Review Summary: Korn has now begun the downfall of their career with the final implementation of their success; all wrapped up in a heap of succession sound and depressing lyrics that will, for the last time, be seen in any album.
The revolutionary Korn has unveiled what is mainly acknowledged as the last true Korn experience. What 'Issues' has experimented on is the deciding factor of how much longer Korn can keep up the same old thing over and over again. Spiraling out of control, Korn has finally crafted something that actually half way reacts to the debut content that got them their fans. This album, trialed and few errors, still makes the same mistakes as the old, but brings out something slightly new, and is a great way for Korn to depart. (So to speak)
Soundly speaking, this is many of Korn's members last time to truly show their talent, (Korn's standards) and provide the final front for all of Korn's fans. For the state of previous albums 'Life is Peachy' and 'Follow the Leader', this album takes things much more similar to their debut. Where the overall eerie sounds presented with the rhythm guitar, and the low tuned bass provide backdrop for the amazingly dark lyrics. Many tracks in this album take a completely turn than the famous 'Life is Peachy', where the darkness was presented in a much more spunky manner sound wises, and the lyrics involve more around adult situations instead of childhood nightmares. But the insanity from 'Issues' doesn’t at all compare to 'Follow the Leader', which was Korn’s experimental design for darker purposes.
'Issues' presents to the audience a twisted combination of interludes of the most eerie quality, and full length tracks that tend to carry the interludes points to the next level. 'Dead' slips into the one of the most popular songs of all time by Korn, 'Falling Away From Me', which starts and ends with heavy riffs, and eerie rhythm guitar. The bass expressed in these songs, both by drummer David Silveria and bassist 'Fieldy' really gets the ear excited. Everything in this album, with the exception of a few minor details that really don’t quite appeal to this treasure, is so surreal, so notoriously heavy, all at the same time. You can't help but to bust out when listening to this. The combinations of interludes, of both a heavy and distinct quality, along with the actual tracks really set up a good stage for you.
One of the most important aspects of this album is probably the lyrics. Not the vocals themselves though, but the lyrics really present a tasteful awe to the listener. Constant modes of depression are presented here like no other Korn album has genuinely expressed before. Though conceived as the same thing that Korn has done before, the instrumentals at least try to compliment that as nicely as possible. The only difference with the vocals here is that there is a constant switch-up from yelling, to whispering. It gives a real good feel for what is going on in Jon's head when he was writing this. Constant subjects of angst, depression, desire, paranoia are everywhere in this album going back and forth. This albums' entire compatibility with itself, never fails to overdo any of the content in here. This album is the complete opposite of 'Follow the Leader' in that it just doesn’t go insane and attempt to piss out everything you've heard in it before.
Some of the most exciting songs in here include 'Trash', 'Beg for Me', 'Hey Daddy', and 'Counting'. All of these tracks have one particular thing in common: they are all represented by an interlude. These small minute long tracks of rather interesting design don’t really express anything Korn has done before. The twisted sounds in '4U' and 'It's Gonna Go Away' are more atmospheric, and trance-like in origin. Some other ones just go wicked dark in sound including 'Am I Going Crazy'. One in particular kind of takes you to a blast from the past with 'Wish You Could Be Me' with the subject of rape. (If you've ever heard their debut) But all of this still can’t compare to the ultimate upbeat action in 'Wake Up', a song of pure chaos. And the conclusion 'Dirty' really slows down in the verse, and employs the whisper-like aspect I was referring to earlier. But overall, a very heavy conclusion.
As far as the actual members go, this is 'Head's' last album. His eerie guitar riffs are arguable at his best here, only just next to 'Follow the Leader'. And quite frankly, by 'Fieldy's' standards, his bass will never again sound anywhere near close enough to this until 'Remember Who You Are' would come out several years later. Silveria definitely does his part in this album with a much more decent snare job, and again, very deep sounding bass. Jon however has failed to do anything new still, and is the albums weakest job by far. His vocals are only just now, starting to deteriorate the band, and now, shall begin the downfall of Korn for another decade to come.
