Review: Korn - Korn III: Remember Who You Are (2010)

 

Release Date: July 6

Length: 44:40

Genre: Nu-Metal

Since the late 90s nu-metal has been one of metals most controversial sub-genres. Many people have called it "fake metal" because it has a mixture of hip-hop and metal which has never really sat well with many die hard metalheads. Korn, a nu-metal band from California, has been no exception to the backlash. Since they hit success they've had many fans all over the world, but also many haters just like some of their nu-metal counterparts such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, and Limp Bizkit.

With all of that being said, I myself am a fan of nu metal and think that, like all genres, there is a lot of good but also a lot of bad in it. Korn has been one of the better nu-metal bands throughout the years in my opinion. Although, before I listened to this album I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it because the last few from them have been lackluster to say the least. It has seemed like age had caught up with them and they were just having trouble capturing that classic Korn sound. This album however seems to go more towards the sound of their albums like Follow The Leader and their self titled album.

Right off the bat you can feel how deep this album is with the lyrics and just all around tone of the songs. The second track, Oildale (Leave Me Alone), is said to be about lead singer Jonathon Davis's tough past growing up in Oildale, California. Throughout this whole album there was a very cool mixture of it being dark but at the same time catchy in some places. One of the songs that this is shown most obviously is the song Pop A Pill. The chorus "Feeling things crawl on me/ I need my fix today/ This is way beyond me/ I can't live without you today/ You today, you today" does a very good job at being catchy but at the same time it's haunting and dark.

One thing that could be either taken as a good or bad thing is that the album seemed to follow the same formula the whole time. That means that the whole thing had that dark feeling to it but at the same time it started to get kind of repetitive towards the second half. It didn't bug me too much because I've heard way more repetitive albums before but this may get under the skin of some listeners.

Overall I thought it was very good and refreshing to hear something from Korn that didn't sound over polished like their last few albums. It will probably never change any nu-metal haters into lovers but to anyone who loves the genre or even just loves Korn, I highly recommend picking this up.

Grade: B

Notable Songs: Oildale (Leave Me Alone), Pop A Pill, Lead The Parade