Unitron "All I want in life is to be happy"

While twenty years later, The Nothing presents itself as perhaps my second favorite Korn album, there's no beating Issues. It's one of those artist-defining albums, emotionally powerful and including everything that I connect with the band.

It's an album drenched in misery and sorrow, both lyrically and atmospherically. The bagpipe intro of Dead perfectly sets the mood, with the unsettling chanting of 'All I want is to be happy' combined with the defeatist lyrics of the rest of the intro. As with most Korn albums, Jonathan Davis' vocal performance really drives the emotions exuded. Somebody Someone and Dirty are a couple of the main highlights on this end.

Along with Godflesh's Songs of Love and Hate, Issues is one of the darkest metal albums I've heard. The two albums are actually pretty similar in some ways. Both are enveloped in this depressive and hopeless atmosphere, yet contrast it with fantastic grooves and hooks that keep it immensely enjoyable in any mood. Falling Away From Me, Beg for Me, Wake Up, and Counting all display this perfectly.

Korn has many fantastic and excellent albums, but Issues stands out as perhaps my favorite. It's one of those albums that just hits the perfect balance of cathartic and catchy.

aglasshouse After a chain of successful releases, the nu-metal band Korn turned their eyes to a new millennium. The 21st century was dawning and it was dawning fast, and many bands were changing to fit the possibility of an overhaul of popular music. The boys of Korn remained steadfast and released Issues in the year 1999. The album itself is not un-similar to their debut, perhaps with a slight tinge of more quasi-class than of the two albums that lie uncomfortably between them. There is a bit more concentration of writing that the band spent more brainpower and less emotion on, which is good for any fans welcome for a more mainstream turn from the albums prior. Aggression is still present of course; Davis' strained belting screams meld indubitably well with the rough grungy crunch of Korn's signature haphazard riffing. A difference with this albums is the quality of both vocal and guitar hooks, both of which have improved to a great degree, featuring catchier songs with more relistenability. Lyrically, the album sticks to the formula of dark imagery, such as child abuse, masochism, and other lovely things like that. Honestly you'd gotta be a bit sick in the head to like Korn; luckily enough I am as such.

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.

Doomster At the stakes of risking my reputation, I must admit that I do like a few nu metal bands - and Korn is one of them. Personally, I believe that Korn gets an undeserved amount of bad rep amongst much of the metal community, and as their discography progressed, this claim was further added on to by people who disliked the band.

Now, I'm not going to say that all nu metal haters are elitists - it's just that many of them seem to despise the genre for it simply being a, well, genre, and I can safely say that that is rather low, especially if one considers themselves dense enough to completely disregard a band or an artist merely due to the category the band falls under.

Though many claim that Korn got stale after their first two albums (and while I do agree with the fact that their third album wasn't great, I did like a few songs, most primarily the singles), I beg to differ for the main part. "Issues", while different in style, was also a turning point for the group.

"Issues" is possibly my favorite Korn album (and the last one that I really enjoyed, to be honest). This isn't a "typical" Linkin Park style snoozefest nu metal album. It is actually genuinely dark, grimy, and is quite possibly the most disturbing nu metal record I have ever heard. Even if you are a devout hater of the nu metal genre, it is nearly impossible to deny the sludgy, filthy, and hopelessly lethargic feel of the record. This album was probably where Jonathan was at the peak of his depression, and it shows in both the lyrics and the music.

Aforementioned lyrics follow a pattern of sex obsession, alcoholism, feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness, and various mental...well, issues. There is little to no hope to be found in this album - much like Khanate's self titled album or Nine Inch Nails' "The Downward Spiral", it's a look into the broken, shattered remains of a diseased, infected mind. The music itself compliments the lyrics - creepy, lethargic, and overall incredibly paranoid sounding, useless (in a good way), tortured, and even somewhat...fragile.

My favorite song here would probably be "Trash", the third song, and besides the final track on this album ("Dirty"), it is probably where the record is at it's highest (err, lowest?) peak of hopelessness. It's heavy, angry, fucked up and covers heavy themes such as alcoholism, sex obsession, pedophilia and self loathing. When I hear this song, I feel like I've just been dumped out into a back alley in the middle of nowhere, lying next to a destroyed garbage can with scattered, rotting remains and a rainstorm thundering down miserably in the dead of night. And the smell is unbearable, too.

It's obvious Korn stopped fucking around with this album. It was probably the closest Korn came to being a "real" metal band, and any lack of seriousness or care-freeness is gone with this record. Even if you consider yourself a nu metal hater, I'd still try and listen to a few songs here. It might change your mind. I know it did for me.

Oh, the cover art is pretty neat, too.