The Nothing

Korn's 13th album is one of the group’s most searing, the band's trademark ugly-beautiful stomp meeting the savage charge of more extreme strains of metal. Much of the credit can be given to vocalist/raw nerve Jonathan Davis: In the aftermath of his wife's death in August 2018, an artist already renowned for plumbing emotional depths pushes his throat and lungs to visceral extremes: wailing, panting, whispering, and roaring. Preview singles "Cold" and "You'll Never Find Me" set the template for their new direction: hard syncopation, basement-scraping riffs, radio-unfriendly growls. But there are also some phoenix-like songs ("Can You Hear Me," "Finally Free") that juxtapose Davis' wounded lyrics with anthemic hookwork. He screams in metalcore ferociousness, gurgles in death-metal-fried agony, soars in power ballad majesty, and leaves the sounds of crying on the recording. His band is both fierce and desolate, with bassist Fieldy finding new sludgy lows and drummer Ray Luzier driving everything with a savage precision.