By Jess Redmon from Alt Rock World
Reprinted with permission.

When you think that you've finally grasped the chaos of Korn, then comes "Issues" to blow your mind. The involved, tripped-out 4th album from the thrash-metal titans stretches the dimensions of neo-metal thought.

Korn's almost surreal "Issues" takes a concept trip down the soul of Jonathan Davis, a man who's misery in "Daddy" and "Faget" has inspired a generation to feel. "Issues" plays like a profoundly matured version of their classic debut album with a conscious directive to replace all Korn cliches with a new level of experience.

Take "My Gift To You" from "Follow The Leader" and mature it, add chilling sounds and a whole new perspective on writing. Korn take off their gray-colored glasses and find that they still see with rage and pain, but now with new eyes. Davis experiences a vocal transformation, mirroring his lyrical voyage, using a variety of vocal distortions and effects. Brendan O'Brien helps the band layer their musical approach with underlying grooves and less blatant guitar attacks. "Beg For Me" and "Falling Away From Me" are two of the more anthem single style tracks with sweeping choruses and transfiguring effects. "Let's Get This Party Started" is a threatening classic with grinding distortion, slashing musical atmospheres and psychotic vocal expressions.

"Issues" is less a Korn album to take your frustration out on than it is an album to explore the further reaches of your soul. Davis broadens his emotional scope and so does the rest of the band, finding a visionary modern approach to their frantic riffs, chaotic structures and manic releases. An undertow of tortured layers, penetrating new sounds and inspired approaches makes "Issues" an album that jumps out at you, without having to kick you in the teeth.

Korn are a mature band of emotional intellectuals, a band who has expressed despair and loneliness better than most ever have, helping a generation to look pain straight in the eye. Korn put the wave of neo-metal bands in their place, behind the leader, in the demanding emotional weight of "Issues."