On the Joshua Toomey Interviews podcast, All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte talked about Korn’s huge impact on the metal scene.
The singer said Korn’s 1994 debut album introduced key elements of nu-metal that have stayed relevant for 30 years. Labonte believes Korn influenced the development of heavy music, including deathcore and metalcore breakdowns:
“Without Korn, I don’t think you’d get deathcore bands that you have today. I think that they had a really, really strong influence on what it meant to make heavy music and what was heavy.”
He continued:
“The breakdown and downbeat stuff, there was some of that stuff in death metal before Korn and in metal before Korn, but Korn really brought that kind of out. And I don’t even know that you would have metalcore breakdowns that you do without bands like Korn. I’m not sure. Maybe you would, but I’m not sure.”
What Did Jonathan Davis Say About Their Impact On The Metal Scene?
30 years ago, Korn’s self-titled debut album introduced a new mix of metal, hip-hop, and industrial music, creating the nu-metal genre. Korn frontman Jonathan Davis told Kerrang! in 2019 that they were outcasts early on:
“We were ultimately just outcasts. Nobody knew what to f*cking do with us in the early days; we were doing tours with No Doubt, Pennywise and KMFDM, but the metal community took us in. We had distorted guitars and were heavy, but no-one knew what to do with us. We didn’t fit in anywhere. Who’s this guy with a f*ckin’ tracksuit playing bagpipes? It’s the weirdest f*cking sh*t.”
Korn started with a unique sound from Bakersfield that didn’t fit the heavy metal scene at first. Davis hated labels like ‘nu-metal’ initially, but now he embraces it. He added:
“It’s crazy. I used to hate being called this and that, I hated labels. When we first started we were like, ‘We’re not a metal band, y’all’’ then they’d go ‘Oh, then you’re nu-metal!’ ‘Well f*ck you!’ If we invented nu-metal then f*ck yeah, cool. It’s pretty cool to say we helped invent some kind of movement, that’s pretty insane. The last big movement was us. Other bands helped along the way, but we spearheaded that whole thing.”
Korn’s latest album, ‘Requiem’ arrived in 2022. The band is currently on their Europen tour. It will end with a final show in Germany on August 19. Then, they will head towards North America in September for more gigs.
You can watch Labonte’s full interview below.