Unitron Take a Look in the Mirror is a bit of a weird album in terms of how it places in Korn's discography. Instead of acting as a branch between the moody and trip hop inspired Issues and Untouchables to See You on the Other Side's industrial crunch, there's nothing electronic at all. It does have some of the melody of Untouchables, but a rawness more in line with the first couple albums. There's even a rap metal song in the middle of the album like Life is Peachy, this time with Nas instead of Chino.

This is one of their albums that I've listened to the least, but it's really only because of how amazing what it sits between. While it's not as consistent as its two predecessors or two following albums, there's some favorites of mine on here. Did My Time opens with a sludgy riff right out of a Floor album, and a beautifully haunting bridge. Everything I've Known and When Will This End follow suit. The sarcastic middle-finger Y'all Want a Single is a classic jumpdafuckup banger. Fieldy's bass rattles like crazy on this album, yet the tone is so deep.

An underrated album that I should listen to more often.

LightningRider I don't have to tell you that nu metal is one of the most radio-oriented genres of all time, and that it's criticized commonly because of its reputation. Ironically, so is alternative rock in general, and yet, even modern plain alternative albums are often cited as the greatest albums of the modern age. I feel that this is because nu metal is simply misunderstood. I'm not a big fan of the genre, but I believe every genre is an artform. Korn created the genre, so it qualifies as their sound. Shouldn't their sound be less treated as a radio-sellout style than the emulators?

I saw a review that claimed that Korn's Issues was the "OK Computer of nu metal." This meant that it's one of the top albums in its scene because it's so good. I found myself agreeing with that notion upon the third and fourth visits to Issues. Both albums are a bit repetitive but still take new and interesting deviations from the traits of the genre to become its own thing. Korn forsakes much of the funk and avant-garde of the first two Korn albums and includes downtempo, trip hop and industrial sounds for the sake of a new, more serious and emotional vibe. Jonathan Davis, the singer, is an expert at expressing the pain that the youth can go through. He knows it inside and out. This shows more strongly on Issues than any other Korn album save maybe The Nothing. And the ambiance of the album brings it out, relating to the distressed teenage soul in ways nu metal bands across the world never try to achieve.

If you don't like nu metal, I can understand. But I firmly believe that Issues is an alternative necessity and that it touches the soul in ways that needed to be expressed at the time, and still need to be expressed today. The Korn debut album might have kickstarted this alternative subgenre, but Issues perfected it.

Unitron Korn always change it up a bit on every album they put out, but Untitled especially sticks out as a particularly unique album within their discography and metal as a whole. I've always loved this album yet had a hard time describing it. It's noisy, it's melodic, it's heavy, it's eclectic, and more.

Songs like Starting Over, Evolution, Hold On, and Ever Be are instant classics with soaring bittersweet melodies, moody keyboards, atmospheric riffs and especially Ever Be's grandiose finale. Killing is a perfect example though of all the places the album will go. The pounding yet off-beat industrial percussion that opens it up reminds me of the Thought Industry song Cornerstone, the melodies and electronic undertones are of 80's goth nature, and the song closes with a blistering pure death metal finish.

and speaking of finish, I Will Protect You is up there with My Gift to You and Dirty as one of the band's best closing tracks. There's a brief bagpipe intro, constant ominous atmosphere, great melodies, crazy percussion, thunderous doom riffing bridge, sci-fi sounding ending, and like Killing another song that shows off the album's mix.

Untitled is like no other album I've heard, and one that defies a lone genre.

Unitron Untouchables is faced with that unfortunate fate of such an ugly album cover that it took a while for me to actually listen to this album. That was unfortunate for me, because it's an incredible album and among my favorites of theirs.

It continues from the depressive gloom metal of Issues, but with even more chugging grooves to contrast with the sadness. I love albums where every song immediately gets my head banging as soon as it starts, and Korn does that all the while tugging at my heartstrings. It's such an interesting contrast, but they always manage to pull it off like no other.

Here to Stay, Blame, Bottled Up Inside, Thoughtless, Hating, Embrace, and the Ministry meets NIN-esque industrial metal of Wake Up Hate are all among my favorites and nail the aforementioned sound I described perfectly. My absolute favorite though, and maybe among my top five Korn songs, is Beat Me Upright. I don't think I've heard any song that sounds as fucking massive as this, even the beefiest Obituary, Meshuggah, or even other Korn albums haven't made my speakers boom with bass as much as this!

A fantastic balance of heaviness and melody, be careful of whiplash!

Unitron With Follow the Leader, Korn once again creates a unique album different from the last. In some ways, it does follow the noisier Life is Peachy, but more ideas make it sound like a transitional album. It's On! fittingly opens the album with a great 'jumpdafuckup' banger, and then it's anything goes from there.

Successful singles Got the Life and Freak on a Leash are almost dance metal, bringing to mind certain goth-new wave songs of the 80's, while most of the second half follow a different sound. They mix the screeching and noisy groove of the previous two albums with a moodier and depressive sound that would take complete form on the fantastic album that would follow.

Reclaim My Place, Justin, Seed, My Gift to You, and hidden track cover of Earache My Eye, these all strike that great transitional sound. Seed especially balances a dark Cypress Hill-esque sounding production with a fantastic chorus, perfectly blending crushing heaviness with some of the band's best melodies. My Gift to You sounds like a doom metal song, done in the style that only Korn can do. It's a great finale to the album, before the hidden track. The cover of Earache My Eye has always reminded me of Cathedral but with the Korn bass sound, whoever's doing vocals has a similar exuberance to Cathedral's Lee Dorian. Cameltosis with Tre Hardson from hip hop group The Pharcyde is probably one of the band's strangest songs, but once it hits it really does. Closest comparison is something from an alternate universe The Real Thing.

Unfortunately there are a couple songs that I'm not a fan of and/or feel out of place. Rap metal battle All in the Family and Children of the Korn, the latter with one of the most laughably bad intros I've ever heard, courtesy of Ice Cube. I don't want to spoil it, listen to it yourself and have a good laugh. All in the Family has actually grown on me a bit, but being an intentionally comedic song it would've fit better as another hidden track like the Earache My Eye cover.

While maybe the weakest of Korn's classic 90's albums, it's still obviously an excellent album. Cut out the little bit of filler, and this would be as fantastic as the rest as it holds some of their best songs.

Larry Sakin Documentaries about rock bands work on a formula. First, we have the all important formative years of the band, where we learn how the group struggled to learn their craft. Interviews with the band members, record company hacks, managers and DJs that cleared the way for eventual superstardom follow, giving the viewer a portrait of the turmoil, joy, and excesses that come with success. And finally, we have the where-are- they-now or what’s-to-happen with them sequence, which is supposed to answer the all important questions fans are supposed to have.

Steal This DVD, an unauthorized biography of the band Korn, is another in a long line of heavily formulaic views of a band that changed the rock world forever. But there are some differences here. At least with the other documentaries, you can listen to the bands music while the grand story unfolds, and possibly hear early interpretations of the songs that catapulted the band onto rock n’ roll radio. But because of some sticky licensing problems, viewers of Steal This DVD won’t even attain this modicum of satisfaction. The background music is eerily similar to that of Korn, but is just another copycat band grinding away.

So what we’re left with is a cut-and-paste production of other people interviewing the band, a lot of still photos of individual group members, and a great deal of detail on growing up in Bakersfield, California.

I’ve been to Bakersfield, and believe me, it’s no mystery why a group of guys from that dusty Central Valley area would produce the intensely angry funk-metal chords Korn is known for. Still, it occurs to me that major fans of Korn would already know how the damaging effects of a conservative California city impacted these superheroes of nu-metal. In fact, it’s hard to imagine there is any content on Steal This DVD that might illuminate Korn fans any more about the dark mystique that surrounds the band.

And if you don’t know very much about the group and their humble beginnings, maybe the time is right to really listen to singer-songwriter Jonathan Davis’ lyrics, because everything you need to know is right there. Davis has joined the ranks of songwriters who willingly split open their veins and bleed their madness onto an empty page, much like Kurt Cobain before him.

So I’m not really sure who the producers of Steal This DVD are looking to market this documentary to. Maybe they think there are enough die-hard fans out there that obsessively collect anything with the Korn brand on it, or that there are even more naive kids so unfamiliar with what makes Korn the brilliant band they are and need some kind of instructional DVD to help them “get it.” Whatever their direction may be, I think the producers are in for a huge surprise.

It would be so much better if the people who pumped these damned things out really thought like real fans do. They’d actually produce some interesting and entertaining packages that music lovers would appreciate. But unfortunately, the entertainment business too often conforms to the “biggest bang for a buck” theory, and cashes in by promoting anything that has a big-named group attached to it.

Consider this a caveat emptor, Korn fans. This trashy documentary won’t satisfy you until the next Korn release. Save your money, and listen to Life Is Peachy instead.