Korn: The Serenity Of Suffering (Metal Matters campaign) [ROADRUNNER]

Why you'll love it

This Metal Matters reissue brings back the album where Korn rediscovered the heavy end of their sound. It debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and AllMusic called it one of their best albums.

This edition

• Metal Matters campaign

About the album

Guitarist Brian Welch promised it would be heavier than anyone had heard Korn in a long time, and for once a band's pre-album boast undersold it. The Serenity of Suffering was the first record with real songwriting input from Head since he rejoined in 2013, and it shows in the riffs, which come thick and detuned. The band started writing in 2015, still on the road behind The Paradigm Shift, and went back to basics with two guitars, bass, drums and a great deal of volume.

Nick Raskulinecz produced, and Jonathan Davis turns in some of his most intense vocals in years. "Rotting in Vain" and "Insane" go straight for the throat, Slipknot's Corey Taylor trades lines on "A Different World," and "Take Me," first written for a Davis solo album, was rebuilt by the full band. Ron English painted the cover, and the stuffed toy from Issues makes a return visit.

Metal Hammer called it a selection box of Korn's defining moments, which is fair. Most bands mellow with age; Korn appear to have gone the other way, and we've had to move the speakers further from the till.

Also at Kops: more Korn on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Roadrunner (cat# RR7471-1), a reissue of the 2016 album.