nowhere, the three extra tracks are just Ok and the live stuff does have some really good moments. 10

The bad: It sounds that they played it to safe, half the album is a copy of past stuff; the live tracks have some sloppy instrumentation at some specific moments. -2

Originalty: As I said nothing really new. 6                                 

Overall: 43.1

KXM (Korn, Kings'X and Lynch Mob Side Project)

KXM (2014)

Genre: Hard Rock, Alternative hard Rock, Alternative Metal.

Today I bring you guys an interesting super band  called KXM with their first self titled album, we got dUg Pinnick from Kings’X, on Vocals and bass, George Lynch ex Dokken and Lynch Mob, on guitar and Ray Luzier from Korn/ ex David Lee Roth on the drums. To start off dUg bring a bluesy and soulful vocals that are pretty interesting, but isn’t able to be lyrically consistent during the whole album, his bass playing is ok, while Lynch’s guitar playing have more of a blue influence than a metal influence in his solos, good heavy riffs in general and he does some cool stuff here and there and Ray Luzier functions much better in a hard rock context than in Korn, his playing on this album is spot on.

The Album in all aspects is pretty good, it over stays welcomes just a little, and it’s two song to long, but it would be cool to see these guys get back together to make a second album. 

Overall:  49.83

Stillwell

Raise it up (2015)

Genre: Nu Metal, Rap Metal

When I discovered that Fiedly had formed a band made a album with POD's drummer Wuv I really tripped out, I thought these guys would to able to something super cool but this album is painfully mediocre, it has nothing interesting . I would have loved for this to work but it just so generic, with zero personality. The Singer/Rapper Q-Unique is as insipid as they come and the instrumentation is just boring.

 

Overall: 31.7

Korn

The Serenity of Suffering (2016)

Genre: Nu Metal, Alternative Metal

I'm happy to say even though far from perfect I really liked this album, it a straight up fan service, the band gives  fans 13 tracks of well executed Nu Metal with no strings attached, nothing innovative but good songs. John Davis got his mojo back he sounds inspired being much more aggressive adding tons of feeling to the songs. The band itself sound much more solid and organic, Head and Monkey cooperate more (note please try to play more on the next album show that you can grow as guitar players some day), but what I like the most is the groove that Fiedly and Ray have and Luzier plays more like  David Silveria giving this album a oldschool Korn feel.

Nic Raskulinnecz productions is fantastic the  drums sound great and the electronic aspect of the band gets pushed back, still there but only adorning the songs not hijacking them, Sluggo, Zac Baird and DJ C-Minus do a good job, album sound sound dark like Untouchables. Now  the songs are predictable as hell in there structure but oddly sound fresh, some of the Nu Metal heavy breaks do kick ass showing the band still has it, overcoming the holding back  that Paradigm Shift suffered.  

ohh and Corey Taylor is a guest on one of the tracks.

 

Overall: 55 

 




Jonathan Davis

Black Labyrinth (2018)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Gothic Metal, Experimental Rock, World Music

Here we have Jonathan Davis's first formal solo album teaming up with Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit, Black Light Burns and Big Dumb Face) on guitar, Mile Mosley on bass, Zac Baird (Korn collaborator) on the keys, Ray Luzier (Korn) on the drums and we have Shenkar back on violin and backing vocals bringing that world music feel, plus we have the guest appearance of Djivan Gasparyan playing the Duduk. Now having this line-up you would think Davis would make his own personal ultimate album but its just ok, he plays it pretty safe sort of pandering to a Korn audience, half the of the album feels it could have been done better with his old bandmates and the other half is more interesting experimenting with world music.

Overall: 55




Fiedly 

Basically (2017)

Genre: Funk

Man, I was surprised to hear how bad this album is, used to admire Fiedly's playing when I was a kid when I was starting to play the bass, this album feels so amateur from Fiedly's playing  on this production I expected something much better. There are even issues with Fiedly playing a tad out of tempo, and he's pretty much a one trick pony with his badass slap but every time he moves out of that mode the album suffers not even Jonathan Davis's beatboxing can save this stinker.

Overall: Really bad