Korn

Life is Peachy Korn 180 gram edition

Life Is Peachy, is a musical tour through some truly evil corners. The Bakersfield quintet's paranoia-induced rampage makes countless by-the-numbers death-metal acts seem cartoonish by comparison. Mostly, Korn succeeds in inspiring rage and terror by not overplaying its hand, and by mixing in hip-hop beats, punk abandon and funky humor with its thrash. Jonathan Davis croons as ably as he roars, making his "Exorcist" impression seem genuine when he does break into it. James "Munky" Shaffer's and Brian "Head" Welch's guitars never explode into bombastic faster-than-light solos; instead, they uphold the album's eerie textures by flying in and out of the mix like samples. And drummer David Silveria is as adept at reproducing the Latin percussion polyphony of War (on a metallic cover of that band's "Low Rider") as he is double-timing on his twin bass drums. Add it up, and LIFE IS PEACHY assembles into far more than your average declaration to Satan. Simply Vinyl. 2005.