Korn is preparing to record a brand new album and, according to one band member, fans are in for the “heaviest music they’ve made in years.” Brian “Head” Welch, one of Korn’s original guitarists, spoke with the WSOU 89.5 FM radio station and teased what listeners can expect from the follow-up to the band’s 2022 album, Requiem.
“Well, I’ll just say, yes, we are passionately and intensely working on new music. We’re a little bit behind,” Welch said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “We’ve been really digging deep into sounds and tones and miking techniques and just really focusing on every aspect of just the miking and the sonic levels of everything because… I love the last few records we’ve done in the last 10 years, but I think – I just have something in me that thinks we could beat the tones. I love the songs that we’ve done, but tone-wise I feel like we can beat it.”
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“So we’re spending a lot more time on this new music, we’re spending a lot more money [chuckles], and we don’t have any record label involved, so it’s all coming from us,” he continued. “And we really want to dissect our sound and remember where we came from and how we did it back then. And having a vintage KORN feel with a modern twist – sonically, I’m talking about. So it’s very intense. The songs are amazing. I’m very proud of it. I feel like we are closer than we’ve ever been in the studio. And Jonathan [Davis, KORN singer] has been there every day.”
Welch went on to say that he and the rest of his bandmates — vocalist Jonathan Davis, guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer, bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, and drummer Ray Luzier — are working on new music “off and on.” He continued, “We’ll work for – I don’t know – a couple of weeks. Then I won’t see [Jonathan] for a month or two. But it’s starting to pick up now because we wanna put new music out. We’re a little bit behind, but we’re very proud of what we’re doing. And we can’t wait for people to hear it.”
Offering some insight into how the songs are shaping up so far, Welch explained, “I think it’s the best and heaviest Korn stuff in years,” he said. “And I think it’s gonna be raw and just kind of more basic, as far as sound and recording and everything. I don’t wanna give it all away, but we’re just very, very pleased with where we’re at right now.”
Welch went on to say that Korn hasn’t “started recording” the band’s next album “yet, but we’re very passionately heading toward that direction. And we can’t wait for everybody to hear it.”
While it may be some time before new Korn music manifests, fans can get excited about the band’s forthcoming 25-city North American tour. The trek — featuring support from Gojira and Spiritbox — kicks off on September 12 in Tampa at the Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheatre and makes its way across the nation before wrapping up on October 27 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
