KORN Readying 'Funky, Heavy, Melodic' New Album

Revolver magazine recently spoke with KORN frontman Jonathan Davis and bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu about the band's forthcoming ninth album, which is said to be a return to the group's earlier sound.

"We experimented with a lot of cool stuff on our last two records [2005's 'See You On The Other Side' and 2007's untitled effort], but we didn't want to do another record like that," Davis explained. "So we said, 'Let's strip it back again. Let's do this as a four-piece and make it real raw like the old stuff."

KORN worked on the new CD with producer Ross Robinson, who helmed the band's first two albums, 1994's "Korn" and 1996's "Life is Peachy".

"We figured if we're gonna go back [to the early KORN sound], we should do it with Ross," said Fieldy. "And it was great. Even though we hadn't seen him in years, it felt just like old times."

He added, "We made sure that every song we were working on had everything that represents the integrity that you hear on [KORN's 1994 debut]. There's on faster, really heavy song that's pretty different for us, but the rest is a combination of everything we were in '93. It's funky; it's heavy; it's melodic. It's everything, man. It's KORN."

KORN's forthcoming effort was tracked last October at the band's studio. "We recorded everything on tape, just like we did in the old days," said Davis. "And we didn't stack four or five vocal parts like I usually do. I'm singing one part for every song, which was scary. It's just me and the microphone, and you can really hear the emotion."

As part of Robinson's tireless quest to wring every last bit of emotion from his artists, he encouraged Davis to revisit past traumas to fuel his performance. "He used any kind of ammunition he had to get me into that headspace where I felt like I wanted to scream and run away," Davis said. "I basically went fucking crazy making this record. When I was done, I was emotionally gone and in tears and everything. And the memories don't just go away. I'd brew on 'em all day. It was rough."

KORN's ninth studio album is now being mixed for a June release.

The band has yet to sign a new record deal, after releasing its last two efforts through Virgin.

KORN is also rumored to be one of the headliners for this summer's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival.