Follow The Leader

This album is every bit as enjoyable as I thought it was when it was originally released. Which is to say - not very. The longer the album goes on the more it becomes something akin to an aural military endurance test. About half way through I’m tapping out with the same ferocity as I would if I found myself in a Ronda Rousey arm bar inside the octagon. I love the concluding statement on the write up from the book… “So did this angry, twisted music do anything positive? It certainly made a truckload of money.” If that is your take - why the hell put it in the book? If I am being completely fair - Freak on a Leash is definitely a unique sound that lended itself to a lot of other music and I shouldn’t discount that simply because that particular sound is almost certainly the soundtrack in my own personal version of Hell. Still - the “beat box/scatting” is atrocious and I’ll die on that hill.

Collectively, we are all dumber for listening to this record. Unequivocally, you don’t need to hear this before you die.

Oh no. Nu-Metal. Sweet Gary. Call me a freak on a leash because this is prison. This has "Edgy, Weepy Teen" written in neon green spray paint all over it. It's like they took all the cool parts of metal and then added all the worst parts of industrial and goth rock. I blame southern California for this. Plus, the lead singer is using that weird nasal tone that everybody used in the 90s. It's like Dave Matthews got put into the Microwave and then was forced to watch The Crow over and over again. Not a fan. Trent Reznor probably regrets inspiring these guys. How the hell did they get Ice Cube and Cheech on this turkey?

What appealed to this 14 year-old, hidden beneath his Korn hoodie on the bus to school? Where to start? How about: "I cannot every love another cunt / You trick ass slut / Look twice and you'll get fucked"? Truthfully, no. I didn't hate girls, didn't actively enjoy them being brutalised in the music I liked. I even skipped Kim back then, not yet able to parse its brilliance. I knew Korn (probably, hopefully) didn't mean it. But 50% of their appeal for me was simply that they said things my parents wouldn't approve of. You know that adolescent itch, the one that has to be scratched. So from a personal point of view, this garbage is defensible. And so too from an artistic one... in theory. Flirting with danger and taboo is an important function of art. There are too many great examples to name. This just happens to be a shit one. So why did I latch on to Korn's danger dance and not the good ones? Simply, partly they did it with no subtlety and I was almost as dumb, partly the other 50% of their appeal: dick bick energy riffs, creepy gimmicks, occassional breakbeats, basslines that spend most of the time building up to a letdown--I mean breakdown--and, of course, Davies' spastic yip-yapping. But those two elements, 100% of the appeal to me, are only 50% of KoRn's sound. The rest is characterised by emotionally-stunted morons who've chosen the hinterland between self-pity and self-aggrandisement because they don't have the... I don't know what... to grow up. Teenagers get a bad rep for being intolerant, so fair play to me for putting up with that side of a crappy bargain for so long.

Holy crap this is terrible. Literal sonic garbage. I would rather go completely deaf then listen to this album again.

This album goes hard.

hs favorite

Not for everyone, but one of the best examples of its genre. Also helped popularize extended range guitars in metal.

Not my favorite Korn album but was definitely groundbreaking for it’s time and was super influential in molding modern metal.

There is only one Korn album that should be anywhere near this list and buddy, this ain’t it. They are so sonically limited as to sound no different from song to song, album to album. The stuff they’re peddling now aged 50 is the same as they were peddling at the start of their careers, same as here. Whatever way you cut it, it’s all self-generated angst, pseudo-hip-hop stylings with zero comprehension or cohesion and (of course) bagpipes. There is a song on here called Cameltosis - these songs written by men in and around their 30s - which tells you all you need to know. Truly stupid.

Gave up halfway through, Limp Bizkit pushed me over the edge lmao. There are some moments where my Lizard Brain takes over and I find the grooves trashy in a fun a way but then when I pay the slightest bit of attention to what I'm listening to I'm like, "Hey! What the fuck?" This Aussie breaks their long streak of 5/5s and gives Follow the Leader their first one Starbucks latte* out of five. *The joke here is that Starbucks performed so poorly in Straya that the only remaining branches here are at touristy spots where visitors who know nothing about our coffee culture go to.

I made it through! Imagining they were singing “old Macdonald had a farm” on every song helped.

Korn’s lead singer has all the dramatic subtlety of a poorly-dubbed anime villain. I literally died laughing when he did his first muppet intro... an angst-ridden “KOORRRRRRRNNN!” Amazing. I have not really stopped laughing thinking about this. The muppet monster beatboxing is SO FUNNY!!! Omg!!!! I am dying. Such is my Jekyl-and-Hyde reaction to this album: unqualified disgust, followed by incredulous belly laughs. The absolute nadir of this album (yes, I listened through the full hour and seven minutes) is the 14-year-olds-whining-"no, ur gay", poorly conceived diss track “All in the Family.” If I was dissed by Korn, I would be proud. What an honor! It’s really not the band, or even the production, that makes this so bad. The production may be a tad cheesy, even for 90's nu metal. But that's just the price of admission. No, It’s really those vocals, and the heinous, hilariously self-aggrandizing lyrics. No one human has sounded this whiny for this long. He manages to make me cringe so hard until I've collapsed in on myself into a small, cringey ball. Then, from deep within this small super-dense object that has become my disgusted soul, comes... laughter. Deep, uncontrollable belly laughs. Then repeat. It's a kind of enjoyable cycle. I had fun! 1/5

I had a thoughtful review written about this album and how while we may not like it, we have to reckon with the fact that Korn and bands like them made it onto mainstream radio in this era, but it all got deleted and i'm crestfallen. || Its easy to dunk on, but this sound changed rock and metal. Thank god it has continued to change and we're past it though.

Hey look! It’s korn! ROOGA-ah-ah ROOGA-ah-ah

I don't leave many reviews but I wanted to say that I definitely did not need to hear this before I died. I'm glad that the list is exploring different genres but isn't there better nu metal out there? I particularly found the vocals and lyrics very annoying. And the instruments weren't doing anything interesting to hold my attention.

no me gusta

Oooh, look, the R is backwards! Get ready for something edgy here, people. I've low key dreaded getting an album like this to review, but I decided I have to give everything a fair listen. But man, this one really tested my patience. I guess I can say now that I've listened to a Korn album all the way through. That's something, right? Musically the album is fine. The guitars (Head and Munky), the bass (Fieldy) and the drums (David Silveria), they actually aren't bad at all, and the band is talented at what they do. Their sound is heavy and very much in the vein of a lot of music from this era. But it’s boring. The arrangements are samey and the album is also entirely too long. They're obviously trying to go for something dark here, but they don’t elicit any kind of feeling from me. As for Jonathan Davis… a lot this album’s problems land squarely on this guy’s plate. Davis’ vocal style is terrible, whiny-then-vomiting, forgettable. That weird scatting he likes to do is just dumb. The rapping makes it somehow worse, my god. I was going to dig into the songwriting, but I went in and read the lyrics, and good grief. Davis (and by extension, the band) has an anger problem. He has a problem with women. He seems to especially have a problem with his own success. Other artists have similar problems, but they’re better songwriters. I don’t have the energy to close read garbage lyrics today. I feel like I've been more generous to some pretty hard to listen to albums that have been generated for me, like from Napalm Death and Sepultura. But see, there's a world view and some creativity behind that music that I respect, even if it's not my thing. This music feels very empty to me, a cash grab attempt to be edgy that is embarrassing for me to have to listen to, as a person with ears. Fave Songs: None. How about least favorite song? There are so many candidates. I'm going to go with All in the Family, what kind of warmed over garbage was that?

Dreadful. I'd rather peel my own skin off with a broken bottle than have to sit through this again.

I just... I mean... really? Okay, let me try and be fair here since Korn is the seminal band on my skiddy metalhead husband's youth. I'll admit nü-metal was a moment in time where something very different started happening musically. Someone was innovating, that's what must make this album worthy of our consideration. I don't think it was different or innovative for the better though. Woodstock '99 is a perfect example of how dangerous the energy that this music taps into can be. Inciting white male aggression never turns out well for anyone. I'm all for misfits and weirdoes finding the things that make them feel seen and understood. I'm all for a darker artistic expression of self, it can be powerful and cathartic to express your pain and vulnerability, like Kurt Cobain did. And it's important to have shared experiences and relate to others. Music helps us do that in such a transcendent way, especially controversial music. But I just don't like this. It's too hateful and frankly, scary.

Didnt really like it then, dont like it now. Aged worse than I expected. Aged worse than I have. Shite.

I never really got into Korn when they came out, but I get it. I was working at a Sam Goody when there first couple albums dropped and they definitely caused a stir. They were different and quickly created a following. I just always kinda thought they sucked. But, having listened to this album again, I can confidently say they don't suck. I still don't really like it, but they deserve to be on the list. And, I'm giving them a bump for having created a unique sound in the middle of the pop-punk, pop-metal era.

Fantastic, iconic bass tone.

I liked it, idk why everyone disliked it, need to stop reading reviews before listening to stuff myself

Surprisingly enjoyable in places, the drums are lively, the tunes are catchy. But some of the lyrics - especially the hip hop cameos - have not aged well. It also gets very samey by the end. Absolutely non essential, but better than I expected.

I like Korn; I liked Korn but now I'm 45 and just doesn't hit the same. Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma -3!

Would have liked it when I was 13, but I'm in a better place now. Or at least I have better taste in music.

An interminably long album featuring lots of growling, vocal-fry singing, whispering, gibberish, and bagpipes. It's not just that the music sucks. The lyrics are inane, and I feel like I'm being generous with that description. A low point is "All in the Family," where Jonathan Davis and Fred Durst trade stupid insults that are variations on "You're a fag lol" for five very long minutes. I had successfully scrubbed this song from my brain, but here it is again, tormenting me. I don't hate this album as much as I fear having to hear it again. That may not be true; I do hate it as well. Best track: Freak on a Leash

No. Just no. This almost makes me wish I gave Slipknot a 2 so this could inhabit it's own tier of awful.

My senses were in less pain than in the case of Slipknot, yet my sensibilities were all the more injured for it.

This does not deserve to be on the list for any reason. What the f***?

Oh man. You know what... I'm not going to even listen past the first song. That's right. I'm not even going to give it a chance. I just can't stomach this right now.

This was so bad that I have to assume it was just a mean joke, right?

I had Slipknot earlier in this list and I ended up enjoying it; so I went into this with an open mind. It's awful, they try so hard to be edgy but I'm not buying it, just a bunch of try-hards acting like they're hard. Dropping some slurs in All in the Family totally lost any lingering respect I might have had for the fact that they can make chords happen on their instruments. I'd give this a 0 if I could. Garbage.

I once saw Korn at a music festival when I was fifteen. My mate threw a bottle of piss and it hit the drummer right on the head. That's the best thing about them. Best Tracks: Freak On a Leash; Got the Life; Children of the Korn (feat. Ice Cube)

Rating 1 due to the rampant homophobia

Is this 'death metal'? Whatever, it's for 13 year old boys, not for me.

Yesterday I learned I hate Korn… more than I originally thought was possible.

WHY IS THIS HERE

Simply magnificent album, the best of the band. Powerful, with many hip hop influences....magnificent.

Très bon album, la bass est vraiment novatrice, les vocales sont pesant mais émotifs. On y retrouve des gros hits, par contre quelque tounes ou interludes inutiles. Je trouve que c’est de la musique pesante mais accessible et c’est vraiment ce que Korn fait de Mieux! Un groupe qui a influencé beaucoup de groupe de nos jours. Je lévite; Got the Life, criss the chef d’œuvre ça même Pierre va aimé ça. Freak on a leash, its on, BKK, my gift to you Je l’évite; Children of the korn la toune n’a pas rapport et c’est très moyen, le battle entre Davis et Fred durst aussi c’est pas nécessaire (all in the family)

Really like the album as an intro to metal. Favourite songs are "Freak on a a Leash", "Children of the Korn" and "Seed"

🌽

sonzeira, pesada

Yeah Korn

It's awful; I hated it. Five stars

I'm a child of the Korn

Always a winner. Can't go wrong with this banger.

Sonically brutal, lyrically extreme, absolutely not suitable for children or those of a nervous disposition. I lovee it! Takes me straight back to hanging out in the pub with my friends, scaring off anyone who wasn't into "our" music. Not sure it'll do very well with many people, but it's one of my favourite bands and albums

A classic

Freak On a Leash is one of my favourite songs!! Got The Life is always catchy and All In The Family is hilarious. Great album.

Epic

Loved it! Always have!

Crunchy, I liek

I unironically love this shit.

All the features were a nice addition My gift to you including bagpipes (?) is crazy

Reminds me of my freshman year in college and my friend at the time John Walston. 5/5

Not my favorite KoRn album but still a good listen!

So good. I loved this.

Great album!!

A perfect nu metal alboom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-em

This one was one of my favourites when I was 16 and it still is today. I can totally understand people not liking it. It had a very unusual vibe to it when it came out. The kind of music you either love or hate

Classic Korn

Hard rock isn’t entirely my jam, but it was a solid album

Didn't expect to like this but I did. It has a nice grooves some heavy guitar riffs and is innovative. Too long though

A classic from the 90s that I only just listened to front to back!

Wild ride, this one is. Some creepy shit, but also good jams

Interesting intro to Metal for me. This is apparently "Nu Metal" which is a good entry point to metal for people that are interested. I still feel metal is quite boring in it's composition and melody, but I also thought the same about hip hop until I found good hip hop. This could be the same for metal. Korn is certainly a good intro for me, but I still feel there could be more to be done to make this interesting.

No voy a andar dando explicaciones >:(

It aight.

As good as I remember. They can play the shit out of some music!

Parfois le monde décrive le métal comme du ''criage'', et ça existe certainement, mais j'ai vraiment pas trouvé que ça s'appliquait à cet album. J'ai même trouvé l'album assez lyrical et intéressant. Beaucoup de chansons que j'ai adoré et c'est pourquoi ma note est élevée. Par contre, je ne peux pas donner 5 étoiles à cause du vibe du groupe. Les chansons sont hargneuses, fâchées. C'est des émotions importantes mais je n'ai pas nécessairement le goût de me faire mettre dans ce mood là quand j'écoute un album. Même dans le featuring avec Fred Durst, ils font juste s'envoyer chier tout au long de la toune. Je suis trop de bonne humeure pour leur donner un 5.

false

125 albums and we finally get a decent metal band 🤘 This album massively reminds me of university days and "Freak On A Leash" is an undisputed banger 🤘 Some cool guests on this too: Ice Cube, Fred Durst, SlimKid3 from The Pharcyde. That said, it's not my fave metal album. It might not even be my fave Korn album. Still worthy of 4 stars tho. 7.5/10

this was surprisingly really good

Still the jam!

Je suis vendu d’avance, j’adore leur style. C’est heavy mais ça me fait méditer. Ils font une recherche incroyable pour les mélodies, aweille la cornemuse!

Great album - really took me back to my youth.

Brought back lots of teen angst memories. Really liked the hip hop collaborations on this album. It kinda loses its lustre towards the end but it opens about as strong as you could expect.

Stor överraskning hur bra även alla icke-singlar var. Bästa skivan so far

Forgot how much I actually listened to this album when it came out. Few forgotten belters. Opening 3 tracks are all time. Glad I got the chance to go on a journey I never knew I needed.

Solo conozxo una cancion y me gusta mucho, no me dio tiempo a escuchar las otras :(

Amazing record. Good mix of metal and some rap parts. Some songs can get really dark while some other songs can be more "fun".

3.5 Buen disco, pero le doy las 4 solo por Freak on a Leash

Stronger in the first half bit still good overall.

Oh, middle school edginess. I can't hate it. It's unironically cheesy fun.

shouty good

Yet another classic, though I like Issues best

Very aggressive, I like it. Favorite track is either Freak on a Leash or Dead Bodies Everywhere.

Korn was one of those metal bands I never really got into because I only liked maybe two of their songs. I never listened to any others except when I did I didn't like them. Hearing them in the context of this album, which I know some of these songs came on in the football locker room, I have more appreciation for them. I really liked Freak on a Leash and the rest kind of just flowed. I still wasn't a fan of some of it, but the ones I liked I really liked. And that's a fantastic album cover too.

Quite fun! Definitely nostalgic

Was going to give 5 stars except for the noises in the songs that made me worried my car was going to fall apart.

Maybe not the best cross-over around, but a good album still

Look, Nu Metal gets a bad rap (ha, pun unintended). And it deserves most of it, being deeply emblematic of the aggressive edginess of the late 90s and the aughts. But damn if it doesn't still go hard at times. 4 stars for the iconic Freak on a Leash

Ehkä yks tai kaks hutia, mut muuten erittäin viihdyttävä

Voi juma! Itse olin Kornin suhteen myöhäisherännäinen ja sen aikaisessa kaveriporukassa tämä oli kovaa kamaa. Jykevä basso ja voimakkaat kompit yhdistettynä ruumishuoneella työskennelleeseen ördäilyyn kykenevään laulajaan sai erektion aikaiseksi teini-ikäisessä nuoressa.

Pretty good! Not as heavy as I expected!

Korn have always been one of those bands where I like a handful of songs, but never really fell for any of their albums. Of course this has Freak On a Leash, amongst a few other hits.

Nice

An enjoyable mix of nine inch nails type goth metal, hip hop, bagpipes, weird bleeps, funky bass. A bit too angsty for my tastes, but still enjoyable and good stuff.