''Take a Look in the Mirror'' is the sixth studio album by American
nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
band
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.
Originally formed in 1993 ...
. Released on November 21, 2003 through
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...
, it is the last Korn studio album to feature their full original lineup, as their original guitarist
Brian "Head" Welch
Brian Philip Welch (born June 19, 1970), also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician. He is one of the guitarists and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death, where he also provides vocals. ...
left the band in February 2005 until his return in 2013 (with the release of their 2013 album ''
The Paradigm Shift
''The Paradigm Shift'' is the eleventh studio album by American nu metal band Korn. Produced by Don Gilmore, it was released by multiple labels in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2013 and in the United States the next day. It is the first Korn ...
''). Original drummer
David Silveria
David Randall Silveria (born September 21, 1972) is an American drummer, best known as the original drummer for nu metal band Korn from 1993 until leaving the band in 2006. He then became the drummer for Infinika, which was formed in 2012 and d ...
also left Korn before the end of 2006 after the release of their next album ''
See You on the Other Side''. It was also the last studio album by Korn under the
Epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
and
Immortal
Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life.
Immortal or Immortality may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film
* ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...
labels.
Background
The album continued Korn's lowering in sales, debuting at number 19 and peaked at number 9 with first-week record sales of about 179,000, due to the release date of the album being pushed up to a Friday, with fewer sales than if it was released on the standard Tuesday. The track "
Did My Time
"Did My Time" is a song written and recorded by American nu metal band Korn for the film, '' Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life''. It was released as a single in July 2003 in support of the film, and was later featured on the band's sixth ...
" was previously released as a CD single for the film ''
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life'' and the track "
Right Now" was accompanied by a provocative cartoon video animated by
Spike and Mike Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation is a presentation of Award-winning animated short films, annually touring throughout theaters, film festivals or college campuses in the United States.
Background
The festival is presented annually in the ...
. The ending track "When Will This End" is followed by a long silence before a live cover of
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
's "
One
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
" starts playing. The album was also released in a "clean" version which utilized
backmasking
Backmasking is a recording technique in which a message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. It is a deliberate process, whereas a message found through phonetic reversal may be unintentional.
Artists have s ...
as well as growling in place of profanity. ''Take a Look in the Mirror'' has sold over 1.2 million copies in the US and over 2 million copies outside of the US according to
Nielsen SoundScan
Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
as of January 4, 2013 and was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
on December 16, 2003. It has been claimed that the album was rushed,
due to the lower than expected sales of ''Untouchables'' which had left the band in debt.
Jonathan Davis has subsequently admitted in interviews that the album was written at somewhat of a rushed pace, due to the lower than expected sales of ''Untouchables'', and having to write with the time restraint of being on that summer's
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy Osbourne, both ...
tour.
Composition and music
![Nas-04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Nas-04.jpg)
''Take a Look in the Mirror'' marks Korn's attempt to return to a more aggressive sound as featured on their earlier albums, with guitarists
Brian "Head" Welch
Brian Philip Welch (born June 19, 1970), also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician. He is one of the guitarists and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death, where he also provides vocals. ...
and
James "Munky" Shaffer mostly utilizing thick, heavy distortion and the occasional clean tones for contrast. The album features strong elements of
nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
and has the aggressive sounds featured on their early work,
as well as a reworked and re-recorded version of the track "Alive", which had previously only been released on the band's first demo, ''
Neidermayer's Mind
''Neidermayer's Mind'' is a demo tape by American nu metal band Korn. It was produced by Ross Robinson and released in 1993. The demo is a rarity, but finished versions of the songs appeared on subsequent Korn albums.
Background
Before Korn even ...
''. Also of note is the song "Play Me" which features rapper
Nas
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
, making ''Take a Look in the Mirror'' the first Korn album since ''
Follow the Leader'' to feature such a collaboration. Furthermore, Davis plays bagpipes on "Let's Do This Now", marking the return of a tradition that has, to date, only been absent on ''
Untouchables''.
Around this period, guitarist
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 animals may ...
was heavily addicted to drugs such as
meth
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...
. He said "2003 is when I started using
speed
In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...
every day. I
lsogot hooked on meth and in order to get up and function, even play a show, I had to snort lines, you know. And I told myself, 'I'll do this tour, I'll do this
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy Osbourne, both ...
, and I'll do meth the whole time and I'll go home and check into a rehab.' And it scared me, you know, 'cause I was like coming every month I would tell myself, 'I'm gonna stop this tour,' and I wouldn't be able to do it. Like a fear would come over me. I was just trapped." Regarding the issues facing the band during the recording, guitarist
James "Munky" Shaffer recalled "We weren't in the best space. The songs weren't flowing and the creativity was a bit muted from these personal dramas each of us had."
He also claimed the album was a forced effort.
Jonathan Davis
Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD or JDevil, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of nu metal band Korn, who are considered a pioneering act of the ...
said "
his album
His or HIS may refer to:
Computing
* Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company
* Honeywell Information Systems
* Hybrid intelligent system
* Microsoft Host Integration Server
Education
* Hangzhou International School, in ...
is about us as a band, taking a look in the mirror and remembering where we came from, remembering our roots, going back to basics," Davis said. "We reflect and look back why we really got into this band to begin with and why we started it. It's to make aggressive, heavy music. Over the years … we were just experimenting. It always was Korn, but it was different spins on what we were doing. So this time we wanted to make an aggressive, heavy album and just kill it. And that's why we've produced it ourselves. Nobody knows Korn better than ourselves." Davis also stated that he felt a return to basics nu metal album was needed in the music industry of 2003. He said "Nothing coming out is really striking me at all. The whole
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
and
pop punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...
scene is just stagnant and boring. Music is not imaginative at the moment. The only record I consider remotely interesting is probably the
Outkast album, ''
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo Outkast. It was released on September 23, 2003, by Arista Records. Issued as a double album, its length of over two hours is spread across solo albums from both ...
''. That's really cool and original."
Reception
''Take a Look in the Mirror'' has received mixed reviews from professional critics but acclaim from fans.
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
scores the album 49 based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews", while the user's average score is 8.2/10.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Jason Birchmeier states the album is "a little paradoxical, but that's precisely what makes ''Take a Look in the Mirror'' so interesting, especially for longtime fans" and goes on to say that "because of the emphasis on brevity and variety (and especially quality), the album's over before you know it and you're left feeling hungry for more Korn." On the contrary, ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' scored the album a D, saying "Korn remain
technically proficient, but ''Take a Look in the Mirror'' serves only to make the case that the genre has officially screamed itself into caricature."
NME gave the album a negative review, criticizing it for being a "self-parody", they wrote "this is an exercise in sterile studio-rock. Meticulously
Pro-Tooled, and built almost entirely around bassist Fieldy's relentless, sludgy mid-range, it's an approach that demonstrates little craft and even less actual feeling."
In 2005, the album was ranked number 384 in ''
Rock Hard
"Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...
'' magazine's book of ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''.
In a 2013 interview, guitarist Head cited ''Take a Look in the Mirror'' as "the worst record we did".
In 2015, Jonathan Davis also ranked it as his least favourite album in Korn's discography.
Track listing
All songs written by Korn, except where noted.
* An unofficial Russian edition includes six bonus tracks from ''
Untouchables''.
* On some digital versions, the 6 minute silence and the hidden track of a live cover of
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
's "
One
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
" are omitted from "When Will This End".
Personnel
;Korn
*
Jonathan Davis
Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD or JDevil, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of nu metal band Korn, who are considered a pioneering act of the ...
– vocals,
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
, production
*
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 animals may ...
(credited as "Sir Headly") – guitars
*
Munky
James Christian Shaffer (born June 6, 1970), also known by his stage name "Munky", is an American musician best known as co-founder and guitarist of the nu metal band Korn. He has cited Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, and Randy Rhoads as some of hi ...
(credited as "James the Gorilla") – guitars
*
Fieldy
Reginald Quincy Arvizu (born November 2, 1969), also known as "Fieldy", is an American musician, best known as the bassist for nu metal band Korn. He is also the guitarist/bassist for rock band StillWell.
Musical career
Prior to Arvizu's tim ...
(credited as "Dog") – bass
*
David Silveria
David Randall Silveria (born September 21, 1972) is an American drummer, best known as the original drummer for nu metal band Korn from 1993 until leaving the band in 2006. He then became the drummer for Infinika, which was formed in 2012 and d ...
(credited as "Wally Balljacker") – drums
;Production and other credits
*
Frank Filipetti
Frank Filipetti is an American record producer, audio engineer and mixer, who was born in Bristol, Connecticut, United States. Filipetti has seven Grammy Awards and ten nominations for his work on ''The Color Purple'', ''The Book of Mormon'', ''W ...
– production, engineering, mixing
*
Nas
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
– vocals on "Play Me"
*Jim "Bud" Monti – production, engineering
*Tim Harkins – engineering
*Cailan McCarthy – artist coordination
*Doug Erb – art direction
*Brandy Flower – art direction
*Gayle Boulware – art consultant
*Darren Frank – assistant
*Jesse Gorman – assistant
*
Peter Katsis
Peter Katsis is an American music manager. He co-founded the management and production company Prospect Park, and was a founding partner of The Firm.
Biography
At the age of 23, Katsis discovered and managed his first group, the Chicago indust ...
–
A&R
*Kaz Utsunomiya – A&R
*
Rob Hill – editing
*
Fred Maher
Frederick J. Maher is an American drummer, music programmer and record producer.
He was a member of the bands Massacre (1980–81), the Dance, Material, Scritti Politti, and has recorded and toured with Lou Reed. In 1984 he released ''Basic'', ...
– editing
*Louie Teran – digital editing
*
Stephen Marcussen
Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California, United States. He has been mastering music since 1979.
Biography
Marcussen's introduction to music recording happened in 1976 when, at ...
– mastering
*Polarbear – programming on "I'm Done"
*Mitch Ikeda – photography
*Marina Chavez – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Extras
Scrapbook
The album contains a scrapbook of photos from the band's personal collection, titled "SkЯapbook", instead of a front cover booklet, however, some copies do not feature a booklet, instead, it was released with a normal front and inside cover. The limited edition version contains a bonus
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
. The booklet contains various photos of the band in the early days of Korn previous to this release. Photos in the booklet include them in their first recording studio (the indigo ranch), as well as early tours and shows.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Take a Look in the Mirror
2003 albums
Korn albums
Epic Records albums
Immortal Records albums
Albums produced by Frank Filipetti