KoRn is even better than corn--really

By Sean Collins

Twelve tracks of silence open KoRn's new album--a full minute of uneasy anticipation. With cover artwork by megalomaniacal "Spawn" creator Todd McFarlane, a title straight out of Alice Cooper's reject pile, a duet with Ice Cube called "Children of the KoRn," and even a hidden cover of a Cheech & Chong song, this album could easilly have been a disaster.

Instead, KoRn has expanded their trademark fusion of hip-hop and heavy metal with surprising and powerful results. Gone are the repetitive, one-line chorus crescendos of their eponymous 1994 debut and 1996's Life Is Peachy--an album that was little more than creative water-treading. Beginning with track 13, Follow the Leader literally picks up where the innovative, 12-track KoRn left off.

The first real song on the album, "It's On!," is KoRn's stock in trade: aggression. An electronically tweaked hum, a funky beat, and a few sickly guitar notes explode into a crushing, low-end riff and a snarling cry. But where singer/lyricist Jonathan Davis's anger used to be directed outward--especially against the stepmother who repeatedly molested him as a child--his brutal candor is now pointed inward. "You see, it's my fault.../ Nothing changes, just rearranges/ For me this time."

An injection of melody provides welcome relief from the relentless rhythmic crunch and gives songs like "Freak On A Leash" an almost lilting feel. When Davis sings "Sometimes I cannot feel my face" over four muted, melancholy notes, it's as emotionally numb as prime Portishead.

Taking a cue from the Dust Brothers, KoRn dropped their lo-fi production style and added a rich array of digital effects to their sonic arsenal. Vocals echo and ripple like the cries of a drowning man. Ethereal guitars roar back to life as if their wah-wah pedals were designed by Isaac Asimov. Bleeps, tweaks, and turntable scratches add to the chaos KoRn once maintained through power chords alone.

KoRn's strengths and weaknesses are on clearest display in the album's four collaborative efforts. On "Children of the KoRn," the group enlists Ice for an attack on intolerance: "How you gonna tell me where to skate/ Who to date/ How to fuck/ How to kiss/ Who to love/ Who to diss?" In the appropriately lackadaisacal "Cameltosis," a duet with lazy-voiced Tre of the Pharcyde, Davis details his problems connecting with women over Beck-like folk-funk. But does he really need to trade snaps with Fred Durst of KoRn wannabes Limp Bizkit ("All In The Family") or help revive Cheech Marin's singing career ("Earache My Eye")? Of course, this is the band whose bassist is called Fieldy Snuts (say it five times fast and you'll see what I mean).

Though "Follow the Leader" depends too much on simplistic, repetitive guitar riffs, the band is to be commended for even trying to expand their range. That they succeed in so many ways is a good sign for things to come. Like the little girl on the album's cover, hopscotching toward a cliff's edge, KoRn may be on the verge of great things. The question is, will they have the guts to jump? (Immortal/Epic Records)

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