Korn - Issues (1999/2016) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/192kHz]

Korn, one of the genre defining Nu Metal bands. Of their eight studio albums the first seven have been certified platinum. "Issues" was their first album after their mainstream breakthrough with "Follow The Leader". On "Issues" the hip hop elements of "Follow The Leader" were removed moving the band in a more alternative and industrial metal sound rather than the so-called Nu Metal. Although the album was released during a week of many highly-anticipated records, it debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 keeping Dr. Dre and Celine Dion from hitting #1. The first single from the album, 'Falling Away From Me', debuted on South Park in an episode titled 'Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery'. The band was featured in cartoon form as Scooby Doo-style mystery solvers.

Released in the fall of 1999, when Korn were in danger of being overshadowed by such protégés as Limp Bizkit, Issues reaffirms the group's status as alt-metal leaders, illustrating that the true difference between Korn and their imitators is their mastery of sound. Korn are about nothing if not sound. Sure, Jonathan Davis doesn't merely toss off lyrics, but in the end, it doesn't matter since his voice and the various words that float to the surface simply enhance the mood. Similarly, the band doesn't really have any distinguished riffs or hooks – everything each member contributes adds to the overall sound – so, casual listeners can be forgiven if they think the songs sound the same, since not only do the tracks bleed into one other, the individual songs have no discernible high points. Each cut rises from the same dark sonic murk, occasionally surging forward with volume, power, and aggression. It's mood music – songs don't matter, but the foreboding feeling and gloomy sounds do. To a certain extent, this has always been true of Korn albums, but it's particularly striking on Issues because they pull off a nifty trick of stripping their sound back to its bare essentials and expanding and rebuilding from that. They've decided to leave rap-metal to the likes of Limp Bizkit, since there is very little rapping or appropriation of hip-hop culture anywhere on Issues. By doing this, they have re-emphasized their skill as a band, and how they can find endless, often intriguing, variations on their core sound. Issues may not be the cathartic blast of anger their debut was, nor is it as adventurous as Follow the Leader, but it better showcases the sheer raw power of the band than either.

Tracklist:

01 - Dead
02 - Falling Away from Me
03 - Trash
04 - 4U
05 - Beg for Me
06 - Make Me Bad
07 - It's Gonna Go Away
08 - Wake Up
09 - Am I Going Crazy
10 - Hey Daddy
11 - Somebody Someone
12 - No Way
13 - Let's Get This Party Started
14 - Wish You Could Be Me
15 - Counting
16 - Dirty

Produced by Brendan O'Brien. Engineered by Tobias Miller & Nick DiDia.
Recorded in July–September 1999 at A&M Studios, West Hollywood, California; and Atlanta, Georgia.

Line-up:
Jonathan Davis - vocals, bagpipes, drums, programming
Reginald 'Fieldy' Arvizu - bass, programming
James 'Munky' Shaffer - guitars
Brian 'Head' Welch - guitars
David Silveria - drums


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