KORN "Greatest Hits Vol. I"
by Clifford "Junior" Newsted

Cover: 3 Nu-Metal Bands From Bakersfield out of 10
It’s not catchy. It wouldn’t draw my attention to it if I were walking through the “K” isle in the store. It’s this dark grays, black and greens used as the color schemes. It’s a prison cell door, with the an opening, on the front that displays the Korn logo and then reads “Greatest Hits Volume 1” in white stencil. I guess as little effort as possible goes into these types of compilations?

Booklet: 7 Misspent Years of Your Youth out of 10
The booklet features an essay on the band, features, all the information from each track and band shots from each release and their respective album artwork. Again, the colors used on the cover are used throughout the entire booklet’s 12 pages.

Songs: 7 tracks About How Miserable My Adolescence Was out of 10
I’m a casual Korn fan at best, there are a handful of tracks that I “liked” from Korn, mainly the material from Follow the Leader and from Take A Look in the Mirror. I think the additions of new tracks, which are both covers, “Word Up” turned out fabulous, I heard some actual singing and a melodic side to Davis’ vocals. There other being, “Another Brick in the Wall,” that is parts 1-3 and that too turned out better than I thought it would. I remember a number of years ago, talking to a friend, about how well this song fit them and now they recorded it. Epic Records has put together a great products here, that will be a great introduction to the band, for new fans, a great additions for the casual fans and another piece for the Kollection of the Korn faithful.

Comments: There’s also a bonus DVD in the first pressing of this release. Korn live @ CBGB’s in Nov.’03, it’s a great set, they look like they are having fun and you can actually see these guys smile at times. A great little incentive to rush out and buy this. There’s no denying that modern rock, metal and mallcore, wouldn’t be what it is today, without Korn. You don’t have to like it, but they have made their mark and this release is a good retrospective of where they have been and a taste of where they are going.