Product Description

"Are you readyyyy?!" With that question--an inquiry that begins as a growl and ends as a scream--Jonathan Davis provides a fitting beginning to this searing collection of relentless, metallicised thrash/funk. His question is well-posed; this is not music for the faint of heart. Producer Ross Robinson and Korn have found a formula that works: start with a layer of fuzz-soaked guitar, add some big beats, and finish the whole construct off with a healthy dose of Davis's tortured vocals.
This is dark music, scary music. It's also occasionally funky music. "Ball Tongue", with its stop/start syncopation, tinny guitar whine, and stripped-down-to-the-bone verse, is a perfect encapsulation of the Korn style. The track also contains a trace of (gasp!) Hip-Hop flavour, but youwon't be hearing this L.A. quartet on the dance floor any time soon. Their assault is severe, fueled with explosive bursts of guitar a la Metallica, as well as frenetic tempo changes reminiscent of Faith No More. The themes are frustration, alienation, pain, explored the way a bulldozer might peruse a patch of daisies.
Through songs like "Divine", where guitar and drums intertwine to form a sinewy, intricate rhythmic pulse, and "Fake", in which Davis's voice alternates between a dreamy sing-song and a demonic roar, Korn amply displays both their musicianship and their rage. But the disc's most startling moment is the last. "Daddy", in which the farthest reaches of human cruelty and depravity are held up andjudged by an abused child, begins with a haunting surprise--and ends in an emotional meltdown, a final purge, with Davis sobbing, screaming, "You ruined my life!" Korn exorcises their demons the only way they know how--with music.

Track Listing

1. Blind
2. Ball Tongue
3. Need To
4. Clown
5. Divine
6. Faget
7. Shoots And Ladders
8. Predictable
9. Fake
10. Lies
11. Helmet In The Bush
12. Daddy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6905 in Music
• Released on: 2002-12-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.co.uk Review
Combining the stop-start rhythms of Helmet, the hip-hop assault of Rage Against the Machine and the brooding vocals of Faith No More, Bakersfield, California band Korn concocted a golden formula that would reanimate the dormant corpse of heavy metal. The band's self-titled debut is a teenage-fantasy-endorphin-rush--a subversive noisefest as angry and hostile as Slayer but with a propulsive groove perfect for skateboarding, vandalism, or jumping up and down until you're nauseous. Songs like "Blind", "Clown", and "Shoots and Ladders" blend dark, bleak riffs with head-spinning guitar effects and scream-and-response choruses. But even at their most vitriolic, Korn imbue their blustery music with a cathartic element of fun. --Jon Wiederhorn

Customer Reviews

Mixed Up!
I think a lot of the below reviews were supposed to be posted on the page for their recent album - Untitled. This is actually their eponymous debut album first released in 1994. It is ultramegawickedsickmint!

Maturing in style.....
KoRn have matured well - I thought with Head leaving the fold that the sound would be affected...and....it was....it got more raw and experimental and actually BETTER......there are a couple of fillers...but plenty of KILLERS......buy it you won't regret it....!

Different, but still Brilliant
As a long-time Korn fan (and I've got the balding head to prove it, lol) I have gone through all the changes in the bands history and while they've had their good and bad moments, I've enjoyed most of the stuff they have produced and, IMO, this album deserves to be put up there with their best. I started to worry they were losing their edge with 'Take a Look in the Mirror' and 'See You On the Other Side', but this album has restored my faith in a big way. Experimental, and much the better for it, the sound is new, but still definitely Korn.

From the haunting Intro and storming opening track 'Starting Over', that dissolves into the haunting emotion we love from Jonathan Davis, you know you're in for something great. 'Evolution' and 'Hold On' hark back to the older stuff and will keep the MTV brigade happy, but the standouts, for me at least, are the amazing 'Innocent Bystander', the afore-mentioned 'Starting Over' and the scarily haunting 'Hushabye'.

All-in-all an absolutely outstanding album that any forward thinking Korn fan, and any other 'experimental music' fan, should love. This is the culmination of the changes the band were trying to show on SYOTOS and to see it work so well gives me great hope for the future. See you all down the front on their UK tour in January!