Around the middle of July I looked at Korn’s inaugural self-titled release. Like I said in that review, it’s remarkable at how well it’s managed to age in the nearly 30 years since it’s release despite it being a product of it’s time. Today however, we turn our attention to September of 2019. Nu Metal has long been out of favor by this point, but the boys from Bakersfield still hold the sub-genre aloft, and released what might very well be the darkest album in the band’s discography. So, let’s not waste anymore time, and take a look....at The Nothing.
Background
By the time 2018 rolled around, tragedy would punch Johnathan Davis right in the gut. For starters, his Mother would pass away on the 25th of February that year, and in August of that year his estranged wife Deven Davis would die due to a mix of 5 different drugs, but it would ultimately be ruled as an accidental drug overdose. To add further tragedy to her death, she was last seen a week prior at a sober house. Coupled with now being a single parent, not to mention bipolar & diabetic issues (I may be wrong about the diabetes), it’s easy to see why the beleaguered frontman would spiral into some of the darkest places in his entire life.
However, it was getting through this deep darkness, not to mention the support from the rest of the band, that gave Davis the fuel he need to help create what is quite possibly the bleakest album in Korn’s history, and it’s name.....was The Nothing. Released on the 13th of September, 2019, the album got it’s name from the titular villain in The NeverEnding Story, and it’s very fitting if you’ve actually seen the film. A year prior in August of 2018, tracking drums were being recorded, and not long after that everything else came in. The whole process was very therapeutic for Davis, who said:
“I went through hell last year and had to purge what I was going through and bring the listener through that experience. I don't know how to explain it but it takes me over. When you hear me break down and cry, that's not fake. It's how I get it out. Some people go to a shrink. My music is that for me.”
It should be noted that recording the vocals for this album was unusually long. As he stated in a Kerrang! Magazine interview, Davis said that he typically did it in about 2 weeks. For The Nothing, it took him 4 months to get the vocal tracks down.
The reception for The Nothing were pretty good upon it’s release. Over on Metacritic it is Korn’s highest rated album still to this day, scoring an 83 out of 100. Loudwire would name it one of the 50 best metal albums of 2019, and Allmusic gave it a positive review, stating that:
“Over atmospheric NIN-like piano and towering drums, he exposes his guilt-stricken soul in a final confessional. As the swell fades away, he weeps, "I failed, I failed." It's one of the saddest moments in their catalog, a low point that ironically elevates this album to one of their strongest statements. Korn have always excelled at pain, but with The Nothing, this is the most authentic it's ever been.”
The sales for The Nothing were also nothing to slouch at. It would debut at no. 8 on the Billboard 200 with selling 33,000 album-equivalent units, 29,000 of which were pure album sales. It wound up being the band’s 14th top 10 album in the United States, and by the end of 2020 it had sold over 80,000 copies.
Basic Description
Korn’s World Coming Down.
Before I go any further, I want to show a little irony. Like I said above, this same out on the 13th of September. A week later, and it was the 20th anniversary of Type-O Negative’s classic soul-crusher World Coming Down. Coincidence? I think not!
However, maybe it isn’t a coincidence. Like I said right above, this is Korn’s equivalent of that famous bleak Doom Metal icon. It is exceptionally dark, deals with death, personal failures, tragedy, and just being at the bottom of the barrel in life. Considering what was going on in Davis’s life at the time, it’s not exactly a surprise. That being said, it’s insane at just how much black the band was using in this release. Davis & the rest of the gang pull out the darkest of their souls kicking & screaming, and they’re making us listen to it whether we like it or not. There’s so much black on here, that it makes virtually every release prior to The Nothing look like fields of daisies & bunnies. That’s impressive if you ask me!
Best Track
Like I said when I updated the Korn overview, The Nothing has a triple header of best tracks in the form of Cold, You’ll Never Find Me, and Can You Hear Me. All 3 tunes are incredibly well made, and reflect the overall dark emotion of this record the best. That being said, I’ve found myself ever so slightly gravitating towards You’ll Never Find Me more in the years since this album came. Maybe it’s because of the alien feel of the instrumentation, the bizarre nature of the sound effects, or Davis’s tormented vocal work, I’m not sure. All I know is that it’s an eerie experience, but one that’s oddly satisfying at the same time.
Cold
You’ll Never Find Me
Can You Hear Me
Worst Track
Like I said when I updated my overview on Korn, The Nothing is far in a way the single darkest album the band has ever done. Everything before was definitely not sunshine & rainbows, but there was always some sliver of light somewhere on a record, no matter how small it was. Not so with The Nothing: this release is bleak, soul-crushing, tragic, and exceptionally nihilistic. You will not be feeling good at all while you listen to the record, and that nasty feeling will stick with you for a long while after it’s done. Requiem from 2022 is in a fundamentally similar vein as The Nothing (You can read the review here), but that album is considerably lighter in vibes despite the still heavy emotions swirling around.
Other
If you’d like to listen to this album, then click on the link below:
The Nothing
Overall Impression & Rating
The Nothing is the first time that a Korn album sent absolute chills up my spine. There were a few songs prior to this that certainly did this to me, but for a complete record to do that is equal parts impressive & unnerving. Thankfully Davis didn’t kill himself, and he’s doing much better now than he was a few years back. But every time I load this album up, or even just a song or two.....I can only think “What If”.
The Nothing gets a 10 out of 10. As a piece of dark emotional art, it is genuinely perfect.
And that was my look at Korn’s final album of the 2010s, and the end of part 2 of the Summer of Nu. A bit of a downer to be sure, but at the same time is one of the band’s best releases in recent memory. Maybe even the best if you ask me. So, this festival is coming to a close next month, but I’m gonna take a look at Nu Metal bands that maybe weren’t quite as popular as they were when the subgenre was en vogue. See you soon!
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