Korn - Follow The Leader Review

Korn Follow The Leader

dig it

full review

Tracklist:
13. It's On!
14. Freak On A Leash
15. Got The Life
16. Dead Bodies Everywhere
17. Children Of The Korn
18. B.B.K.
19. Pretty
20. All In The Family
21. Reclaim My Place
22. Justin
23. Seed
24. Cameltosis
25. My Gift To You

Ranking: #115 for 1998

user rating

3.4
great

Chart.

other reviews

barosjn (5)
...

lewish440 (4)
very good album but occasionally lacks variety...

related

Korn

Take A Look in the Mirror

Issues

recommended by reviewer

Korn Korn

members also liked

System of a Down Toxicity
System of a Down Mezmerize
Slipknot Slipknot
System of a Down System of a Down
Slipknot Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
System of a Down Hypnotize
Slipknot Iowa
System of a Down Steal This Album!

On 19 Lists

2.5
average

Kit Brown CONTRIBUTOR (89 Reviews)

2005-11-07 | 79 comments | 7,882 views

Summary: Korn begins experimenting and misses more times than they hit.

4 of 4 thought this review was well written

Korn � Follow the Leader

You�ve come across this band at one point or another, believe me. They are the inventers of the oh-so controversial genre of nu-metal. This band combines incredibly down tuned guitars, angsty lyrics from Jonathan Davis, and a driving rhythm section. Critically, this album was their best album, but most Korn fans would disagree. This album was very experimental, as it allows lots of times for the element of hip-hop to stand out. There are guest appearances from Ice Cube, Fred Durst, and more.

The band:
Head � Guitar
Munky � Guitar
Fieldy � Bass
David Silveria � Drums
Jonathan Davis � Vocals

The first thing you�ll notice is that the band doesn�t start right away on the first track. In fact, you won�t hear anything until some bizarre guitar effects enter in track thirteen, otherwise known as �It�s On!� As implied by the title, this is a song that gets you pumped up because of the constant chugging riffs in the chorus. During the verse the band does their signature weird effects with the guitars until the heaviness continues again in the chorus. If you�ve heard any bit of Korn at all, you�ve heard something like this before. It�s very recycled and nothing special happens at all.

The next song is one of Korn�s finest moments and the album�s highlight, �Freak on a Leash�. Every member of the bands gets to have a moment to shine, and the song never loses its energy. The lyrics are what you�d expect them to be, angsty and a little immature. But hey, it fits the song and it�s good to hear something like this once in a while. It makes for a good stress reliever. The interlude is very interesting, where Davis makes some very strange noises similar to the song �Twist� which goes on for several bars until the heavy, headbanging breakdown kicks in. It�s simple, but incredibly powerful. The band really got it right with this song. The band takes no time to rest and quickly enters into the album�s other single, �Got the Life�. The intro isn�t anything too special, but the verse is quite catchy and I can�t help but bob my head to it whenever it comes on. Besides the verse, the song essentially goes nowhere and is a fairly weak song.

�Dead Bodies Everywhere�, judging from the title, is going to be a rather intense track. The soft, haunting intro goes on for a while until some insanely overdriven guitars piledrive you with some headbanging riffs. The verse returns back to the intro with the scary and softer sounding guitars while Davis rants on about his messed up childhood. The interlude is fun to listen to, as it is chock full of silly sounding guitar parts and funky bass with wah effects on it. This song was rather experimental with its sound and worked. It�s another highlight of the album. Remember when I said that the album had some hip-hop parts in it? The next song �Children of the Korn� is the first real example of this happening. Featuring Ice Cube, this song still stays fairly heavy while Davis adds creepy backing vocals while Ice Cube raps about some fairly stupid things. It�s laughable because I honestly can�t take this track seriously. There�s nothing really special that happens in this song, and skipping it isn�t a bad decision at all.

�B.B.K.� has some guitars with quirky effects on them during the intro. The verse is pretty dumb sounding, but the chorus recovers and delivers the heavy goods that Korn always gives during this point in the song. I wish they didn�t follow the same format in this song, because this sounds like �Got the Life�. Like I said, the heavy parts are fun to listen to, but the verses are tedious and recycled. If you really like Korn then check this out, but otherwise just stay away and you won�t miss anything. �Pretty� is the same song you just heard. Absolutely nothing happens that really caught my ear, and it�s definitely a song you can skip. They should have just taken this off because it serves no purpose.

�All in the Family� returns to the rap-metal side of Korn but this time Limp Bizkit�s Fred Durst. This song is a total joke, but that�s how the band made it out to be. The rhymes by Durst are so incredibly awful that you�ll laugh at them just about every time you hear them. Davis� retorts are actually good and make Durst look like a total joke, which will appeal to just about anyone. The only problem that I have with this track is the screamy chorus because the lyrics are just so dumb and Durst can�t scream to save his life. Other than that, it�s a fun listen. �Reclaim My Place� is another headbanger that lets the bass be more apparent than in the album�s other songs. The riffs during the chorus are slightly melodic and aren�t just low end chugging. The song is actually is actually about the band themselves. It�s a pretty good listen, but if you don�t like the band you may get bored with it.

�Justin� was written for a kid who was a member of the Children�s wish foundation and he wanted to have a song written about him by the band. The band did this kid justice by writing a very fun song to listen to. The lyrics are rather sad when you think about it, but they have a positive outlook during the chorus. The riffs are very simple, but still catchy and you might want to bang your head to them. This is a song worth checking out if you like the band. �Seed� has some very relaxing, yet creepy guitars and drums that entrance you into this next song. The opening riff is once again quite heavy, but then goes in again to the typical laid back verse that we�ve all heard several times by now. Davis has some weird effect on his voice which make him sound scarier than the normally does. The band should put as much time into making good verses as they do choruses, because this is the only part of the song I find myself liking. Sadly enough, this song goes on for almost six minutes. It becomes almost painful by the end. Skip this if you feel so inclined to.

�Cameltosis�, now that�s a rather peculiar name for a song. The guitar sounds Middle Eastern, and then you�ll discover that this is another hip-hop track. The slap bass during the verse is really funky and sounds great. Too bad Fieldy doesn�t do stuff like that all the time. As long as you�re open to hearing a different sound to the band, you�ll probably enjoy this song. There�s still metal here, don�t worry. You�ll get enough of it during the chorus. I liked this song, and it revived the album from the past few tracks which I found to be lacking.

�My Gift To You� is the the longest song on the album and it clocks in at over nine minutes in length. You�ll hear Davis play his bagpipes in the intro which give the song and the band their signature sound. This song actually stays heavy during the verse, which I like because it doesn�t follow the same formula we�ve all heard me complain about. The other good thing about this song is that the band finally decides to play in a different key. It�s not very fast, but it�s loaded with pain and emotion which nu-metal fans always swoon over. The song could have been a tad shorter, but for the most part it�s an enjoyable listen and a good way to end this album. There�s also a hidden part in which you will hear famous stoners Cheech and Chong. Enjoy that.

Pros:
- Freak on a Leash, Dead Bodies Everywhere, Justin, Cameltosis
- The band improved musically
- The hip-hop tracks added a unique touch

Cons:
- Some people may not like the rap-metal songs
- The lyrics are hard to take seriously
- Lots of the songs repeat themselves, riffs are recycled

If you�re a fan of nu-metal than you�d probably enjoy this album, but for the most part you would probably be better off buying something else. It�s got some strong points, but there are too many weak songs for me to want to go out and buy this.

Final Rating � 2.5/5

Share: Facebook Stumble Digg Twitter Del.icio.us