Untitled Korn album


The untitled eighth studio album by American nu metal band Korn, often known as Untitled or Korn II by fans, was released on July 31, 2007 by Virgin Records. It is to date the band's only studio release to not feature an official drummer, released between the departure of David Silveria in 2006 and the joining Ray Luzier in late 2007. Vocalist Jonathan Davis hired drummers Terry Bozzio and Brooks Wackerman as session musicians. The album was intentionally released without a title, as Davis reasoned, "Why not just let our fans call it whatever they wanna call it?" The album was certified Gold in the United States on October 30, 2007.

Background information

This album was the first without former drummer David Silveria, instead, Korn enlisted the help of Terry Bozzio, Brooks Wackerman, as well as Jonathan Davis for drumming. Also, the band recruited Zac Baird as keyboardist on this album. An MTV article published on May 17, 2007 includes an interview with Munky as he details the process of the new studio album, while also revealing several song titles. On May 28, vocalist Jonathan Davis joined Dutch radio station 3FM immediately after his performance at the Pinkpop Festival. He commented on the band's upcoming album, stating it "will not be titled." He elaborated, "We had the world's greatest drummer Terry Bozzio in and Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion in and I played drums on some songs too. I'm so proud of it, we just can't wait to show people what we've done." Davis went on to say "We didn't want to label this album. It has no boundaries. It has no limits and why not just let our fans call it whatever they wanna call it?" It is the first and only Korn album to ever be recorded by the band as a trio.

Terry Bozzio's contributions

After successfully recording six tracks with Bozzio, Zac Baird announced that Bozzio would not be touring with the band on the Family Values Tour 2007. Jonathan Davis claims "things just got weird ." Brooks Wackerman of Bad Religion was brought in to record some tracks, and even Jonathan Davis himself contributed, something not done since 1999's Issues. Munky stated in an interview that Bozzio had imposed himself on the band. He mentioned that among other things, Bozzio had demanded to be a full member of the band while receiving 25% interest; the band felt that this was "offensive", therefore, Korn decided not to tour with Bozzio. Joey Jordison of Slipknot would tour with Korn on the Family Values Tour, along with the Bitch We Have a Problem Tour., formerly of Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.

The Matrix's departure

When premiering the single "Evolution" on KROQ on May 16, 2007, guitarist Munky noted that the band re-recorded much of The Matrix's tracks with Atticus Ross because of the band being dissatisfied with how the material had turned out. This was later confirmed in a Reuters/Billboard article:

Musical style

"We always wanted the atmospheres, and to really go deep," guitarist Munky told Billboard. "It wasn't until this record that we really felt comfortable to do that. As records progress, the urge to do that becomes greater. We feel like we've finally solidified ourselves in the rock world, and wanted to take this one a little deeper into that direction. It's less pop, and it's more experimental." Jonathan Davis said of the songs, "I don't want to say that it's heavy, because that pisses the other band members off. It's still the Korn sound, but it's also very atmospheric."

Release

The album was released through EMI/Virgin in various territories, starting on July 27, 2007. The band ventured on the trio's Family Values Tour 2007 several days prior to the release and toured in support of the new record. The deluxe edition contains the bonus track "Sing Sorrow", a bonus DVD containing behind-the-scenes footage, hundreds of never-before seen photos of the band. The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, the highest since Untouchables. The untitled album sold 123,000 copies in its first week. It also fell off the charts within twelve weeks, accumulating twenty weeks altogether.
Reception was lukewarm to the album and was mostly met with a mixed response from critics as Metacritic scored the album, with the user's average score of. The most positive reviews coming from IGN, The Gauntlet, and Billboard. IGN noted that, "There's an overall cohesion from start to finish, and repeated listens continue to reveal new and intriguing elements at every turn, which bodes well for the future", while The Gauntlet wrote, " 'Untitled' is the most articulate recording the band has delivered to date." Entertainment Weekly also praised the album as being the band's best release "since 1999's 'Issues' ".
On the contrary, AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that the band is going through a "middle-age slump" and that the album "doesn't break them out of it." Rolling Stone asserted that Korn sounds "wounded and diminished", while PopMatters agreed, calling it "tired, bland and dated... merely going through the motions rather than creating honest music."

Track listing

Deluxe edition bonus DVD
Korn
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Album
Chart Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart11
Austrian Albums Chart3
Belgian Albums Chart 28
Belgian Albums Chart 17
Canadian Albums Chart5
Danish Albums Chart20
Dutch Albums Chart32
Finnish Albums Chart2
French Albums Chart8
German Albums Chart3
Irish Albums Chart31
Italian Albums Chart19
Mexican Albums Chart11
New Zealand Albums Chart3
Norwegian Albums Chart24
Polish Albums Chart23
Spanish Albums Chart55
Swedish Albums Chart17
Swiss Albums Chart9
UK Albums Chart15
US Billboard 2002
US Billboard Top Rock Albums1

Certifications

Singles
YearSongUS
Alt.
US
Main.		US
Dance
UK
2007"Evolution"20418114
2007"Hold On"359——
2008"Kiss"————
2008"Haze"————