"Jonathan Davis non avrà creato un capolavoro questa volta, ma mai come in questo caso ha saputo farsi ascoltare"
Io credo che ogni decade, a partire dagli anni '60, sia stata di importanza vitale per la nascita e lo sviluppo di quella che definiamo la musica moderna. I '60 sono stati gli anni della nuova era, i '70 quelli dei nuovi generi (metal in primis), gli anni '80 sono stati il naturale conseguimento del decennio precedente e i '90 sono stati gli anni della sperimentazione. Escludendo dal discorso, com'è giusto che sia, i suoni del nuovo millennio, che più che allo sviluppo stanno portando alla deficienza totale masse e masse di ascoltatori, non posso non citare in quanto a sperimentalismi i KoRn. In realtà la stessa band è sinonimo di esperimento, poichè, sin dalla sua nascita fino ai tempi moderni, ha sempre cercato di imboccare nuove strade e a volte con pieno successo.
"Issues" è forse l'album più sperimentale del gruppo di Baskerfield e allo stesso tempo quello più caratteristico. Ci si allontana dai sound primordiali, lo stesso Jonathan Davis non è più lo stesso di un tempo, è più maturo, più disposto a rischiare, ma non ha ancora perso la voglia di picchiare forte con la sua musica. E allora via il "ghibberish" (stile canoro di Davis, che con twist aveva raggiunto la sua massima espressione), via le grida disperate e straziate; si aprono ora le porte a sound più cupi, più melodici e, la maggior parte delle volte, più "easy-listening", ma non per questo di scarsa qualità. "Issues" d'altronde rappresenta anche la linea di demarcazione per band dalla grandezza all'ingresso ad una nuova realtà, dove i KoRn fanno molta più fatica a risultare convincenti: è il canto del cigno. Tuttavia a qualsiasi ascoltatore, che desideri avvicinarsi per la prima volta al gruppo, l'album va caldamente sconsigliato, perchè, troppo diverso dagli altri, spinge chi lo sente ad innamorarsi di una band che in realtà non esiste.
Il disco può essere diviso in due parti: la prima conta i sette brani iniziali, la seconda i rimanenti nove. La differenza sta nel fatto che, mentre nella prima sezione i pezzi presentano strutture molto diverse tra loro, proseguendo, le canzoni iniziano a risultare tra loro troppo analoghe. Già da questo si può capire come più si va avanti nell'ascolto, più la qualità complessiva diminuisce (senza mai però andare sotto la sufficienza). Caratteristica esclusiva di questo nuovo lavoro sono gli interludi, cinque in tutto, distribuiti per tutta la durata del disco, tanto brevi quanto interessanti. In particolare "4U", un canto straziato di meno di due minuti, suscita all'ascoltatore un misto di malinconia e rassegnazione. Per quanto riguarda invece i brani, c'è da dire che questa volta i quattro di Baskerfield hanno saputo scegliere bene i singoli da estrarre: delle punte di diamante di un album già complessivamente ottimale. "Falling Away From Me", "Make Me Bad" e "Somebody Someone" rappresentavano l'unica buona ragione per rimanere costantemente sintonizzati su MTV nel 1999. Se da un lato abbiamo la opening-track ("Falling Away..."), che già da sola riassume tutto quello che è contenuto all'interno del disco, proclamandosi come fenomeno mai ripetuto in tutta la carriera musicale dei KoRn, dall'altro abbiamo la traccia 11 ("Somebody Someone"), un perfetto connubio tra melodia e cattiveria, che riesce brillantemente ad evitare di sfociare nel banale per tutta la sua durata. Affascinante anche "Beg For Me", che, sebbene non si distingua tra le maggiori opere composte dalla band, strega grazie alla sua sfacciata agressività, diventando un perfetto inno da head-bangers. Si arriva poi alla cosiddetta seconda parte del disco. Intendiamoci, nulla di biasimabile nel complesso, ma non ci si può non accorgere della natura prettamente riempitiva di queste ultime tracce, ancora più evidenziata dal fatto che il gruppo ha scritto, registrato e inciso quello che è ancora oggi il loro album più lungo in appena più di un anno.
Genericamente lo schema seguito dai pezzi presi in questione è quello tipico dei brani nu-metal, ma proposto al contrario; pertanto abbiamo strofe caratterizzate da riff tranquilli e melodicamente preponderanti, distrutti improvvisamente da ritornelli furiosi e sonoramente pesanti. E da questo ci si rende conto anche di un altro aspetto lampante: è la rabbia la vera protagonista di "Issues", che pervade ogni traccia con ognuna delle sue sfaccettature. Si può scegliere tra l'ira "disperata" di "No Way" e il furore senza pietà di "Let's Get The Party Started", o fra la rabbia sadica di "Wake Up" e quella mista a rassegnazione di "Counting"; sta all'ascoltatore in questo caso decidere quale pezzo fare suo. Questo è quanto.
Con "Issues" è stata aperta una finestra che purtroppo si è sbarrata per sempre già con l'uscita di "Untouchables". Una sorta di musica "psico-somatica", un "delirium metal", un album che fa sentire sulla propria pelle tutte le emozioni che desidera... e non sono sensazioni di gioia. Jonathan Davis non avrà creato un capolavoro questa volta, ma mai come in questo caso ha saputo farsi ascoltare.
Voto: 7
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Falling Away From Me (04:30)
Hey, I'm feeling tired
My time is gone today
You flirt with suicide
Sometimes that's OK
Do what others say
I'm here standing hollow
Falling away from me, falling away from me
Day, is here fading
That's when I'm insane
I flirt with suicide
Sometimes kill the pain
I can't always say
'It's gonna be better tomorrow'
Falling away from me, falling away from me
Beating me down, beating me, beating me down
Down, into the ground, screaming so sound
Beating me, beating me, down, down
Into the ground
(Falling away from me)
It's spinning round and round
(Falling away from me)
It's lost and can't be found
(Falling away from me)
It's spinning round and round
(Falling away from me)
Slow it down
Beating me down, beating me, beating me
Down, down, into the ground, screaming so sound
Beating me, beating me, down, down
Into the ground
Twisting me, they won't go away
So I pray, go away
Life's falling away from me
It's falling away from me
Life's falling away from me, FUCK!
Beating me down, beating me, beating me
Down, down, into the ground, screaming so sound
Beating me, beating me, down, down
Into the ground
(Falling away from me)
Beating me down
(Falling away from me)
Beating me, beating me
(Falling away from me)
Down, down
(Falling away from me)
Into the ground
Screaming so sound
(Falling away from me)
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
(Falling away from me)
Into the ground
03 Trash (03:26)
How did it start?
Well I don't know
I just feel the craving
I see the flesh and it smells fresh and it's just there for the taking
These little girls, they make me feel so god damn exhilarated
I feel them up, I can't give it up
The pain, I'm just erasing
I tell my lies, and I despise
Every second I'm with you
So I run away and you still stay
So what the fuck is with you?
Your feelings
I can't help but rape them
I'm sorry, I don't feel the same
My heart inside is constantly hating
I'm sorry, I just throw you away
I don't know why I'm so fucking cold
I don't know why it hurts me
All I wanna do is get with you and make the pain go away
Why do I have a conscience?
All it does is fuck with me
Why do I have this torment?
All I wanna do is fuck it away
I tell my lies, and I despise
Every second I'm with you
So I run away and you still stay
So what the fuck is with you?
Your feelings
I can't help but rape them
I'm sorry, I don't feel the same
My heart inside is constantly hating
I'm sorry, I just throw you away
I tell my lies, and I despise
Every second I'm with you
So I run away and you still stay
So what the fuck is with you?
Your feelings
I can't help but rape them
I'm sorry, I don't feel the same
My heart inside is constantly hating
I'm sorry, I just throw you away
Just throw you away
I tell my lies, and I despise
Every second I'm with you
So I run away and you still stay
So what the fuck is with you?
Just throw you away
05 Beg for Me (03:53)
Everyone is looking at me
I can't get out of bed, there is evil in my head
Everyone just let me be
Because when I hit the stage, it is gone and I am free
God damn you say you'll get up for me
You're the crowd, come on give it back to me
You won't beg for me, beg for me, beg for me
God damn you say you'll get up with me
You're the crowd, come on give it back to me
You won't beg for me, be there for me, beg for me
Tell me, how could this fade?
I am going insane, and I cry, it helps my pain
Everyone please let me be
Because when I hit the stage, it is gone and I am free
God damn you say you'll get up for me
You're the crowd, come on give it back to me
You won't beg for me, beg for me, beg for me
God damn you say you'll get up with me
You're the crowd, come on give it back to me
You won't beg for me, be there for me, beg for me
I feel the shame
I'm ive gone insane
The things I feel now
Arn't the same
Who gives a fuck if my life stops?
I just know one thing
I won't give up
Everyone just let me be [x3]
God damn you say you'll get up for me
You're the crowd, come on give it back to me
You won't beg for me, beg for me, beg for me
God damn you say you'll get up with me
You're the crowd, come on give it back to me
You won't beg for me, be there for me, beg for me
Be there, for me? [x4]
06 Make Me Bad (03:55)
[Verse 1]
I am watching the rise and fall of my salvation
There's so much shit around me, such a lack of compassion
[B-Section]
I thought it would be fun and games
Instead it's all the same
I want something to do
Need to feel the sickness in you
[Hook]
I feel the reason as it's leaving me, no not again
It's quite deceiving as I'm feeling, the flesh made me bad
[Verse 2]
All I do is look for you and when I fix you, Needed to
just to get some sort of attention...attention
[B-Section 2]
What does it mean to you
For me, it's something I just do
I want something
I need to feel the sickness in you
[Hook]
I feel the reason as it's leaving me no, not again
It's quite deceiving as I'm feeling, the flesh made me bad (2x)
--break--
I feel the reason as it's leaving me
No, not again
It's quite deceiving as I'm feeling
The flesh made me bad (2x)
(Does it make me bad)<--[repeating until fade]
09 Am I Going Crazy (00:59)
All the lying and cheating will surely bite you
Dishonesty tears you apart and will eat you
All the anger and pain and the suffering and the shame
And the voices in your brain will surely haunt you
Let the guilt go, let the guilt go, let the guilt go, let the guilt go
I tell you one thing which leads to another thing
Then I backtrack which leads to hurt feelings
Then my brain spins off of fucking everything
When this happens I can't break through
All the anger, the pain and the suffering, and the shame
And the voices in your brain will really haunt you
Let the guilt go, let the guilt go, let the guilt go, let the guilt go
I tell you one thing which leads to another thing
Then I backtrack which leads to hurt feelings
Then my brain spins off of fucking everything
When this happens I can't break through
Now we waste our lives away
Letting guilt lead the way
I'm such a stupid fuck
Listening to my head and not my gut
Constantly thinking and thinking and thinking
And thinking and thinking and thinking
Now we waste our lives away
Letting guilt lead the way
I tell you one thing which leads to another thing
Then I backtrack which leads to hurt feelings
Then my brain spins off of fucking everything
When this happens I can't break through
I tell you one thing which leads to another thing
Then I backtrack which leads to hurt feelings
Then my brain spins off of fucking everything
When this happens I can't break through
11 Somebody Someone (03:47)
I can't stand to let you in
I'm just watching you
And I don't know what to do
Feeling like a fool inside
Feeling all that you hide
Thought you were my friend
Seems it never ends
I need somebody, someone
Can’t somebody help me?
All I need is to be
Loved just for me
Giving you this and that
Giving, getting nothing back
It's all related to
All the things I do
Feeling like a fool inside
Seeming all the things you tried
I am nothing
I need somebody, someone
Can’t somebody help me?
All I need is to be
Loved just for me
I look
I sign
I need
Someone
Inside
To help
Me out
With what
I'm trying
I'm crying
I'm frying
In a pile of
Shit
I'm dying
I'm dying
I'm dying
I need somebody (someone)
Somebody (somebody)
Someone
I need somebody (someone)
Somebody (somebody)
Someone
Someone
13 Let's Get This Party Started (03:41)
[Verse 1]
When it's crying, takes me to a certain place which I don't often find
I see a family walking always thinking of being somewhere else in time
So I fall face down in a rut, I can't seem to get out of
Please wake me, please give me some of it back the feelings that I had
[Vamp]
Sometimes I wish I could be strong like you
It doesn't matter
Each time I wake I'm somehow feeling the truth
I can't handle
[Hook]
Let's get this party started, I'm sick of begging you
You make me feel insane which I give to you
Let's get this party started, You make me feel insane
I want to be the one to make myself sane
[Verse 2]
Time is ticking, It makes me feel content with what I have inside
Constant paranoia surrounds me, Everyone I see is out to get me
So I fall face down in a rut, I can't seem to get out of
Please wake me, please give me some of it back the feelings that I had
[Vamp]
Sometimes I wish I could be strong like you
It doesn't matter
Each time I wake I'm somehow feeling the truth
I can't handle
[Hook]
Let's get this party started, I'm sick of begging you
You make me feel insane which I give to you
Let's get this party started, You make me feel insane
I want to be the one to make myself sane
You make me feel insane
[Vamp]
Sometimes I wish I could be strong like you
It doesn't matter
Each time I wake I'm somehow feeling the truth
I can't handle
[Hook]
Let's get this party started, I'm sick of begging you
You make me feel insane which I give to you
Let's get this party started, You make me feel insane
I want to be the one to make myself sane
14 Wish You Could Be Me (01:07)
I am going insane
This shit is all of a pain
I cannot maintain as the shit gnaws at my brain
Wish you could be me
And then as you would see
How tired I am and how you get the best of me
At least you could look at me
While you're raping me
You are taking my life and selling it, tehehe
Why should I complain
At least it helps my pain
I am very cool now
And theres gossip bout my fame
I am going insane
This shit is all of a pain
I cannot maintain as the shit gnaws at my brain
Wish you could be me
And then as you would see
How tired I am and how you get the best of me
At least you could look at me
While you're raping me
At least you could look at me while you're raping me
You fuckin pussy !!!
15 Counting (03:37)
I came back to face what's growing in my head
Please get away from me
Take advantage of what I feel, yes you do
One day you'll beg for me
So I'm saying nothing
Each day taking that much more
As I'm screaming all my pain
You will be there counting
You just see me as something you throw around
You were there for me
Beating down to the ground
Yes it always seems
You take more from me
So I'm saying nothing
Each day taking that much more
As I'm screaming all my pain
You will be there counting
It's funny how we've just started
They get the money for the things on you
They give ya money, and the girls and the fame
I only do it for the fun and the games
It's funny how we've just started
They get the money for the things on you
They give ya money, and the girls and the fame
I only do it for the fun
That's my game
So I'm saying nothing
Each day taking that much more
As I'm screaming all my pain
You will be there counting
16 Dirty (07:50)
Keep knocking
No one’s there
Pouring down
Near people
I'm out here
By myself, all alone
Ready to blow my head off!
I hurt so bad inside
I wish you could see the world through my eyes
Each day is the same
I just wanna laugh again
Keep hoping
Nothing to spare
So my life
Isn't quite there
Feel like a whore
A dirty whore
Such a whore
Dirty
I'm out here
By myself, all alone
Ready to blow my head off!
I hurt so bad inside
I wish you could see the world through my eyes
Each day is the same
I just wanna laugh again
Just wanna laugh again
I'll take it
I'll take it
I will take it
Give it to me
You dirty little fuck
Dirty little fuck
You dirty little fuck
Dirty little fuck
You dirty little fuck
(I will take it)
Dirty little fuck
(I will take it)
You dirty little fuck
(I will take it)
Dirty little fuck
(I will take it)
You dirty little fuck
I hurt so bad inside
I wish you could see the world through my eyes
Each day is the same
I just wanna laugh again
I just wanna laugh again [x4]
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Altre recensioni
Di valerio
"KoRn torna con un disco formidabile abbandonando le sonorità hip-hop per influenze new wave e funk metal catartico.",
"Brilla la voce enfatica e schizofrenica di Jonathan Davies e i duelli fra le chitarre di Munky e Head."
Di AR (Anonima Recensori)
"Jonathan Davis ci racconta la sua depressione, le sue paure, la sua vita da rockstar."
"Per chi si dichiara un vero fan dei Korn è un album imperdibile."
Di sofficino
I KORN hanno dimostrato di superare se stessi, battere la barriera degli immortali.
Un suono unico senza macchie, semplicemente devastante.
Di Kleine
"‘Issues’ rappresenta un punto piuttosto di transizione, con sfumature elettroniche e un indurimento del sound."
"‘Dirty’: musica adatta per descrivere un incubo, in cui si mescolano odio, rabbia ed un po' di paura, togliendo il fiato."
Di marko75
Ogni singola traccia merita di essere ascoltata più di una volta, un lavoro eccelso.
Un album completo, trascinante, suoni puliti, voce straordinaria, sofferente e rabbiosa allo stesso tempo.