Released in the fall of 1999, when
Korn
were in danger of being overshadowed by such proteges as
Limp Bizkit
,
Issues
reaffirms the group's status as
alt-metal
leaders, illustrating that the true difference between
and their imitators is their mastery of sound.
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
albums, but it's particularly striking on
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
, since there is very little rapping or appropriation of
hip-hop
culture anywhere on
. 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.
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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine