Ranking All 13 Korn Studio Albums

Korn is a huge name in American rock. After all, the band has been very successful from a commercial perspective, as shown by how it has managed to sell more than 40 million records on a worldwide basis. For that matter, Korn has received a fair amount of praise from the critics as well. On top of this, it should be mentioned that the band has been one of the most influential acts in nu metal, not least because it can be said to have pioneered nu metal as a genre.

13. Korn III: Remember Who You Are

Korn III was supposed to be a return to the band’s roots. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to those roots. On the whole, Korn III was more a bad rehash than a triumphant return, with the result that it can’t compete with the rest of the band’s work.

12. Untitled album

The untitled album was untitled so that the fans could call it whatever they wanted. Music-wise, it is one of the more curious works that Korn has ever released. This is because the untitled album had a lot of pop influences, which makes sense because it was made with the assistance of a team that specializes in writing as well as recording pop music. Quite a few of the songs worked out quite well. The issue is that the rest were much more forgettable.

11. See You On the Other Side

See You On the Other Side had some very listenable songs such as “Twisted Transistor.” However, it didn’t manage to differentiate itself from its predecessors. Moreover, when it stood out, it stood out because it came off worse in the comparison.

10. Take a Look in the Mirror

The early 2000s were not a good time for nu metal. Sadly, Korn was no exception. Once again, Take a Look in the Mirror had some very listenable songs that weren’t enough to make up for the much less impressive remainder.

9. The Path of Totality

One can make a good argument that The Path of Totality is the Korn album that manages to stand out the most. This is because it was made at a time when vocalist Jonathan Davis was very interested in dubstep, with the result that this became the band’s one dubstep album. The Path of Totality is one of those albums that manage to split its intended audience. Some Korn fans loved it. In contrast, others loathed it.

8. The Paradigm Shift

The Paradigm Shift received a lot of interest in 2013 because it was the first time that a Korn album had featured the original guitarist Brian Welch since 2003. Thanks to that, it did well enough. Look back, The Paradigm Shift is much more mixed. Its material isn’t bad. However, much of it is too mediocre to keep up with the best of the best that can be found on the album, thus causing it to suffer from that inconsistency.

7. The Serenity of Suffering

The Serenity of Suffering is one of Korn’s most intense releases of recent times. Better still, it manages to do so without being a repeat of what has been released before, thus enabling it to stand on its own as well. The Serenity of Suffering can’t quite compete with Korn’s best. However, it is very solid in its own right.

6. Life Is Peachy

As Korn’s sophomore album, Life Is Peachy made it very clear that the band wouldn’t just redo the same thing again and again. After all, it didn’t try to imitate the success of Korn. Instead, it went in a much more experimental direction. Something that Life Is Peachy did quite well, with the result that it was helped rather than hindered by the decision.

5. Issues

In a lot of ways, Issues is iconic Korn. To be exact, it is iconic Korn executed very well, as shown by how it was able to claim the number one position on the Billboard 200 in the first week of its release while going up against both Dr. Dre and Celine Dion. Both of whom are musical titans in their own right.

4. Untouchables

When Untouchables was made, it was the single most expensive album ever made at a production cost of more than $3 million. That might sound like the setup for a story of hubris being punished. However, Untouchables is actually a very solid album. It didn’t manage to claim the number one position like its immediate predecessor Issues did, but to be fair, losing out to Eminem’s The Eminem Show can’t exactly be counted as a strike against it by any reasonable standard of judgment.

3. The Nothing

It isn’t uncommon for bands to just gradually fade away over time as their later releases fail to capture whatever it was that propelled them to prominence in the first place. However, The Nothing proves that Korn is still very much capable of outstanding releases, being more than capable of competing with the band’s best. Be warned that it is a rather dark album, having been inspired by the deaths of Davis’s mother as well as Davis’s estranged wife Deven. As such, some of his emotional breakdowns were actually recorded upon the album.

2. Follow the Leader

Both of Korn’s first two releases were successes in their own way. However, there can be no doubt about the fact that Follow the Leader did a great deal to cement them as true superstars. Some of its material has become rather aged over time. The rest retain their full power, thus making this album one to remember for the long run.

1. Korn

Korn would be Korn’s debut album. It isn’t necessarily the best album that the band has ever released when evaluated based on its own merits. However, Korn sits in the number one position because it did so much to bring nu metal into existence. Said genre might have fallen far from its height, but its influence can still be seen in the metal that is being made in the present time. Thanks to that, even if Korn had never released anything after Korn, its name would still have a place in the history books.

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