Korn impacted pop culture and rock music just as much as Nirvana did. In mere months after the release of Korn’s debut record, playing a 7-string guitar and wearing Adidas tracksuits had become the norm. The Band created nu-metal, countless imitators and, best still, their albums are still highly ranked.

But such popularity doesn’t come with a bit of pushback. Korn may have been popular with teens. But the older, conservative rock gatekeepers were slow to warm up to the quintet. History has proven, once again, to be a grand authority and has provided Korn with critical acceptance alongside the band’s massive popularity.

That’s why today I’m digging up my tracksuit, braiding my hair, opening up about my issues and ranking Korn’s albums from worst to best.

14. “Korn III: Remember Who You Are” (2010)

Time can catch up to anyone. Korn does its best to give it the slip with “Korn III: Remember Who You Are,” a record meant to present a modern, revamped version of the band.

Korn had a better understanding of musical dynamics than most of their peers. However, their detuned guitars and rap-rock strategies were such an innovation in the 90s that by the 2010s, they were no longer fresh or shocking.

But Jonathan Davis still has the hurt and the unique storytelling ability to set him apart from other singers. The band uses this as a framing divide for songs like “Oildale (Leave Me Alone),” “Let the Guilt Go,” and “Fear Is a Place to Live.”

“Korn III” may not be a home run. But it’s enough to let long-time fans know that the band is not walking away from what they’d built.

13. “Untitled” (2007)

“Untitled” sees Korn drifting into a new era. While the band is well aware of their status as heavy metal innovators, they are unsure of the path forward.

“See You on the Other Side” may have sounded uncharacteristically celebratory. On the other hand, “Untitled” is meant to play as a horror movie soundtrack. And, well, most horror movies are low-budget affairs.

It’s an acceptable strategy, but Jonathan Davis’ personal touch is surprisingly absent. “Evolution” and “Hold On” are worthy additions to Korn’s discography. Still, overall, “Untitled” is the band’s first real misstep.

12. “The Serenity of Suffering” (2016)

Korn became a surprising addition to the list of arena rockers with the release of “The Serenity of Suffering.” As the album shows, it was dogged persistence that got them here.

Korn didn’t exactly fall from grace during the 2000s. But things certainly slowed down for the group on a commercial level.

The band’s ability to plough on and release new albums consistently kept the ball rolling.

Now, with four-fifths of their original line-up and a positive reassessment of their work, Korn looks toward the future for “The Serenity of Suffering.”

What does this mean soundwise? Well, Korn never had a traditional rock sound. Their blast of detuned guitars and screamed vocals can blend seamlessly with modern elements. It’s something that producer Nick Raskulinecz works well.

“Rotting in Vain” and “Insane” are standout tracks, but the Corey Taylor feature “A Different World” really stands out.

11. “Life Is Peachy” (1996)

90s Korn did enough to charm kids looking for something different from their rock music. On “Life Is Peachy,” the band does its best to represent their newfound fans.

The fact is that, for the most part, the band’s admirers, just like Head, Munky, Fieldy, David Silveria and, especially, singer Jonathan Davis, are troubled. Korn’s music may be designed to sound menacing. Both for both parties, it serves as inexpensive therapy.

“A.D.I.D.A.S.,” “No Place to Hide,” and the haunting ballad “Kill You” were standout tracks that played on the formula of the band’s debut.

“Life Is Peachy” had fewer strong songs than the first record but did enough to bolster the band’s global brand.

10. “Take a Look in the Mirror” (2003)

Korn knew “Take a Look in the Mirror” needed to hit its mark if the band wanted to avoid the waning mainstream popularity of nu-metal and hard-rock music in general.

“Take a Look in the Mirror” is a crisp, brief affair. It succeeds in showing that Korn’s particular brand of aggressive rock has a future. The band is not a flavour of the week. Their ambition, instead, is to become part of the club of classic heavy metal bands.

It was around this time that Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich praised Korn as worthy “peers.” Songs like “Right Now,” “Did My Time,” and the anti-music biz of “Y’all Want a Single” is enough to show why classic metal bands would reserve such praise for Korn.

9. “The Paradigm Shift” (2013)

Those expecting Korn to quit following their diminishing commercial results were about to be disappointed. With “The Paradigm Shift,” the band mends bridges and prove that their uber-aggressive sound was made to endure.

Sure, the big talking point here is the return of Head. The guitarist had departed the group to find religion and kick drugs. Successful on both fronts, he is welcomed back into the group.

Are Korn merely pulling a KISS and selling a quasi-reunion for profit? No. With Head and Ray Luzier on drums, the band sound energized and returns to its core elements for “The Paradigm Shift?”

Highlights include “Never Never,” “Spike in My Veins,” and the ballad “Lullaby for a Sadist.”

None of the material here is groundbreaking. Still, Korn’s musicians are also too smart to merely drift into self-parody.

8. “See You on the Other Side” (2005)

Heavy music was no longer in the musical mainstream by 2005. This affected every metal band. But, judging by “See You on the Other Side,” Korn is one of the ones most comfortable with their place in the world.

A lot of this has to do with the immense success that the band enjoyed for the past decade. With the statue erected and firmly glued in place, the band members aim to please themselves. Yes, they can boogie, party and make nu-metal style…ahem.. fun.

In fact, not even guitarist Brian “Head” Welch’s departure or their split from their record label can bring them down.

“Twisted Transistor” might be Korn’s best pop and detuned metal mix. Meanwhile, “Coming Undone” and “Liar” benefit from a similar pop-centric touch.

7. “Untouchables” (2002)

Korn was a stadium act in the early 2000s. But “nu-metal” was still a dirty term for most music critics. “Untouchables” is meant to please both the musical establishment and the arena audiences.

This means that quotable melodies balance out the band’s brand of ultra-modern metal. This time around. Jonathan Davis wants to be sure you’ll be leaving the album being album to hum it.

After all, arena-Korn had made plenty of bands and plenty of money. From Coal Chamber to Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit, these bands ought to travel Fieldy’s house every week with cookies and milk and a plea for forgiveness.

“Here to Stay,” “Thoughtless,” and “Hollow Life” are good songs. But in trying to please everyone, Korn smoothes some of the edges that made the band unique in the first place.

6. “The Path of Totality” (2011)

To their credit, Korn remains a group of metalheads interested in the present and, especially, the future of music. “The Path of Totality” is an encounter with dubstep. The results are more convincing than one might imagine.

Dubstep, as we’d soon see, was to have a far shorter lifespan than Korn. By 2012, few would admit to indulging in the brostep drop.

However, “The Path of Totality” isn’t merely an attempt to jump on the bandwagon as it might seem. Korn’s sound was always built on striking, modern, surprising sounds. This was, perhaps, what the numerous nu-metal bands that copied them didn’t understand.

Skrillex, Noisia, or Excision make an appearance. Songs like “Narcissistic Cannibal,” “Get Up!,” and “Chaos Lives in Everything” might not help make Korn seem hip again. Better still, they sound natural in the band’s discography.

5. “Requiem” (2022)

Clearly, Korn was on to something with their previous album, “The Nothing.” They strike while the iron is hot for “Requiem,” a similarly morbid but fascinating listen.

It’s, of course, sad to hear Jonathan Davis and the group struggling with such issues. The irony, however, is just how much the tone of “Requiem” resembles the band’s debut.

It seems that Korn’s titanic attempts at reinvention, naturally, brought them back to where they started. Both the band and its fans are better off because of it.

The inclusion of merely nine songs, all short and direct, is almost a statement. “Forgotten,” “Disconnect”, or “Worst Is on Its Way” are meant to provide a quick shock and reestablish Korn as one of the more exciting bands in rock music.

Yeah, most nu-metal bands kept releasing albums after their glory days ended. Some got jobs in bowling alleys or became real estate salesmen. Fittingly, little changed about Korn’s music or their surprising but undisputed status as rockstars.

4. “The Nothing” (2019)

“The Nothing” returns the group to the hopeless darkness of their debut. If Korn managed to survive the decline of nu-metal better than most bands, it is largely because they had a greater depth of emotions they needed to share.

This time, Korn is doing more than chasing past glories. Jonathan Davis’ recent personal dramas inform the record. If the singer had anything going for him, it was the ability to convey anxiety earnestly.

“You’ll Never Find Me,” “Can You Hear Me,” and “This Loss” represent some of Korn’s best songs in years. “The Nothing” delivers a late-career comeback for the group.

3. “Follow the Leader” (1998)

Taking the foreboding sounds of grunge and rap and mixing them with their own quirks, Korn delivered “Follow the Leader,” an album designed to make them global superstars.

From the outset, it’s clear that Korn knows their worth and commercial potential. The band collaborates with artists like Ice Cube and Fred Durst. They bring in disco grooves when needed. And Jonathan Davis doesn’t shy away from providing the most emotional vocal performances.

Unlike the previous two records, “Follow the Leader” is created with single-worthy material in mind. “Got the Life” and the emotional “Falling Away from Me” became hits and mainstays of MTV’s flagship show TRL.

However, “Freak on a Leash” does best to encapsulate Korn’s sound in four minutes of sinister, dynamic music that travels from screams to beatboxing to whispers.

“Follow the Leader” may have built on the public’s angst that grunge had also exploited. But, by 1998, Korn’s nu-metal had all but replaced the “Seatle Sound.” “Follow the Leader” is still the best-selling album by Korn, having moved more than 5 million copies throughout the world.

2. “Korn” (1994)

Korn’s self-titled debut album proved that there’s always a novel way to play heavy metal, and it showed that millions of listeners were seeking something new.

It’s hard to understate the influence of “Korn.” While many bands were experimenting with hard-rock and hip-hop hybrids, one can easily point to this album as the birthplace of nu-metal.

The newly birthed genre would have few commercial rivals throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. But, at the time it was released, “Korn” was anything if not unusual.

To understand this, it’s best to list the heavy-metal stereotypes it avoided. There are few guitar solos. The lyrics are often vulgar and aggressive. And the band members look like they’re travelling to a rave party.

“Blind,” “Shoots and Ladders,” and “Faget” are some of Korn’s most important songs. And even critics of the band will quickly acknowledge the group’s influence.

1. “Issues” (1999)

Korn takes on the numerous pretenders to the nu-metal crown with “Issues” and proves that a great understanding of sonic dynamics was still what separated them from the pack.

By the end of the millennium, the ultra-mucho image of nu-metal had garnered plenty of negative press.

If anything, “Issues” shows that similarities between Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock are only surface-deep.

There’s an earnest vulnerability found in Davis’ lyrics that is absent from most of the other nu-metal artists. Furthermore, the excellent sound of “Issues” makes it one of the few albums of the era that is not completely dated.

Who most loved Korn? Usually, the same kind of emotionally advanced teenagers that had liked Nirvana or Alice in Chains.

“Falling Away from Me,” “Make Me Bad,” and the introspective “Somebody Someone” meant that Korn knew who their supporters were and what they needed.

While I rarely listen to nu-metal these days, I’m still astounded by just how cleverly assembled “Issues” happens to be. Few metal records manage to find this balance between pure power and an entirely pristine sound.

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