Requiem from KoRn review

Requiem from KoRn. 2022 being the 14th studio album in their discography.

Forgotten: 4.5/10 nice percussion in the enter. WAS getting early korn vibes but what the fuck are these vocals? The singing is awful. Awful for Jon anyway, what the fuck is this synth shit? When he sings the “bow down” bits its alright. But everything else so far is upsetting. It keeps almost being good then ruining itself.

Let the dark do the rest: 5/10 Loving this entrance, a nice transition into something really cool. Again the vocals dont hit me, but this is better than Forgotten. The “you make me sick” bit is nice. Jon should not be singing. It’s not good on him. Stop. I cant get past this singing.  End was great.

Start the healing: 5.5/10 good track. More shitty vocals. Maybe its just growing on me but i dislike it less. Maybe the progressions are just better. It’s not good in a korn way, not what i wanted from Korn. Doesnt mean its bad. But a little disappointed its from korn, ya know? Another good ending. the meat of these songs is what lets me down so far.

Lost in the grandeur: 4/10 amazing start, interesting scratching from the guitars. These vocals are really starting to piss me off. STOP SINGING. These instrumentals are great, the lyrics of korn have been. Great, awful, and unnoticed. So that doesnt really matter to me here. I know every artist handles art differently, its good hes exploring and doing what he thinks is good. But Jesus Christ I dont think its good. Had one good stanza, cause he was grunting and “screaming” in the traditional korn way. 

Disconnect: 3/10 another good start, heavy and surprisingly melodic. Please please please dont ruin it. What are you going for? I wish korn would just stick to its foundation, but I’m not the artist. What is this pattern? One good stanza before going back to the shitty vocals. Ill bring it up as much as I want and as much as i think its a problem.

Hopeless and Beaten: 6/10 okay good so far. Interesting percussion. Hes whisper singing which is something I enjoy and screaming too which is also good. Weird melodic part. It’s falling apart. Good bridge and followings end. These songs keep ending strong. Some affects on the percussion which I always enjoy more cymbals.

Penance to sorrow: 5/10 Sort of a Motionless In White sound ngl. Kinda halloweeny. Not much to say so far. Nothing to compliment and nothing to complain about that i haven’t already i former tracks. I like this build up with the guitar, reoccurring but of course. 

My Confession: 6/10 woah really interesting relationship between the bass and guitar here. Nice affects, i love this instrumental. The whispering is okay. 

Worst is on its Way: 8/10 (ONLY FOR THE SCATTING) very “early korn” start. With the down tuned guitars and affects. FUCK. Guess what happened? Okay this stanza isnt awful, feels the same. This build up is nice, SOME SCATTING???? I MISSED THIS <3 scatting at the end really made this track. 

Overall. The opposite thing happened with Deftones Self title. Went in expecting lots and got nothing. With that I went in thinking it would be great, a call back to korns early days. And in some ways it was. But only in the ways that would have supported a full testament to the first album. That’s what i came for and absolutely did not get it. With my commentary youd think I’m looking for blind violence, screaming, and heavy instrumentals. And while yes, a lack of those is what I complained about it’s not entirely what I was looking for. Jon Davis’s voice to me isn’t meant to sing, he’s a good moaner, screamer, whisperer, grunter, and scatter. But singing? It doesn’t hit me the way I was thinking it would. It was more melodic which can work for korn definitely, and has before. It was interesting instrumentals, I enjoyed a lot of the percussion features. Even when they were short, they were sweet. Music is art and in turn ya know… I didnt like this album at all. But I understand why other Korn fans would, it has themes from early stuff but. It wasnt the love letter I was looking for. My favorite track was ‘Worst is on its Way’ simply for the scatting near the end. Least favorite track was ‘Disconnect’ I was getting really impatient with Jon’s vocals and it was insanely forgettable like most of this album.

5.5/10 I feel bad rating it anything under five because there’s a lot of shitty music out there.