Following Korn's Lead

The result was Korn; a manifestation of heavy music that made the likes of Metallica and Black Sabbath sound their age.

In response to the tsunami of disciples trying to recreate Korn's sound, the band follows up 1996's platinum selling "Life is Peachy" with its third album titled - appropriately enough - "Follow The Leader."

On its latest offering, Korn picks up where "Life is Peachy" left off and infuses its music with more memorable vocal lines, harder guitar riffs and electronic embellishment.

What results is 13 brutally catchy songs. But catchy is definitely the operating word here, as songs like "Freak on a leash," "Dead Bodies Everywhere" and "Got the life," which is already getting heavy radio and MTV airplay, are exactly the kinds of tunes that go on repeat in your head during important lectures.

Singer Jonathan Davies opts to emphasize more singing this time around, but loses none of his sinister charm. Older Korn fans should not worry, however, as Davies' patented manic "Tazmanian-scat cat" vocal styling is still prevalent here in choice places.

Korn
Follow the Leader Epic/Sony Music 4 stars Reviewed by Daily Arts Writer Adlin Rosli

The guitar sound experimentation of guitarists Head and Munky, that was in its infancy on the first album, comes to full jagged elegance this time around. The massively detuned guitars are again juxtaposed in songs with guitar sounds of an other worldly nature that evoke keyboard-like and hip-hop atmospheres.

Drummer David and bassist Fieldy are not to be outdone either, as they create some of the funkiest and tightest grooves this side of Bootsy Collins.

Complementing Korn's unorthodox heavy music approach are a bunch of unorthodox guests on the record. Among the guests include original gangsta rapper Ice Cube, who collaborates here on "Children of the Korn," and Cheech Marin who appears on the hidden track "Earache My Eye," a cover of the Cheech and Chong classic.

With "Follow the Leader," Korn manages to stay true to its original sound while gradually expanding it towards some previously unchartered territory.

Korn has proven themselves worthy exponents of the new age of heavy music and is set to lead this form of music into the next millennium.

09-09-98