10 Perfect Hard Rock Albums That Are Insanely Dark
6. Korn - Korn
There's a reason why we as a collective have aged past our nu metal phase. For as many good bands like Deftones flooded the market back in the day, there were just as many people who were more about the frat bro attitude of the music rather than the actual lyrical content. When you take things back to the very beginning though, you start to understand why a band like Korn was so harsh.
Although things have gotten a lot more hopeful in recent years, Korn's debut is still one of the most genuinely haunting listens of the '90s, featuring some of the first detuned guitars and introducing us to Jonathan Davis' unique approach to vocals. Compared to the stuff we were hearing out of people like Scott Weiland around the same time, Davis almost sounds like he's been let out of a mental institution and is spouting out as much as he can.
When everything explodes though, it's one of the most cathartic musical experiences ever created, like the breakdown on Blind or the harrowing emotional half of Daddy, which has Davis just sobbing in the vocal booth as he details the true story of him being abused as a child. This is still well worth your time...just don't play if you're in a bad mood or anything.