Reviews (page 5 of 8)
The two big songs are pretty good: Freak on a Leash and Got the Life. The rest of the songs don't have those good melodies/hooks, just a lot of downtempo rock and anger, which I'm not into, so it pulls the album down for me.
When I had it kind of turned down, I could hear the pop metal catchiness in the rhythms of the vocals and instruments. But the minute you turn it up enough to hear the lyrics, it drops off a cliff. No one with a fully developed pre-frontal cortex could like this.
Outside of SOAD, I'm not a fan of NuMetal generally and this was one of the bands that influenced that take. So this is a good opportunity to see if a couple of decades behind us both will change my mind. Freak on a Leash has some force behind it, but still makes me want to roll my eyes. I realize that I was not the target audience of this. Got the Life, is a pretty good song ruined by a video that makes me want to sneer and click next. It kind of goes down hill fro there.
This heavy stuff just is not for me
Nu-metal? I call it poo-metal. Ha ha HA Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ah ah ha ha ha Haha ha. Ha ha HA Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ah ah ha ha ha Ha Ha ha HA Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ah ah ha ha ha Ha Ha ha HA Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ah ah ha ha ha Ha
4/10 Favorite: Freak On a Leash
I found it annoying at times. Wasn't a fan of the vocals at parts, and also the parts with cleaner production
this sucks
1.5
small garbage imho
lyttede ikke rigtig færdig, synes umiddelbart ikke det faldte i min smag. Genbesøg senere
"God I had such a shitty day. Atleast I have this daily ritual that always put a smile on my f--." You can say what you want abouth Korn, they had a unique sound. Just not the best one but sometime, it works. Freak on a leash for exemple is a pretty good song.
Have not listened to this in years, but I doubt I like it now. Issues is better
I was hoping maybe being so separated from the “nu-metal sux!” era that I’d appreciate this more. & I kinda do. Freak on a Leash into Got the Life is good stuff (I only recently learned the lyric is “God paged me” not “God hates me” & it unlocked just how corny this album is). Hard pressed to give more than 2 stars even if I think Jonathan Davis is a pretty remarkable vocalist. I was warned about All in the Family & the biggest crime about it is just how unfunny it is, not the “edginess.”
Freak on a leash is good but the rest of it was not. Nu-metal has the reputation it deserves
This isn't as bad as I thought it could be, mainly b/c it's well produced & David Silveria (drums) has got authentic funk in his bones, but this's mostly capital K Korny: it doesn't even have the balls to be kampy. Failing to be a bastion of admirable or necessary sincerity, Korn suffers from the same thing that bankrupts Trent Reznor's creative production: it's not remotely an interesting statement lyrically. 'Life sometimes pisses me off / It's never a good trip to me / Every time I reach for love / It's taken away.' Duh & so fucking what. The Cube feature is especially korny, & Durst's moment in the sun is pathologically awful: 'You pumpkin pie, I'll jack off in your eye.' In short, it gets worse & worse, & no amount of raging funk can salvage it.
Segt, störigt
Aged not so well as Limp Bizkit and Mudvayne did. It’s a cool cringy angsty vibe but the runtime of 1h7m is a little too much. Fred Durst’s feature is also a little meh, although that song’s ending is ironically wholesome
Freak on a leash to got the life may be the best two song run in Nu Metal, but the rest of this album is a mix of cringe and boredom
I'm no Korn fan really but this one has some highlights. Also lowlights, couple of those, really.
Kinda crazy. I like Fred durst feature/the more rappy tracks but idrgaf about the screaming so much
Not as terrible as expected but lyrically a too doom laden for my liking. Feel like there’s a bit too much death. 2
Nope
2/5
KOOOORN!! AAAAAH! EYYYYY! öppe so hets tönt. Zwei mal Heiserkeit
Nenei isch mir zvill. Scho ei tag usegschobe willi ke bock gha han. Hüt dri glosst (besser als denkt) aber gibe glich nur 2x *
Tem alguma coisa ai por ser ivovador para a época? Sim, mas para mim e muito lixo, muita homofobia e muito machismo. Época atual não podemos normalizar isso. Sobre os arranjos: eles doem os ouvidos.
This is probably the height of Nu-Metal. First of all the best paЯt of this album... The cover of "Earache My Eye". TuЯning an Alice Bowie (Cheech Marin) song making fun of Sabbath Яiffs and molding it into nu-metal is meta humoЯ at its best. The woЯst part... EveЯything with a guest star, "All in the Family" being the absolute woЯst. (I actually liked Cube's part of "Children of the KoЯn" but the Davis' vocals on that aЯe absolutely annoying.) Which bЯings me to what I Яeally dislike about nu-metal. The vocals aЯe fЯeaking annoying pЯetty much all the time. And definitely in an album that is an houЯ plus in length. What I will say positive about KoЯn is quite frankly, I do like the groove of most of their songs the music behind it for the most part. Especially at the very beginning, the first three songs I think are fine... not great but fine. The only song that I really would highlight on this entire album would be "Justin" which I strangely found absolutely emotional. Afterwards I read into it and I can kind of see why. For the most paЯt this is a betteЯ example of a genЯe that I Яeally don't caЯe for. I totally dislike it, but I don't ubeЯ hate it. Except for that fucking "All in the Family" song. 4.6 ★★
Some ofthe riffs are a bit cool, but the vocals are totally horrendous! 2 stars
I used to like this a lot more, though it still managed to get me dancing about as I did the housework. The main thought I get from listening to this again, after many years, is that I really miss my old sound system on which this album sounded much better. I'm now going to spend a bunch of money I don't really have on a sound system I'll hardly ever use, and it's all 1001's fault!
I was a fan of Korn’s first album back in middle school, but when this came out, I realized pretty quickly the band just wasn’t my thing. It also hasn’t aged well. Even at the time, I remember losing interest after “Got the Life”—everything that followed felt like a steep drop-off.
This has aged pretty badly. I think that in 2026 no one needs to listen to it anymore. It had its time but that’s it.
Well frost my tips; looks like I’m actually going to listen to a Korn album. *70 interminable minutes later* Oh, young people. You really will fall for anything won’t you, you stupid dumb idiots?
2 3 guzel sakri var gerisi cop averaj nu albumu
Starker Gesang (obwohl nicht mein Geschmack) und tolle Grooves. Am besten gefällt mir die weirde Gitarrenarbeit. Aber zu wenig Abwechslung, das Album ist viel zu lang.
High point was the moment after the scatting (??) in Freak on a Leash where he screams "Go!" and the guitars come back in sounding twice as heavy as before. Otherwise this album is very much not my style, not then, not now.
“I hate the world and my parents” in album form. It made me want to pierce my eyebrow and wear mascara to rebel against society. It’s good in places, but in others it’s fucking awful, especially that song with Fred Durst, a 30 year old shouting I hate you for 4 mins is a hard listen. If it’s your genre I am sure it is seminal, for me it’s 4 or 5 good songs among a barrage of self hate filled teenage petulance set to repetitive Nu Metal groves. 2.2
Initial thoughts: I expected to hate this, and admittedly I don't. I dont love it either, but on the spectrum from Tool to Limp Bizkit, its a little closer to Tool than I was expecting. "Freak on a Leash" is a goofy song but sort of captures the era, and the music video was a classic. Has some good heavy riffs, Jonathan Davis has a kind of annoying voice/manner. The song with Ice Cube is pretty hilariously bad...the 90s were a weird time. Overall mostly repetitive and was over it by the end of the album...Idk how this band can tell one of their songs from the next.
so obviously this is not my type of music but sometimes it got kinda lit... lots of shock-factor vibes with the slurs and the song about incest but done a lot better than Eminem!
I can't bring myself to give it a 🌽 since I wasn't annoyed listening to it. I can't give it a 🌽🌽🌽 since I didn't like it. 🌽🌽 it is...I liked Coming Undone back in the day, but this album was not a bountiful harvest🧑🌾🚜.
I liked this more than I expected to. The only issue is that I expected to absolutely hate it. I've never listened to a Korn album but am aware of some of their more infamous qualities. A few of the songs had me groovin, but in all honesty I couldn't get past the thought of how embarrassed I would be if someone somehow heard me listening to this. I don't think I ever have been or ever will be edgy enough to really enjoy something like this. The Ice Cube feature was also insane. Sounded like he was calling from another dimension. 2-2.5
Can appreciate what its trying even if I can't appreciate the outcome why it sits at 2 stars for me.
Can't do it
Solid metal/rock... but not my thing anymore.
I can’t say this is anything like I was expecting it to be. Between the different styles and being absolutely wild in places, I was completely shocked for most of the listen. That being said, I had to take a couple breaks while listening because I wasn’t enjoying it and the only song I’d be ok with hearing again is Freak on a Leash. Maybe the Ice Cube feature, too.
My friend Angus tried to get me into Korn in middle school. Angus was a pretty wild guy. I remember him best for being able to snort a spaghetti noodle and pull it out of his mouth. He was big into metal, and he burnt me a Korn CD. It was a mixtape of their best songs, and I kinda liked it but I never really got into them. Angus ended up going to a different high school than me where he got heavily involved in heroin. I'm not sure if he dropped out of school or not, but I think he overdosed sometime after school. I didn't expect it at the time, but looking back at it now, snorting spaghetti noodles and listening to Korn were pretty good indicators of a future heroin overdose.
Pretty grim lyrics with quite a few slurs thrown in - clearly a very early 2000s attitude to gay people. Better than the Slipknot we've encountered on this list but still just really not our vibe and we were waiting for the end from pretty much the beginning.
Nu metal
My 16 year old self loved this. Now it’s kinda cringe
I love heavy metal but Korn has never really clicked with me and listening to this whole album didn't change my mind. The scat-singing, the off-pitch vocals, the hip hop crossovers, the cringey lyrics, the rap song with Fred Durst, even just the name Korn. I just can't help but feel embarrassed listening to this, even though a lot of the instrumentals on the tracks aren't bad.
cool tracks, some didn't age as well as I would have hoped.
OK ME EQUIVOQUE Y PUSE LA REVIEW DE KORN ARRIBA bueno lolazo
This started off ok. As a rock and metal lover I really wanted to like it. But it switly went downhill. ...And then somebody got some fucking bagpipes out.
Pretty horrible album saved by that 30 seconds in Freak on a Leash which is stupid but great
Tiresome and hateful. It was a struggle to finish it. Not actively horrible, but cliched, lazy and pandering to spotty, lonely teenage boys who thought that Baywatch was "art", and that swearing was "cool"
Kind of meh. The vocals and instrumentation is kind of weird. Favourite Track(s): Freak on a Leash, Got the Life, Children of the Korn Least Favourite Track(s): Seed, My Gift to You
*Aggressive Jonathan Davis noises* Freak On a Leash is good, the rest is kinda whatever unless you're really into nu-metal
I love Korn, I really do. But this album is one of the biggest misses on the list. I don't blame people for thinking that nu metal is just some cringe music teenagers were listening to if all they are exposed to is this and Limp Bizkit. Korn's self titled, Issues, Life Is Peachy, and even Take a Look in the Mirror would all have been far better choices to repesent the band than this. Those are all fantastic albums that represent Korn and nu metal as a whole so well and really showcase what the genre is actually capable of. But instead, we are left with this. To give credit where credit is due, there are still a good number of really good tracks on this album, but it's just so bloated with cringy lyrics, entire sections that are completely forgettable, and of course how could I forget the song featuring Jonathan Davis and Fred Durst doing a rap battle about incest, truly one of the worst Korn songs out there.
I remember when this came out. One of those times where you hear a couple of catchy tracks on the radio, buy the CD, then are pissed off because the rest doesn't hold up.
Other than the more ubiquitous radio played singles from this album, my only connection to this band at the time was discovering the lead singer being a bagpiper. I wasn’t a fan of this album then, and upon relistening now…man…it’s still not good. There is a lot of filler and some even more wince inducing songs. What’s more surprising is this peaked at #1 on the Billboard charts. Let that sink in.
Oof… a humbling reminder of what some of us thought passed as good music for a brief time. This was rough!
I am very torn on this one. Could be part nostalgia since this came out when I was 16 or 17. It was great when big rock could still have a broad impact (singles didn’t chart but album was top 200). And props to them, the sound is very unique and heavy with the 7 string guitars and that rattling bass. Boom chack a brrrr. But man, I wasn’t the biggest fan back in the day and this wears after a while. 2.5 and I could round either way but I’m going down.
I think their sound is decent. I always liked Freak On a Leash, but the bridge is really weird. That kind of sound happens more often on this album and then there's also the rap on a few songs, which I'm not fond of. That drags the album down to a 2.
3.5/10 Lyrics are shit and the scatting is awful, but unfortunately I enjoy the music enough to not give it the rating it probably deserves.
Not for me
Back in the day, we all listened to some Korn. My roommate in college was actually his cousin, so he says. Not my vibe any longer.
1001 Albums Vol. 0018: Follow The Leader ============================================================ Introduction: Well, we're going directly from one of my favorite albums of all time to one that I can say without a doubt will get the lowest score from me yet. I'll go ahead and say something that a lot of people don't agree with: Nu Metal is not an objectively bad genre. Deftones and System of a Down, if you can even classify SOAD as Nu Metal, proved that to us. That being said, Nu Metal is objectively hard to make anything good out of. The good stuff is very far and few compared to other genres. Korn actually made something that I would consider good...back in 1994. Their debut album is good. I will die on that hill. It was influential, unique at the time, and is still one of the most raw albums ever made to this day. There was still a lot wrong with that album, yet the good still really outweighed the bad. Unfortunately, Korn would never be able to live up to the standard of their first album ever again. That's where this album, Follow The Leader, comes in. By this point, nu metal artists had begun to shift away from the early anger and angst of the genre. Nu Metal had become mainstream and they began to lean more into a style that would keep that attention of a wider audience. Of course, you did have artists such as Slipknot still carrying that early Nu Metal angst around this time but that's besides the point. Nu Metal had become mainstream, and that's where some of the problems with this particular album come in. This album, released in 1998 by Korn, leans much more into a "cool kid" and pop-like style than their previous albums. This is especially true on songs that feature other artists. I know this because I've already listened to a bit of this album. I won't lie, there was a brief period of time where I thought that this album was actually pretty good. That said, I literally hadn't even listened to half of the songs on it. Looking back too, I actually can see why I was generally wrong about that sentiment as well. There is one song on this album that I look back on fondly, I'm sure you know what it is, but most of what I heard I look back on and question why I ever found it good. Now, despite all of this, the album would release to general critical and huge commercial success. It would go on the charts, singles would go on the charts, and critics would talk positively about it as well. This would give me hope, but then I remember everything I've heard from this album so far and most of that goes away. I'll go ahead and say it, the score on this site for this particular album is valid. It's not too low nor too high. Rare case where I actually agree with the people of this site. Anyway, with all of that said, let's just get this hour-long album out of the way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Track 1: It's On! Score: 8/10 Track 2: Freak On a Leash Score: 9/10 Track 3: Got the Life Score: 9/10 Track 4: Dead Bodies Everywhere Score: 7/10 Track 5: Children of the Korn Score: 4/10 Track 6: B.B.K. Score: 6/10 Track 7: Pretty Score: 5/10 Track 8: All In the Family Score: 2/10 Track 9: Reclaim My Place Score: 5/10 Track 10: Justin Score: 6/10 Track 11: Seed Score: 6/10 Track 12: Cameltosis Score: 4/10 Track 13: My Gift to You Score: 6/10 Track 14: Earache My Eye Score: 2/10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Conclusion: This...this was a really rough one. I mean, it was really, REALLY rough. It actually started out pretty damn good but then just completely fell off after that. Completely. It's not the worst thing of all time by a longshot, but it's one of those scenarios where the bad outweighs the good. I'm sure everyone on here is aware of why, but I'll go into it anyway because that's what I do. To start, the music on this album is actually...pretty decent throughout most of the album. There are a few songs where the music is exceptional as well. While some might consider it lazy, the groovy guitars, the almost middle-eastern feel at times, the wavy sounds which I have no idea what the hell is making, and so on form some pretty decent and somewhat interesting sounds. For the most part, it's not great, but it's still interesting and unique. Admittedly, the music does get extremely repetitive and predictable in a lot of the songs, especially in the second half, but it's still generally decent throughout. The same level of quality cannot be said about pretty much everything else about this album. Every single gripe that people generally have about Nu Metal is present on this album. The whole Rap Rock vibe wasn't as present as I remember it being in this album. It's definitely there, but not to the extent that you would find with other Nu Metal artists at the time. Korn's iconic angst and anger are also present on this album...while some may consider this a good thing, I do not. Yes, it helps the album feel more unique, but it also feels as if Korn is trying to blend something that gives off "cool kid" or "rebellious teenager" vibes with some of the very dark and serious topics of their older works. It didn't work out as well as they thought it would. It could have been a lot worse, but this kind of blend was pretty much doomed from the start so that's not saying much. This kind of adaptation to the genre while still keeping what makes you original does deserve a bit of credit though. It's good that Korn kept their image and lyrics the way that they always had instead of changing their theme completely for the sake of money. Good on them for that. Despite that, the lyrics on this album are only good at best. I will say that Korn does Nu Metal lyrics a lot better than other artists in the same genre, however The first few songs are actually pretty good, but it kinda falls off after that.This is especially present with the...collab songs. To give another compliment to Korn, these songs that involved other artists were easily the worst on the album besides the hidden song that didn't need to be on there. Nevertheless, they still suck...terribly. All In the Family literally has to be up there for one of the worst songs of all time. The other two are just so odd and so experimental in all the wrong ways...and they have horrible lyrics too. Yeah, the collab songs shouldn't have been on this album. As for the songs Korn solely wrote, their lyrics are better, a lot better...but that's not saying much in the first place. The lyrics are decently written and are vaguely up to interpretation. They have a core theme about inner pain, loneliness, hate, and so on. They're good. Not great. This isn't helped at all by the forced anger present in Davis's voice throughout most of the album. Notice how the highest rated songs had genuine singing without any of the added bluff of anger to it. Yeah, the anger is very clearly forced and that's not a good thing at all. Maybe your band might become a bit more personable to some fans, but you sound completely fake to others. A lot of songs could have gotten a higher rating from me had this not been a theme consistent throughout the entire album. With that said, there are a few more things I want to mention. Freak On a Leash and Got the Life are great. It's a shame that the entire album couldn't have lived up to the quality these two songs presented. Pretty is a song that I almost find to be...almost disrespectful in a sense. It's not that I find myself disgusted by it, it's just that...you should always handle such sensitive and graphic topics with extreme care and respect. Making a song about such a dark, depressing, and horrible event just feels...odd. It's not even Davis that it happened to either like in Daddy. That's different. The horrible thing happened directly to him. He was affected by it. He should have the right to create a song about it if he wants to. Pretty just feels a bit disrespectful since it was about someone else completely. Alright, that's all I have to say about Pretty. Finally, Justin is a pretty sweet song. It's the meaning it was even written in the first place that I gave it a six instead of a five. It's nice. Anyway, with all that said, this album is...actually kinda bad. Like I said, it had its shining moments, but that was literally a moment in terms of the album's length. It's not good. It's not something that I like. It's unfortunate, I like to always see the positives in music but the negatives are so glaringly obvious here that I can't help but criticize more than praise. With all that said, this is definitely the worst album I've generated so far...worst by quite a bit actually. Sorry to say it, but the junk seems to finally be revealing itself. ============================================================ Follow The Leader Score: 5/10 Song Average: 5.6/10
This isn't something I was into when it came out and I was like 14 (prime target audience for this record I would imagine) but I'm interested to listen to it today to see how it has held up. I would assume it hasn't really (spoiler, not well). I kind of feel like the whole Nu Metal genre garnered its fans in a very short timespan and doesn't really appeal to anyone who wasn't there at the time. First song my immediate thought was 'jesus were Jonathan Davis's vocals always such shit?' I totally get why the appeal to angsty teen boys was so strong. Thank god I'm not an angsty teen boy anymore. Although I do have to admit that I quite enjoy Freak On a Leash. So the music isn't too bad. I actually enjoyed some of the guitar parts, though the tone is super brittle and oversaturated. Some great drums in there too, although they largely suffer from terrible sound as well. It seems like a lot of the Nu Metal bands from this time were in the studio asking themselves 'How do we make this record sound as shitty as possible?' and this album is certainly one of those. The vocals and the lyrics are just terrible. Some super juvenile and ridiculous lyrics and blatant homophobia are kind of hard to get past. I mean I suppose this album belongs on the list because it is a good example of this genre. And why the genre was short-lived. 2/5
I guess I'm just too old for this... Standout Tracks: All the ones where Johnny does the funny beatboxing thing IDK Score: E
Nü Metal? What's wrong with Öld Metal? Another one of those "someone did something bad so that someone later could expand on it more tastefully" entries.
This album came out the year I was born and one of my friends used to call me Korn, so I guess I feel a connection to it. I don't think I liked it that much because my favourite tracks were the three that featured other artists so I clearly liked when the band sounded less like what they normally sound like. The track with Ice Cube was my favourite on the album. Of the nu metal albums on the list so far, I think Linkin Park is better. I'll give this 4/10.
Probably would have been happy with this if I'd heard it 35 years ago - but I'm just not angry enough these days.
Not my genre but I have heard "Freak on a Leash" a few times. Lots of shouty metal and some sweary rap. Good angry people. I am not angry people generally.
Rakim>>>>Korn. I can appreciate the energy and feel like they are definitely a vibe just not one for me
Korn never landed with me when I was an angry youth. More of a Bizkit guy. I think I liked irreverence more than dead serious angst. Korn’s first one is compelling and I think it’s a cool relic in a fucked way, though I’m not too drawn to listen to it. I just appreciate it from a distance. This one is… ok. It’s dumb as hell and too serious and too dated in a bad way, but it’s got moments that really rock and I’m nothing if not a guy who seeks moments that really rock.
This wasn't as bad as I was expecting, the odd more experimental bit that popped up as an intro, and the appearance at one point of Ice Cube were surprises. But ultimately this is a shouty heavy rock / metal album that mostly does the same thing throughout (as far as I got anyway) . Not my thing, so bailed after Ice Cube had done his thing.
Sexist misogynist bullshit for incels.
First time listening to a Korn album in full and it's about as I would've expected. At times its kinda fun but a lot of the time its just annoying. Certainly better than Bizkit but that's a pretty low bar isn't it? Favorite track: Got the Life 2.5/5
I've been into various styles of heavy music since the late 80s. I like some nu-metal, just not Korn. They're heavy, but not death metal heavy. I don't like their groove. I don't like the riffs. I especially don't like the voice. I saw them live and I hated it. Listening to this album again, I feel exactly the same. They were an important band for sure, and they're not bad enough for 1 star, but I don't like them.
Ugh this is one of those situations where I liked this because of those around me. Jonathan Davis cannot sing. This is more of a trauma dump over anything else. They're very much nu-metal wall of sound. I don't know how they de-tuned their basses so much that they do that slap slap noise they do. It's more of a percussion instrument than stringed.
I can think of no better way to start off the workweek than with some late 90s nu-metal. Too bad I don't have a Monster energy drink and Slim Jims on hand to set the mood. Freak On a Leash is one of those songs that can teleport me back to a specific point of childhood. I remember thinking the whole song was so weird, bordering on creepy -- particularly the whole non-verbal breakdown. Gotta say its a jam that has held up pretty well over time. Got the Life has similarly held up quite well. I mean, sure it sounds very late 90s in its angst and "get your boogie on," but damn if it isn't fun. Sounds like my man's bass string could fall off with how rattly it sounds. Dead Bodies Everywhere plays like a boomers impersonation of metal music. Like the lyrics and everything sound like a straight caricature. Can safely say I wasn't expecting to run into Ice Cube on this record. What a weird crossover. Pretty awful results... All In the Family is another weird crossover with Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst that has aged like milk. Not to suggest that it wasn't already rancid when it was first released. Never was a huge Korn fan and listening to this straight through did nothing to convince me. The radio hits are solid, but otherwise, this is incredibly spotty. I'd find moments where I actually kind of enjoyed parts of a song but then they'd shift direction into something paper thin and awful (thinking of Pretty in specific). Then there are the shit stains that were All in the Family, and Children of the Korn, Dead Bodies Everywhere. And if that wasn't bad enough, they were kind enough to smear it in our faces with closer Earache My Eye. Gotta say, I have little love for this one. A 2 feels generous, but a 1 feels unnecessarily cruel given there are a few "decent" tracks and a number of enjoyable enough riffs. So 2 it is.
Can't say I have ever listened to a full Korn album but the songs I do know are absolute bangers. On this album this include Freak on a Leash and Got the Life, both get me going. Rest of the album has the most 1998 nu-metal sounds I have ever heard. The cameos by Ice Cube and Fred Durst were also quite disappointing. Will only be keeping the 2 songs above in my memory and flushing the rest out.
Freak on a Leash is a BANGER. Man there is some stuff that I can really get into, and then other parts it just sounds like Donnie from the Wild Thornberry's just making nonsense noises over nu-metal. Seed was especially bad with this one. Was excited to see the features and they kinda sucked. While I don't think this necessarily was dogshit, it's definitely just not good minus a couple songs. The nu-metal aspect got me into some songs but that was mostly it.
Liking Korn was very uncool in high school when this came out, since it basically meant you were a total asshole. It still means that, but that's not totally Korn's fault, and there is some genuine artistry on this album. It's just hard to hear it without thinking about the Children of the Korn. Definitely one big notch over the Juggalos, but still bad news.
I knew Freak on a Leash of course which is alright but I always stayed away from Korn because they were like the band version of a Spencer’s. Also associated them with Limp Biskit which I dislike… oh good Fred Durst is on here. Honestly I liked the rhythm section, especially how dirty that bass sounds, and the aggressive parts. On a whole though the rapping portions and influences are just terrible. I got excited to hear an actual rapper when Ice Cube came on but good lord that Fred Durst song really lived up to the expectations I had (even if I think it’s intentionally poking fun that song still sucked) I don’t think Korn will ever really be for me and that’s ok (2.5/5)
Nu metal - nostalgic cringe.
Solid numetal, edgy, abrasive, and at times very fun. Freak on a leash always a good time.
C'était bien nul.
2 Aged horribly
I never really could stomach Korn. Their groovy and accessible sound was huge for propelling the nu-metal genre (and metal in general) into the mainstream, which is a good or bad thing depending on who you are. I just think there was far better and more interesting things happening in metal at this time.
Not a fan, couldn't actually get through it, vocals are annoying lyrics are cringe inducing, riffs are nothing special
2 out of 5. I was both excited and a little scared to listen to this album again. I haven't played this in over 20 years, since middle school, and forgot how this one sounds. It doesn't hold up, but the bass playing is easily my favorite part of this whole album.
It’s important for all the 40 year olds with kids to remember how incredibly moody and angsty we all were. I forgot how much “woe-is-me” nu-metal l/alt rock there was!!! Were we actually the worst? Also ice cube - wtf?? Giving it a 2 because it is layered, has creativity and a tune. Not my fav but no way the worst on this list
Oof. I already know there’s only so much time I’ll be willing to waste on this one. Funny thing, Korn’s debut record released right at the right time for me to gravitate toward it. I even enjoyed Life is Peachy quite a bit. Of course, I was 16 at the time, and full of angst. By the time Follow the Leader came out, I had well and truly grown out of their sound and I’m not sure that I’ve listened to Korn since. And revisiting the band for this record makes me think I’ve made the right call for the last 27 years. This record truly sucks. I now understand what some of my buddies already understood what took me almost 3 decades to really see: Korn, while spearheading a whole new (at the time) genre of metal, probably shouldn't have. Because it's lame, and it sucks, and my friends were right to make fun of me. I’m tapping out 3 tracks in. I just can’t do it. 2/5
Pretty strong start - I forgot how good ‘Got the life’ was. the bass tone and guitar riffs are honestly pretty sick throughout, I can see why it spawned an entire genre. But holy shit some of the lyrics are cringe and did not age well at all. All in the family makes me wanna kms
My freak off-leash 💯 💪
The dumpster kids unite over this album. As a critical listener I appreciate what nu metal did for music. But Korn is far from my favorite in the genre. Thematically the sludgey guitars and demonic vocals make this a unique standout from the genre that definitely imprinted in on music for generations to follow. You don't have to be a fan to appreciate. Middle of the road album, I don't love or like more than the hit(s) freak on a leash. But still think this was important for metal and music in a whole.
Not sure I’ve ever listened to this album in full despite being a pretty big Korn fan in middle school. “Freak on a Leash” and “Got the Life” are perfect nü metal songs that stand out from the pack. Several other songs play with the same ideas. Others are nothing but immature, misogynistic, homophobia-laced diss tracks. Will stick with the singles on this one!
A lot of hate for this album on here, and I'm not here to defend it and say "y'all just don't understand it's genius" or whatever. Davis has a unique voice that's honestly very hard to listen to for a whole album, but for a metal album from the late 90s, this album did a lot to influence so many other bands and is actually pretty interesting overall. "All In The Family" certainly didn't age well...
This is like if Limp Bizkit didn't suck as much
Can't believe I listened to over an hour of Korn. Not really my thing, but if you like it, enjoy it.
The great Steven Wilson in one of his Album Years podcasts once said that everyone should own at least one Korn album. I remember this because at the time I had never heard of Korn. As his and my musical tastes seem to coincide (if not obviously his great musicality) I did stream a few Korn tracks but was largely unimpressed. Then I get this album on the list so considered by the 1001 Gods good enough to be on it. Again I’m unimpressed. Not an all out stinker as there are some good great guitar sounds going on but the vocals let it down. This is a common thing to my ears when I hear heavy metal singers. Seems that they are communicating in Klingon instead of the Kings English (nearly put Queen there) Striking album cover in an horrific way. Little kids playing hopscotch to oblivion? 2/5 20/10/25
Not as unpleasant as I feared. Some songs I even listened to the whole way through without having to exercise much self control. But still not my scene and struggling to understand the appeal. The voice!!
Not the worst thing I’ve ever heard, but definitely don’t feel I had to listen to it in this lifetime
Aside from the singles this album is 100% nu metal cringe. From the lyrics to the rapping, I honestly have no idea how this album made it on this list
not for me
Damn. I remember when I first got this album it seemed like a huge step forward. but now I find it hard to listen to a complete song, IMO I think Jonathan Davis' vocals just did not age that well.
Not my favorite.
One banger, the rest is a bit meh.
I've never been a fan of Korn, so this review is quite biased. The vocals and the bass both just sound terrible to me.
I dislike Korn. Quite a lot. They’re brand of metal is so slow sounding and annoying, also it’s bad
There are parts that are okay, but I really don't like most of it. 2 stars or D+.
Nierda!!!! Ese bajo no me dejó escuchar si alguien cantaba o se quejaba. Increíble que había gente que no movía sus ojos al parecer. Tortura.
Forgettable.
Nja, visst tuff rock men för mycket beat framför melodi för min smak, sången blir också jobbig.
I have nostalgia for Freak on a Leash, but the rest of the album is hard to listen to...
никогда корн не нравились - хоть и, будем объективны, у них есть свой стилек. ну и фит с айс кьюбом ужасен.
Freak on a leash and Got the Life 💞
What a rubbish metal album, seriously, I can't find much of this album to like. His voice is just creepy and doesn't suit the bland backing band that can't get anything right. Also, the homophobia and misogyny are present throughout the whole album, which is just gross. Why is this band so popular is something I can't understand.
A particular type of person likes screaming metal. It’s not me
This was difficult listen. I didn't really like this kind of music back in the 90's and early 00's and it looks like I still don't.
"Freak on a leash is such banger, wonder why i haven't listen to more of their music?" "...Oh" Everything kinda sounds like a lesser version to me. The vocal quirks get a bit tiresome for me. Almost sounds like the guy from Police academy joined a metal band. It is iconic from the era, I'll give it that and freak on a leash is actually pretty good. But as a whole it wasn't for me (even though I remember seeing them in concert once)
Bored half way through, a couple of decent riffs but I found the vocals very annoying, I can't stand Fieldy's bass style some of the tracks with guest rappers are absolutely cringe worthy. It's also way, way too long. Shit.
I will always be down with Got the Life, but this was never my bag.
Meh - long, pretty samey, I like metal genre but got a bit bored of this
Look, Nu Metal has every right to be on this list - I had fun with the Slipknot offering some time ago - and you can't spell Nu Metal without Kor—... wait. U Metal. Well, I guess you can, mostly? Cool, because this album is kinda shit. Their "Life is Peachy" had a spot in my Music I Listened To history, but only because it was new and musically interesting enough, then, to outweigh how (purposefully?) unpleasant and nasty it felt, the edgelording of it all. But the latter is pretty much all that's left, now and today. I found myself nodding along here and there for a bit, the track with Ice Cube could have been on that "Judgment Night" soundtrack (iykyk), but I do not need this today. Or ever again. Where's "White Pony"?
This is one of those bands who were incredibly unique when they came out but, 30 years later, just feels really corny to me (sorry, couldn't help it). I can still get into some of the songs but for the most it all just blends together.
Korns not really my thing A lot of sounds
A lot of yelling and screaming. Enjoy
The most interesting thing about this album is the reviews on this website. Mostly because they have the same tone I would imagine parents had when this album came out. Idk why we need to jump to, "this album is evil and will corrupt the mind" when it is just try hard edgy metal. Some of the sounds I like. A general creepy atmosphere that is pretty unique. But it all sounds samey by the end and the aforementioned try hard edgy lyrics are cringe. But it is not corrupting or the end of the world.
Not a fan, very familiar with this band and not even one of their songs has made it into my library
Nu-metal Bun de spalat vasele si curatat frigiderul
just not my jam, but interesting listen nonetheless
4/10
A whole lot of annoying noise, that is repetitive and boring.
Follow The Leader is Korn's most well know album by a long shot, this and Issues have somehow managed to stand the test of time and still be some of the most streamed Nu-Metal projects 25 years after it came out. Personally I think this album is a lot messier than Life Is Peachy as it truly is yet another mixed bag of songs ranging from actually great to embarassingly bad. As much as I wish this was on the quality level of Life Is Peachy, it simply is not, it feels a lot less interesting and consistent especially now that their formula is running a bit dry here for me. The first 4 tracks were actually pretty cool, but after that I just didn't really care or connect to the album, it just flowed by with some decent bits and some very bad bits in between. Korn's bit of being gross and sad is really starting to fade fast as their music doesn't really have much going for it other than that, and even Limp Bizkit had something to look forward to as they did try to make solid music for part of their career.
I mean...
Nu metal, electronic, rap, homophobic lyrics, BTE Freak on a Leash BBK Pretty
Ah, Korn. To paraphrase one of their quotes from the wiki, Korn is a dumb name, but the music makes it cool. I definitely thought Korn was pretty cool 20ish years ago, so it's interesting to listen to dive into one of their albums now. Not sure I really can say I feel the same way I used to. Stylistically, the music is pretty intriguing. I know that it is considered a metal/nu metal album, but it actually felt more like a heavy style of funk/jazz/reggae at times. Some hip hop aspects too. There are a lot of unique movements and choices being made to create the songs, usually showing up in the rhythm. The vocals have a gritty, impactful quality that really adds to the whole package. Lyrically, though, it's often rough. Plenty of inflammatory language and outdated ideas, a lot of them seemingly homophobic/misogynistic. I found it the worst on All in the Family, which was exacerbated by the appearance of Fred Durst to offer his unwanted input. I can't tell if its supposed to be an indictment, or some type of confrontation/denial of their own feelings. Whatever personal strife is included is a bit hard to decipher, which is true for most of the tracks. Really, there are only a couple songs here I would say I actually like. Freak on a Leash is still pretty good to me, and Got the Life is close to it. I think I tuned out a bit after All in the Family, as that was a put off. I can't say much for the later half of the album as a result. But, that also means it wasn't strong enough to bring me back in. The album was too long to not have more strong songs than it did. To rank it here, I can't put it very high. There are a few good tracks and interesting music choices, but the album mostly is unimpressive. Parts were downright bad. While I'll probably revisit the tracks I liked, I don't see myself listening to the whole thing again. Overall: 2.25/5
2 // some true butt rock. this smells like sweat, in just the worst way. worst part about it: can't truly it's terrible, it's definitely iconic.
Starts very strong with some great songs but goes down hill fast and just becomes a noisy slog
The older I get the less I enjoy listening to harder rock music. I was never into Korn anyway. So, from a musical perspective, I didn't really care for this album. I do like Brian "Head" Welch's story, which can be read in his book "Save Me From Myself". An amazing redemptive story!
I have problems digesting this.
This made me question the meaning of life too. But mostly in the sense of pondering 'how have I come to listen to Korn in 2025?'. It's poor fare from start to finish, although not absolutely without any merit at all. Like almost all nu metal, you have to hand it to the drummer and vaguely respect the guitar.
In a nutshell: oh, it's on alright. It was very hard to not compare Jonathan's vocals to Trent Reznor. All in all, I agree with critics - it's a landmark nu metal album. Overall: 4/10
No me interesan nada.
Not my genre, the first songs are very repetitive.
Industrial rock/rap.
This about matched my usual experience with Korn, at first I'm interested and wondering if it's for me after all, by the end I'm cringing and waiting for someone to explain to them how badly it's going.
Rating: 1.7 Freak on a Leash is a great, foundational nu-metal song but everything else was borderline unlistenable. Some of the lyrics were very very bad and the album seemed very unfocused, especially in the second half which seems to be a common problem with albums on this list.
Just because an album is a must-listen means it's a good album. Take in consideration "Follow The Leader" by Korn - an album that calls out to all of the disgruntled angry underachievers. From a musicality point, there is nothing original or worthy of influence for future bands. I say this as a metal head and rap fan from the early 80s that saw what the originators of this sound were trying to accomplish, this wasn't it. 2/5
No thank you, not terrible but really not enjoyable, especially for its bloated run time. This reminds me of Linkin park which is a negative comparison in my view, the best part was the feature from Ice cube as at least it sounded a bit like an Ice Cube song with Korn as the feature, the rest of it was mostly cringe nu metal with the vocalist making the most annoying noises ever with his goofy beatbox he does for some reason, his voice wasn’t terrible though, kind of sounded a bit like the dude from helloween but not as good, but he barely used that vocal inflection anyway. The instrumentation was nice sometimes which is the most positive thing I can say about this album, but it was mostly boring, annoying and too long, it wasn’t unbearable to finish but I will definitely never listen to it again, it also had some blatantly homophobic lyrics which were definitely just not needed. Favourites I basically mentioned were the songs with the hip hop features (other than Fred durst but the fact he’s a feature says everything), overall, 3/10.
This was brutally difficult to get through
Ъъъъ не
A lot of the same, sometimes the same is freaking weird, not really my favorite nu-metal nor the most exciting Haha, they can't spell the letter R
Uff. So viel aufgetragene Möchtegern-Härte. Ein paar bekannte eingängige Titel, aber maximal Fremdscham bei manchen Passagen.
I liked this album when I was in middle school. Didn't really hit the same listening to it today. 2/5
I’ve never been a fan of Korn. Blame it on my age when they blew up. I was in college and my musical tastes were snobbish to say the least. Listening to this album as I now approach 50 a few things are clear: 1. There are a few bangers (“Freak on a Leash” and “Got the Life” in particular) 2. I still can’t take Jonathan Davis’s vocals when they get that “rat-ta-ya” sort of way. 3. While I appreciate that this album is a classic within the nu-metal genre I still don’t enjoy it in its entirety
A couple of times this made me laugh at just how stupid it was. This seems purely for teenage boys in the 90s. That being said, a couple songs were actually kinda cool. Got the Life saved this from a one-star.
This is the kind of shit that made me hate music of the 90s as a whole.
Nu metal all seems a bit try hard for me
Not as good as their first album
Boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma
I think this is probably the last Korn album I bought. Issues came out in 99 and I'd moved and life had changed a lot. I think I liked the big singles at the time, but my taste was changing away from nu-metal. Retrospectively, it's jarring, abrasive. Which, look, the late 90s were.
4/10
Often sonically interesting, but so lyrically abysmal at points that I could barely make it through one listen, not two, like I normally do for albums I’ve never heard.
Freak On A Leash brought me back to my ten year old self, shredding those weird off kilter riffs on guitar hero and attempting to sing along to the raving meth-addled madness. A decent track still, and I dont hate a lot of the album instrumentally, the drums in particular are impressive. But over an hour of this guy snarling nonsense at me definitely got old. Ice Cube feature was unexpected, what an awful song, and ditto for the Fred Durst one, hilariously bad and the worst song on the album. Pretty Korny, pretty shitty, but not quite as bad as I expected i guess
Not my cup of tea, a bit too hard and noisy.
Hits fun, mostly nostalgia left
Good singles, lots of filler, and Fred Durst sucks.
There are a couple of genre defining songs on this album. That doesn't really make up for the rest of it though. The song with Fred Durst is one of the worst things I've heard in years, almost an insult to music as an art form. The playing is okay, but each song sounds similar and the album really drags. 2/5 Won't listen again
May be the ticket for some, not my itch scratcher. Giving one past baseline because of the instrumentation
I was curious to hear this album for probably the first time since high school; as a young metal fan back then I didn't have a lot of respect for nu-metal but hung out with plenty of its fans. There is a certain heavy appeal in 'It's On!' and 'Got the Life' that elevate Korn above some of its contemporaries like Limp Bizkit (Fred Durst's appearance on this album marks its worst low point song 'All in the Family'). Ultimately, this is pretty terrible, juvenile stuff, it's hard to imagine anyone but an angry teenager liking it.
There are some interesting ideas here but I can’t stand the nu-metal sound, so I mostly cringed my way through it. I’m wondering if on later albums, once everyone had gotten over the shit nu metal sound, if Korn managed to be alright!??
Musically repetitive with little variation, honestly garbage. There's 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 screaming — the album was not intelligible. Sounds like a pack of angry German men barking. And to the guy in my History class who wears a denim jacket with the Korn logo stitched on: your music taste? Satisfactory at best.
Super front loaded album where the biggest best songs are the first couple then Fred Durst shows up and it all goes to shit. 4/10
I hate to compare the two, but at least Chocolate Starfish was fun at times.
Not in the mood for this. Not sure I get the hype.
Its on: Musically it's actually really good. super well produced, interesting sounds, catchy. Lyrics are fine, vocals aren't that great Freak on a leash: Absolute classic - again, vocals are ok but much better on this track than first track. Drums are a little hollow Got the life: Intro was meh, and drums are meh, overall kinda meh but again production is great. definitely don't love it though Children of the korn is awful. I mean the album is definitely unique and musically interesting, but maybe a little to "midwest edgy" for me and kinda juvenile and not in the way I appreciate
Korn's music is what you get if you forget to tell a teenage mic-yeller band that they suck and they keep practicing. They eventually get good at making really shitty music.
Freak On A Leash is listenable, but one, maybe two, songs is all I need from Korn for a while. As an album though, it's exactly what I imagine a performative edgy kid from the late '90s and early 2000s latches onto for no reason other than they think offending people is cool. What even was "All In The Family"? There's a very samey energy all the way through.
Schrott, wenn man keine Nostalgieaktien drin hat.
Dry. It’s dry. The lead singers underwhelming capability to deliver memorable vocals (outside of the beastly adlibs on “Freak On A Leash”) and the bands just passable compositions left me wanting more. “Children Of The Corn” has a fun Ice Cube feature in concept, but wow it was clunky. And the Fred Durst feature?? That was a phoned in stinker with verses that sounded like a bad imitation of Beck’s “Loser”. There’s some recurring sound/recording technique here, I’m not sure if it’s the zipping of the guitar strings, some sort of wood/rim hits, or both, but they wayyy overdid it in the mix for most of these songs. I don’t think I’ll remember a single hook in this project, which is sad. I was ready to be captivated like I was for the Slipknot album we had not too long ago. Instead, Follow The Leader just blended altogether. 2/5. Anyways, using this time to remember that Korn made a full dubstep album at the advent of the genre’s blowing up in America with a crazy producer features list. Additionally, the Korn lead singer was apart of Killbot, which had some real early 2010’s dubstep bangers of its own. The guy knew ball.
Nah.
I could appreciate parts of it.
Usually, I enjoy metal and longer albums. I didn't mind the instruments, but I strongly disliked the vocals
2.5 rounding down
I hated this less than I expected!
Far far far too long. Its not a genre I'm a huge fan of. Its a bit messy and uninspiring and drags quite a bit because of the length but its decent enough One listen is enough lad 2/5
I was doing ok with this until those last couple songs. Terrible ending to an already not great time.
Too long and not good. Couple songs aren’t horrible. 2
As heavy as you imagine it to be.
Kind of disappointing. Maybe it’s just dated? Like the Fred Durst song is cringe, some tracks like Got the Life are skippable, and even the Ice Cube song is just ok. Freak on a Leash is still great tho.
Nu Metal really doesn't stand the test of time, and under the modern gaze a lot of this is downright reprehensible. I was never a Korn fan, so I didn't come in here with the cloud of youthful nostalgia, but this just didn't sit right with me at all... Lots of stuff to talk to my therapist about though.
Maybe for thee but not for me
The two hit songs made this worth listening to. The rest of the album was meh.
Some great riffs here. Really interesting sound. The vocals haven’t age well and make this album a tough listen. I’d rather listen to an instrumental version of this album. Highlights: It’s On, Got the Life, Pretty
Ugh, All in the Family is musically intriguing but I think we've got a little too much of the Eminem shock value shit. I guess some of the music here works. I like the guitars and instrumentation (I mean, it's nothing to write home about, but listening while I work, it's kinda neat). But we may be at some of the worst, most irritating lyrics of the whole thing thus far. 2 stars.
Almost brought down to a 1 by the last track but at least the drums were fun
I tend to like metal but this is pretty generic and lacks what I want from a metal album. Just emo garbage.
Has some hits but there are so many better options from the era. Anything system of a down put out smokes this.
I will admit Freak On A Leash is a good song. After that, it's just noise, angst and misplaced anger that the late 90s was filled with but really didn't add up to much. Also, a Fred Durst cameo? Really? Ugh!
got the life is fantastic and the rest of the album just blows
Meh…
Short of the two singles, this is aggressive dribble. I really loved those singles as a kid, so I’m kind of shocked at the quality of the rest. The songs with Ice Cube and Fred Durst are absolute garbage. The guitar work and bass blasting are key enjoyables, but the screaming vocals can get tired. Nu metal was a brief renaissance. Glad it didn’t go any further.
Pros: for a heavy and heavily distorted album the production is really crisp and clear, so much so that you can actually hear every word. Cons: for a heavy and heavily distorted album the production is really crisp and clear, so much so that you can actually hear every word.
Wegweisendes Album für das Genre des Nu-Metal. Trotz der innovativen Produktion und einigen denkwürdigen Tracks ist es zu polarisierend. Es fehlt vielen Songs an Tiefgang und musikalischer Reife. Der experimentelle Ansatz der Band, hat sich nicht positiv auf die Qualität des Weks ausgewirkt.
I probably should not but I put Korn in with Limp Bizkit and all that nu-metal stuff that we should all be ashamed of. Maybe I should not lump Korn in with the others but there is a "duet" with Fred Durst, so you know... If we include Korn, then I think we don't need Korn or pretty much any other nu-metal band. Save my ears. Korn jaywalked so that Limp Bizkit could run us over with a car. Reclaim My Place would certainly have a place on a Limp Bizkit album. I think what disappoints me the most is not that I do not enjoy this music but the fact the songs are long. I can handle an album I don't love, yet when I have to listen for 70 minutes I tend to become a bit more hostile towards the music.
made it like one song in, not my vibe
I can appreciate the music but the lyrics (ie using the f slur) are pretty childish. I did like the track with Ice Cube tho. Shrug
As I think back on Korn's career, this definitely seems to be the album that put them on the map. A lot of people really seem to hate and discount nu metal. I for one have always enjoyed it. Here's what I will say: based on what nu metal I know, I have never found most nu metal artists to be particularly good album artists. They drop one, maybe a few good tracks per album, and the rest is pretty much filler. They're ultimately measured by their singles, and when you try to look at them through the lens of album artists, they quickly fall apart. All that said, Korn was never my favorite (or among my favorite) nu metal acts, but I have long recognized their contributions to the genre and their distinct recognition factor even within the genre. This album really sees them harness that signature Korn sound. I head bopped along to the majority of this album, so there was a baseline enjoyment, but honestly, so much of this sounded the same. I couldn't have told you where most tracks ended and others began, save for a couple of the more well known songs on the album. So yeah, probably around a 2.5 for me overall, but I don't really feel inspired to round up.
I can appreciate the musicianship, but not a fan for the genre
This fits right in with the 90s NIN, Linkin Park, Marylin Manson scene. I did not get into any of this genre at the time but have come around on LP and NIN...still not Manson and Korn. The album started out alright but quickly deteriorated. John Davis must have been bullied a lot. Was into the gothic, vampire sound of the music but not his weird ad lib possessed sounds. Worst track which should be removed is "All in the Family." I get that it is knock on rap beef but good god it's fucking terrible (and homoerotic). Sounds like the whole thing was produced by the Zoolander Evil DJ. Not following the leader here...2.05.
Nu Metal as a genre commonly gets picked on (deservedly). As much as it tries to have edge or attitude something about it comes off as lame. Korn is a perfect example of this. While they had/have somewhat of a following there's a certain lameness associated with them. Follow The Leader is a pretty ridiculous album and not one that I enjoyed much on the listen. The best thing I can say about this album is that it transported me completely back to the time of its release. 1.87 stars
Didn’t necessarily hate it but generally sounds like angry depressed man were given instruments
Lame
Yeah this is pretty awful. Freak on a Leash is OK.
Not as good as the next album they put out that I had in middle school
I couldn't wait for this one to be over. I knew Freak on a Leash already, but couldn't get into any of the other tracks.
Listening to this album brought back memories of the late 90s/ end of high school. It was fun to hear the songs again but after the first few it already stayed to get old. By the time ice cube came on I was tolerating it and when Fred Durst came around I was done. The last few songs I was waiting for it to be over. I know that this album ushered in the nu-metal sound as I knew it but it has not aged well.
jeg er ikke stolt af det, men jeg synes faktisk Jonathan Davis har en fed nok stemme, så den kommer op over 1 selvom det er et meget anstrengende, tryhard abum at lytte til
Korn slaps sometimes if I'm in the mood. Meh to this one.
While I was admittedly a fan of some of their imitators/successors in my younger years, Korn never held any real appeal for me. This album has energy and style to it, for sure, but just doesn't really resonate with me the way it might have as a teenager.
2/5 bof
I was never a KoRn fan, which is interesting because I did own albums by Limp Bizkit, Disturbed, and Orgy (oh, to be a middle schooler again). I just never vibed with Jonathan Davis' whiny growling — how he manages to do both at the same time is as impressive as it is annoying. I will give him my grudging respect because he's responsible for Queen of the Damned, in my opinion one of the best soundtracks of the early 21st century; but that's mostly because he got other people to sing his songs (I still think Jay Gordon from Orgy should have been the voice of Lestat in the movie). Anyway, I digress. I'm still not a fan after listening to this album for the first (and last) time. The two singles, "Freak on a Leash" and "Got the Life" are okay, and the video for "Freak on a Leash" will go down in history both for its innovative visual effects and for bumping BSB and NSYNC from the top of the TRL chart (oh, to be a middle schooler again). I don't know, I guess it's not the worst album I've ever listened to, but it's not good. The dark power chords and the screechy, horror-movie guitar sounds mixed with rap rock just aren't for me. A lot of the songs sound very similar, with some new, random distortion noise being the only thing really distinguishing them from each other. And I'll never get the appeal of Jonathan's dog growl scatting obsession. The lyrics really haven't aged well, especially when adding Ice Cube and Fred Durst to the mix. I'm not sure if "aged well" is the right phrase, since they're pretty vulgar and juvenile to begin with, but that Jon and Fred "rap battle" on "All in the Family" sure is cringe. They really went all out on the casual homophobia ... and homoeroticism. Toxic masculinity is a hell of a drug. This album is just a lot of super aggro noise, which obviously played well with the male teen demographic they were targeting. But it never was and never will be my thing. The best thing about it is probably that Ross Robinson didn't work on it (I'll forever dislike him for what he did to The Cure's self-titled album). I can kind of see why it made the list — as much as I don't love the sound, it was pretty different from most of what was happening in music in the late 90s, and Korn should get credit (or blame) for ushering in the rap-rock/ nu metal trend that would dominate over the next decade or so. I'm just happy to never listen to it again. 2/5
Maybe I just wasn't in the mood to be yelled and growled at today but this just isn't something that has resonated with me and I don't plan to go back for more listens. I don't hate it but I also don't particularly like it.
there is a time and a place for music like this and i think i can appreciate that. but this type of music is simply not for me
Ah the 90s, Todd Mcfalaine, poor spelling, and Rap Rock.I’d write this hasn’t aged well but it sucked in 1998 too. Leave me alone mom rock, insipid and not in a fun way. A.J.Soprano music.
Not for me! Very silly and goofy and homophobic
Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum- na-ee-ma Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum- na-ee-ma
Even if I don't really like what Korn do, I do like that they've always gone about it in their own way. There's energy, creativity and humour all over their music so they did well to stand out from the mass of Nu Metal dross that was poured into our ears at the time - this album really represents a certain culture at a certain time. Was the world a better place when our biggest cultural concern was that mum wouldn't accept this isn't just phase it's who I really am? Musically, it's a clever album - the bass and drums are tight and always deliver some sort of sinister groove, the guitars weave against each other in dissonant melody/harmony patterns and the vocals are brimming with character. Some fun songs, but I got bored of the whole album easily enough - still not my thing, but mostly well executed apart from all the unfunny homophobia on All In The Family.... Favourite tracks: Freak on a Leash, Got The Life, Pretty
Didn't enjoy listening to this. I kept checking to see how many songs I had left and it felt like the list never shrunk.
Couple songs on this album still sound great (the hits, basically) but overall it just feels really dated. Worst of all is that it really drags on, I had to start skipping tracks.
they played this soo much in the late 90s. like soo, soo much.
Not my cup of tea, but fine. I wasn't expecting Ice Cube and I wasn't expecting them to rap. 2/5 stars.
I’ve heard of korn a lot but I actually don’t know them. Like even ‘freak on a leash’ which is their big hit I just don’t know it. Honestly bar it’s hook I didn’t love it actually the first song I thought was really solid was dead bodies everywhere, right after the hits. Its metal in the breed of system of a down who undoubtedly are great, although korn are nowhere near as good and it makes me desperate for someone to include toxicity on the user albums! Like SOAD are weird but in a comical charming way but korn with tracks like children of the korn made me cringe . Admittedly fred durst has sounded much worse, he usually reminds me of shaggy from scooby doo but actually he’s the better half here, not saying much though. Maybe there’s things about the bad O don’t get but they use rape without hesitation on many tracks, I find it too aggressive. 2/5 sad because I was looking forward to this
I like Freak On a Leash well enough and thought maybe I'd like some of the other songs too. Nope. This is not my jam and I was glad when it was over. That was a long hour.
Not my vibe
Besser als ich erwartet habe. Trotzdem nicht gut. Zwar wird es an einigen Stellen melodisch, die meiste Zeit wird aber nur rumgeflucht und die Songs klingen alle sehr ähnlich.
I have zero nostalgia for this.
singles ~nostalgia~, but the rest idk
I'm not going to discuss the actual musical quality of this album because it's decidedly very outdated now, but you can't pretend that Korn didn't have a huge impact on rock music during this time. The singles on this album were on every TV channel and every rock radio station for years, all across the world. There were imitators who mostly were terrible, downtuning instruments so far that the strings are just flapping around like spaghetti doesn't mean that you sound interesting unless you really work it in to your sound like Korn actually did. I listened to this a lot as a teenager, not the whole way through, but a lot of it. I liked it then, I like it a lot less now. I wish the lyrics weren't so ridiculous and that Jonathan Davis went on less trips to the scatman dimension. There's a genuine cool idea in here musically but the vocals (both quality and content) just ruin it. I don't remember their first album (which I think is way better than this?) being so over the top, or maybe it just sounded better because there was less complaining? I don't know and I don't really want to go listen to it now. "Justin" and "Seed" are the best songs on here, it's a shame they're buried deep in to the album and everything else is pretty terrible.
What a power house this was in 1998. On hit TV show, TRL, singles from this album held the #3 spot for months at a time (unable to top whatever Backstreet Boys and N'Sync videos were 1+2) and that spot became known as "The Korn Spot". You could not avoid it. It was everywhere. And I think even then I knew this album was garbage. Got the Life is the really the only track on the album that hits outside of the nostalgia of saying BOOM NOP DA BOOM NAGA DAYDUM during Freak on a Leash. So much trash. And an hour long. I would give it a 1 for enjoyment but I'm bumping it to a 2 for the insane social relevance this had when released.
It’s ok, some good tracks, some felt dated
I tried,just not into this shit
Did this album deserve my full, uninterrupted listen? Maybe. Didn’t give this album the chance it deserved? I think so.
Wow didnt think this one would be on here. Talk about a throwback to the 90s
Some hard hitting stuff. This was my shit when I was 15. Kinda tough to get through now.
There was plenty about this I liked, but….so many vocal bits that went beyond the standard growl/scream/roar of this genre and into some absolutely comical, cringey, pathetic noises. Not even lyrics, just silly noises. I just don’t get it, and I couldn’t get past it. As soon as I started to enjoy a track, there he was with his silly childish nonsense.
Woah. I do not like the themes in some of these songs. Lol 2/5 One extra star for the waaAAaaAAaaaOOaaa
I'm really not a fan of nu-metal. Around the 00s was probably the worst time for mainstream metal. Korn's sound is a bit better than many other bands though from the same era. Still I really can't get over the infantile lyrics. It feels like an angsty 14-year old wrote it. The worst offender is "All in the Family" with my least favourite rapper, Fred Durst. There are a few good songs though. "Freak on a leash" is a actually a good song and "Got the life" is decent. It plays too long and I can't get over the lyrics. 2 stars.
Couple good songs and moments. Rest is ehh.
Repetitive riffs that often consist of just one or two notes, no memorable choruses to be found. The best part is when he goes “mmm dah dah eee dah dah eenadada”
It’s good to see that the American Metal tradition of Scatting started by David Lee Roth is being continued. I can understand why Follow The Leader is on this list. Korn were an important part of the Nu Metal scene, and Nu Metal was an important part of the Rock & Metal landscape Post-Grunge. That doesn’t mean it was any good. All in the Family is proof enough of that. I don’t actually think this is that bad, or at least that badly executed. I object to it more in principle. Koяn are not good enough lyricists for either the humorous stuff they’re trying out on some of these songs or the more serious stuff they were already known for to truly land. It’s the same problem I have with Linkin Park. I’m not trying to deny the pain that either Chester Bennington or Jonathan Davis went through, I just don’t think they’re as at good at expressing their pain as Kurt Cobain or Layne Staley were. Certainly not enough to be generational defining artists. The resurgence of interest in Nu Metal will go away and Koяn and Limp Bizket will go back to being leaders of a scene that was of minor importance at best. Cobain will live forever
I saw my friend's 1 star review and I was like, "hey I don't remember Korn being tha t awful" and after It's On! and Freak On a Leash I was starting to get into it but then it just devolves into a big hot mess. You had your time in the sun Korn, goodbye.
# Album Name: Follow the Leader # Artist: Korn # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: This has not aged well at all. The Album started off strong. The first 3-4 songs are good. Freak on a leash and got the life are essential Korn tracks. Most people have heard em even if you dont like the band. But damn, the rest of the album was pretty bad. # Top Tunes: Freak on a leash / Got the life # Would I listen to it again? Only the two tracks.
1.5 stars. "Freak On a Leash" is still okay but the rest of this is so terrible. "Dead Bodies Everywhere" so cringey. Thought album was pretty bad until coming to "All In the Family" where Fred Durst's appearance brings things to a new low.
Ok it's not as bad as some other stuff in its vein, as its not wall to wall blast beats and there is the sniff of a tune. But the vocalist redefines marmite. And it goes on for ever.
After years of playing guitar hero three as a kid I started to experiment with heavier and heavier rock. Little did I know I was going down a dark path. A few of my friends started trying Korn, just to let of some stress on the weekends. It started slowly taking over their lives. Their whole lives became Korn. I could see the effect it was having on them and threw all away my metal albums. 20 years later I can definitively say this was one of the single most important decisions of my life. This album is too dangerous for our youths. It will turn you into the biggest douche bag on the planet.
An hour I want back. Complete rubbish! Except for Freak On A Leash, which stands out.
Som Rammstein fast sämre.
Ei tätä tahdo jaksaa! Liian tekemällä tehtyä mielestäni. 2/5
"You look like one of those dancers from the Hanson video, you little faggot hoe Please give me some shit to work with 'Cause right now I'm all it, kid Suck my dick, kid, like your daddy did" So glad english isn't my native language, cause I was for sure NOT listening to the *~eDgY~* lyrics when I was a teenager. 2 stars because I really liked this shit at 13 years old, just for pure nostalgia. ... But god, so fucking edgy. I cringe thinking about it.
Un dosaco en toda la regla.
2.5
Can't take these guys in big chunks. Decent listen but too long. Did appreciate the cheech and chong at the end
Not too my taste but technically well done
Takes me back to darker times. It was good then, but listening to it now makes me feel like I need a shower.
The songs on my gym playlist are good. The ones that aren't are not.
Silly nonsense
Korny edgy stuff some nice instrumentals tho
yucky yuck & a lot of the same. They're no a7x that's fo sho
I think in another universe I would be tempted to like this more--but in this one it seems kind of one-note. Fairly unimaginative lyrics with high school cursing thrown in. My parents! No! Does every song end by repeating lyrics? I actually enjoy the dissonance and genre mixing, but that is about it. Pretty is disturbing: you don't know who you feel sorry for? What the fuck are you talking about? All in the Family seems desperate, shock value masquerading as serious commentary, on what? I'm not sure. Gonna take me a sec to get this outta my ears.
All this heavy metal...I don't have any more words to express my dislike.
There are better nu-metal albums. There is even a better Korn album. Nothing here has the raw immediacy of, for example, Ball Tongue. The bass playing is exceptional. Everything else oscillates wildly between being neutered to facilitate airplay (the guitars and production) or being grossly offensive (the infantile lyrics and vocal delivery).
I remember a time when Korn and Slipknot were all the rage amongst a certain subculture - never understood it then and still don't. Some of the riffs are catchy enough but overall it's just a bit immature. I'm not bothered by explicit language but it's used gratuitiously and not even in a clever artistic manner (see: "I say what, say what? (My dick is bigger than yours)")
2.5 rounded down well. ok highlights: it’s on!, got the life, pretty (oct 23 2024)
Yuck
Earache My Ear
I actually didn’t wholly hate this, probably a but because my brother used to listen to this album a lot when it first came out, I have a soft spot for freak on a leash. Didn’t mind it but things went downhill when Fred Durst showed up
music the bad kids in elementary school would listen to.
Some pretty questionable lyrics, but it hits the nostalgia chord so 2 stars it is.
Probably the most bland and boring metal album I’ve ever heard. 2/5
Thought I would like this more because nostalgia, but beyond got the life/freak on a leash, I didn’t really enjoy this much. Very same-y and not in a way of “I would have liked this song a lot back then too”
In effort to catch back up on albums ive missed (down to just 2!), I decided to crack into Korn And… yeah, Im not a fan. I absolutely tried and found the gangsters of rock to be a little too much for me. I get some of the lyrics were tongue in cheek, maybe this kind of poetry shouldnt be set over metal? Freak On a Leash was alright.
Oh boy. I'm not sure why this is an album anyone HAS TO LISTEN TO BEFORE THEY DIE, unless it's what you listen to immediately before you die / during the act of dying. Has to be said that Freak on a Leash is a great song if you're in like 8th grade so that warrants a star. It isn't good, but it's still fun in a shitty way. I like how confidently shitty it is. The rest of it is, well, not good. It sucks.
Uuungh.
It was okay, not as good as I remember
I've never listened to Korn before. This isn't my usual genre. As I listen to it, it remains not really my usual thing. Why is this over an hour long. The rapping bits with the featured artists weren't bad. They're not the greatest, but compared to the other stuff.
Ok so at least this one makes sense being here, nu-metal was a huge deal at the time and Korn were a big part of it. As far as the music, oh boy does it go downhill after the first 3/4 songs. The collabs with Ice Cube and Fred Durst might be some of the worst songs i've heard in a long time.
You better watch out because Jonathan Davis is gonna say "fuck." Also, Fred Durst shows up to drop some slurs. It was the 90s, after all.
Only listened to a couple of songs, having been turned off by the lazy vocal work and mixing.
Solo escuché los singles en aquellos años y ahora entiendo todo. Que fortuna que el disco completo me pasó por encima, qué suerte que para esos años ya había superado los 14, porque estoy seguro que habría salido mas tonto de ahi. Freak on a Leash y Got the Life son buenos temas, populares y todo eso, incluso con ese bajo todo distorsionado terminan siendo buenas canciones, pero ese tartamudeo, ese afán por cantar como una mezcla entre Animal (de los muppets) y el Demonio de Tazmania es tan ridículo que impide que el disco alcance las 3 estrellas para mi. Asi que solo 2 por los singles antes mencionados. Tuve que dejar de escuchar cuando llegué a All in the Family. Que basurón.
Never in a million years would I have thought "Follow The Leader" would make anyone's Top 1001 list. It was unavoidable in 1998 and had people talking while it livened up rock/alt radio. "Got The Life" was all over the airwaves, followed quickly by "Freak On A Leash". Both rock hard, both have undeniable energy & both still get airplay. It was an unmistakable sound for the time and bridged hard rock and alternative rock but I'm not sure overall that the album holds up so well toda - many of the 14 songs sound like they were created from the same blueprint without much change in sound & makeup - kinda cookie cutter. Dark topics, heavy from start to finish, it's a lot to make it through all 14 songs in one sitting! After 4 songs the luster wore off...the Ice Cube collaboration, "Children Of The Korn", was unnecessary, as was "Pretty". "All In The Family" borders on offensive, then and now, while "Reclaim My Place" and "Justin" are just plain boring noise, overall a really weak second half. In my opinion there is no place for "FTL" on the Top 1000, it might make the Top 2000.
Freak on a Leash got nostalgia points. But I didn't love this music then and I don't like it now. 2.
Oh dear. I was actually quite excited for this as I haven’t listened to Korn in ages and don’t think I’d ever actually heard this one all the way through. Freak on a Leash and Got the Life both hit hard as well as a couple of other deeper cuts, but there is a lot of trash on here as well, most notably the dull and homophobic ‘rap battle’ between lead singer Jonathan Davis and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst. It doesn’t feel as exciting and fresh as their debut or as mature and introspective as Issues, and is just a bit of a bloated mess that really struggles when it leans into the more hip-hop inspired side of their sound, which they are far worse at pulling off than their signature growly groove metal
First listen. Ok.
Njae det här funkar inte riktigt. Sången är nästan outhärdlig
Freak on a Leash is decent but this is such an edgy album that it could only appeal to a teenager
BOOOOOM DADA BUM DADA