''The Serenity of Suffering'' is the twelfth studio album by American

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

band

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

. It was released on October 21, 2016. According to guitarist

Brian Welch Brian Philip Welch (born June 19, 1970), also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician. He is a guitarist and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death, where he also provides vocals. Along wit ...

, it is "heavier than anyone's heard us in a long time" and it contains their most intense vocals and music in recent times.

Background

The band began working on their follow up to '' The Paradigm Shift'' in 2015, with

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

claiming that it would be "heavier than anyone's heard sin a long time". It's the first album to feature significant songwriting contributions from Head since he rejoined the band in 2013. The song " Take Me" was originally written by

Jonathan Davis Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the lead vocalist and frontman of nu metal band Korn, which is considered a pioneering act of the nu metal genre. Davis's ...

for his debut

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century ...

, but after hearing it, the rest of Korn re-wrote the track and decided to include it on ''The Serenity of Suffering''. The artwork includes the stuffed toy from Korn's fourth album, '' Issues'', and was created by Ron English.

Commercial performance

''The Serenity of Suffering'' debuted at number 4 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with 57,000 units, 55,000 of which were pure album sales. As of December 2017, the album has sold 133,000 copies in the US.

Reception

''The Serenity of Suffering'' received an approval rating of 67/100 on review aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on nine reviews, indicating a "generally favorable" response from critics.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote: "Without pandering to career-peak nostalgia, Korn deftly execute all the hallmarks that have come to define their sound", calling it "one of their best albums". ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

'' wrote: "''The Serenity of Suffering'' is like a selection box of Korn's defining moments." A less favorable review came from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', writing: "''Suffering'' is heavy enough to stand proudly in the Korn kanon, but not daring enough to be much else."

Track listing

Personnel

Korn *

– lead vocals * James "Munky" Shaffer – guitars, backing vocals *

Brian "Head" Welch Brian Philip Welch (born June 19, 1970), also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician. He is a guitarist and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death (band), Love and Death, where he also pro ...

– guitars, backing vocals * Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu – bass *

Ray Luzier Raymond Lee Luzier (born June 14, 1970) is an American musician. He is the drummer of nu metal band Korn, having become a full-time member of the band in April 2009. Life and career Luzier was raised in West Newton, Pennsylvania, a small town ...

– drums Additional musicians *

Corey Taylor Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist, guitarist, ly ...

– guest vocals on "A Different World" * Zac Baird – keyboards on "Take Me" * Jules Venturini – programming * Nick "Sluggo" Suddarth – programming * Rick Norris – additional programming * C-Minus – turntables on "Insane", "A Different World", "Next in Line", and "Calling Me Too Soon" Production *

Nick Raskulinecz Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxville ...

– production * Josh Wilbur – mixing, mastering * Nathan Yarborough –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Chris Collier – additional engineering * Paul Suarez – assistant mix engineering *

Justin Warfield Justin Evan Warfield (born April 20, 1973) is an American musician and hip hop MC. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist of the darkwave duo She Wants Revenge, which formed in 2004. In 1993, he released a hip-hop album titled '' ...

– additional vocal arrangement * Dave Rath – A&R * Ron English – illustrations * Virgilio Tzaj –

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

, design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

The Serenity of Suffering at Korn.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serenity of Suffering 2016 albums Korn albums Roadrunner Records albums Albums produced by Nick Raskulinecz