KORN — Issues (review)

KORN — Issues album cover Album · 1999 · Nu Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
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.
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Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Great review, nice to see another person who loves this album like I do. Godflesh's Songs of Love and Hate is the only album I've heard that's as genuinely depressive and misanthropic as this album is. I love nu metal as a whole and agree that it almost always goes misunderstood. Frankly I think it's often some of the most creative music in metal.

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