Korn – Self-titled
Korn are:
Jonathan Davis – Vocals, bagpipes
Fieldy – Bass
Head – Guitar
Munky – Guitar
David Silveria – Drums
First of all, I’m not a fanboy to korn, I like their music and even their later stuff. Korn are original, they can’t help it if most other bands steal their style. The “annoying” bass, the twin-guitars, David’s strong drumming throughout and Jonathan’s creeping vocals. This album is a pleasure from opener
Blind to chilling closer
Daddy . It is a strong CD throughout. The opener
Blind is the song which got the album off the ground. It has some cymbal tapping at the start and the twin guitars fight each other, it’s a good intro. The second song
Ball Tongue is an average song with Jon shouting out the chorus.
Need To was one of the first songs I heard off the album, Jonathan’s vocals in the verses are some of the best. The song
Clown is about some mad mental person attacking Jonathan at a show. It’s a more slower song than the rest and gets a bit bring after a while.
Devine is a pretty average song to say the less.
Faget is one of the best songs on the album and you could feel Jonathan’s anger when he’s singing. The drums are the best on the album as when David was recording it, he kept adding things and things into the mix. He now has to live up to that when they play it live. The song is about when Jonathan was called gay and “queer” in high school.
The next song
Shoots and Ladders has a bagpipe beginning (I guess it’s because Jonathan has Scottish roots.) The song is a reminiscent of nursery rhymes, like the “ring around the rosies” is about the plaque. Half-way another riff comes in. And Jonathan sings quite fast, it’s hard to make out. Next song is
Predictable , it is more riff-oriented and it is a very good track, most underrated IMO.
Fake is one of my favourites on the album, it sounds like something on
Life Is Peachy . The next song
Lies is a straight-forward rock track which I have nothing to say about.
Helmet In The Bush is nothing special, the lyrics are about when Jonathan was an ehem …”speed freak.” The track is a bit overrated and nothing special.
The last song is the creepy
Daddy . The song is about when Jonathan was molested by his neighbour and his Parents never believed him when he told them. The instruments are more haunting as usual and I feel a bit uncomfortable listening to the lyrics. At the end , Jonathan starts crying his eyes out and screams cuss words to his parents and how he hates them. It’s quite sad really and quite depressing when you think about it. There is a hidden track of some husband and wife fighting.
There was a quick summary on all the songs. These five boys of Bakersfield, California, showed you what they can do. Jonathan has showed you his life-story on this one album (which is why there is a poor lyrical choice on all the other albums) The guitars are extremely low but it just adds to the style, fieldy’s bass is annoying but it adds, everything just comes together in this album
4/5
