Hello, and welcome to Guitar World’s weekly gear round-up, your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days.

From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay in the loop with every new launch.

To make things a little easier, we’ve put together an essential must-read guide that will cover the major releases, the boutique drops, and everything in between.

How will history look upon this week in gear? Who could possibly say. This has not been one of those off-calendar NAMM weeks in which everything from everyone drops all at once – but it might well be remembered as the week in which one of the most anticipated metal guitars in recent memory has been released.

And as ever, please remember to vote for your favorite new release in the poll below...

Jackson Pro Series Wes Borland King V

Wes Borland’s first-ever signature guitar with Jackson presents me with something of a conundrum.

Nu-metal, aesthetically, is very much a leave it or leave it proposition for me, and yet this King V, stripped down to a single-pickup platform, just one Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader at the bridge position, finished in black with white bevels, and with its uniquely reversed and upside down headstock design, is screaming ‘buy me now”.

There is nothing overly Limp Bizkit about Borland's King V. It's just a super-cool metal guitar. It won’t leave your tap water tasting of hot dogs. It won’t make your Hershey’s bar taste of starfish. The signature details are writ large only in its design, in that Borland, an iconoclast in stagewear, tones and – clearly – electric guitars, has spec’d this up to be like a left-handed King V he grabbed from the Custom Shop and liked so much he just converted it to a right-hander.

Hence, the “upside-down” Jackson logo. Too cool. And there's more...

You also have the recessed Floyd 1500 Series vibrato, and all mod cons that come with the Indonesian-made Pro Series Jackson, i.e. the Luminlay side-dot markers, the 12” to 16” compound radius fingerboard – we’ve got ebony here – and locking strap pins etc.

And the King V remains a redoubtable option for all things high-gain, death metal, black metal, thrash metal, doom, and clearly also nu-metal. That neck-through build – a speedy, graphite-reinforced maple neck sandwiched by poplar wings – is always superlative. And that Invader at the bridge is one gnarly pickup.

$1,299? Not bad, but a look at the Jackson website suggests all stock has sold out already. But you gotta have faith – more stock will be on the way.

DOD x Morley Wah-ocTo-Fuzz

Two giants of US stompbox manufacturing, one whacked-out pedal, the Wah-ocTo-Fuzz is hard to say out loud, easy to fall in love with, given that it packs fuzz, octave and wah into one housing.

The circuits under the hood, and therefore the sounds, are all classic designs, so the sounds will be familiar to us. Only DOD/Morley is allowing us to stack them, combine them, use them individually, in a pedal that does a lot of work for the real estate it will take up on your pedalboard.

The octave down effect is delivered by the DOD FX35 Octoplus circuit from the mid ‘80s, while Morley’s Power Wah and Power Fuzz circuits do the rest. At first blush, those controls look a bit cramped on there but we’ll see how that transpires when we get ahold of one.

One thing we can be sure of is that, once you dial it in, this could be a particularly useful pedal, for Jimi Hendrix-style freakouts, for any musical purpose you can think of that requires a trinity of classic effects sounds. It's the wah pedal that is also a fuzz pedal and then it's an octave pedal, too. WTF, indeed.

Korn Indigo Sludge Preamp + Fuzz

So you were one of the lucky ones who bagged yourself Wes Borland King V, why not make this week an All in the Family type deal and place an order for a Korn pedal that replicated the band’s formative guitar tones of their first two albums?

The Indigo Ranch Sludge Preamp + Fuzz combines one high-gain preamp with a fuzz section, and there’s a switchable octave pedal too. Just grab yourself an Ibanez seven-string guitar and you’re good to go. These are built to James ‘Munky’ Shaffer’s exacting specifications, and are being sold exclusively via the Korn website, priced $249. They’re only making 500 of ‘em, and they ship in November.

Harley Benton ST Modern Plus HSS and ST Modern HH

Harley Benton’s timing is immaculate. Just when everyone and their dog is talking about the fashionable S-style, the German budget gear brand has gone and expanded its ST range with some seriously hot-rodded models at typically ridiculous prices.

The return of the ST Modern HH is great news for any young player or beginner looking for a cheap, shreddable runaround. For $185, you’ll get some pure humbucker beef. There’s a no-fuss hardtail. The metallic finishes are awesome (Root Beer Metallic FTW), and they come with roasted maple necks as standard. Sculpted heels let you access the dusty end of the fingerboard, and said ‘board is very a la mode, with a 12” to 16” compound radius offering a platform for technically adroit playing.

The ST Modern Plus range sees the Dark Purple Sparkle model given a right-handed makeover. It’s a little more upscale, and yet still offers change from 500 bucks. For your dough you get one cool finish, quality hardware, a roasted flame maple neck and Harley Benton’s VR-Nitro pickups.

Futone 50 / 60 switch

This week has been a good week for the modding community with Futone Guitars debuting the 50/60 switch, which is for all intents and purposes a time machine. Well, kind of. It’s a pro-quality mod that lets you switch between vintage ‘50s style wiring and the more modern ‘60s style wiring we see today.

And finally, it gives players the chance to A/B them on the one guitar, on the fly, without reaching for a soldering iron. Both wiring systems sound the same when your volume and tone knobs are on 10. But once you roll back the volume and tone controls the differences come to light. In short, ‘50s style wiring keeps your highs even as you back off the volume, and the tone and volume are interactive.

There’s a little treble roll-off as you turn down the volume on the ‘60s wiring. That said, with latter, you can adjust your tone pot and it won’t affect your guitar’s output.

“Go from warmer interactive vintage taper to tighter modern articulation…in seconds,” says Futone. Find out more at Futone Guitars.

Seymour DuncanRyan “Fluff” Bruce FLF Model Humbucker

Ryan ‘Fluff’ Bruce’s latest signature pickup will be familiar to anyone who has taken his custom Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay, and of particular interest to anyone who likes the idea of combining a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker and a Black Winter in one insane pickup.

That is what this is. Designed around an Alnico IV bar magnet, it pairs one coil of the JB with one of the Black Winter, and gives it the blackout finish with matte black bobbins and black nickel studs/screws. Tasting notes? Oh go on. “A throaty midrange and percussive bite nail aggressive drop-tuned rhythms, while a smooth, buttery top end keeps leads expressive and musical.”

Lovely. Serve at room temperature. Pair with high-gain. Find out more at Seymour Duncan.

IK Multimedia Royal 45 Legends

Has IK Multimedia just unveiled the ultimate classic rock guitar plugin? It’s quite possible. The latest in its superlative Tonex series collects the tones from a trio of “museum-grade” ‘60s Marshall amps, two of which belong to Capitol Records, and the third from “one of Europe’s most respected vintage Marshall collections”.

So, yes, for that JTM45 vibe that you can keep safely on your computer – your own digital ace in the whole for recording – it does not get much better than this.

As ever, IK Multimedia applied its proprietary Tonex V2 AI Machine Modeling tech to the job of capturing these amps, using super high-end studio gear, and of course these are collected with a range of vintage cabinet and speaker simulations.

For all your Eric Clapton rock and blues guitar tone needs, for those “dad rock but make digital” moments, head over to IK Multimedia.

Blackstar's Tone3000 capture pack

One of the things that most excited us about the Blackstar Beam Mini was the prospect of accessing all those user-created Neural Amp Models (NAM), free from the Tone 3000 online community. Blackstar is the first amp company to partner with the platform, offering hundreds of thousands of amp captures natively on the Beam Mini, and so maybe it makes perfect sense that it has created some NAM amp captures itself and is offering the collection for free via Tone 3000.

There are 14 tones in all, including some of the backline stars from the Blackstar catalog; the St. James 100, the Series One 100 MKII, the TV-10 AH and the Artisan 100. And we are very pleased to see the HT-Dual Overdrive pedal is in the collection too.

“These aren't third-party interpretations. They're the real thing, captured by the people who designed and built the hardware. From the boutique warmth of the Artisan handwired series to the high-gain muscle of the Series One, every capture is a direct line to the sound in your head.

“These are some of the most prestigious valve amplifiers we’ve ever made and many players may never have the opportunity to plug into them,” says Alex Gee, Blackstar’s head of products. “Working with Tone 3000, we’ve captured each one faithfully and put them in the hands of anyone who wants to try them.”

And you can get these now via Tone 3000.

When Korn and Distortion Inc. teamed up last year to create a pedal that encapsulated Munky’s iconic early sound, it sold out in the blink of an eye. Now, in the wake of that success, his co-riffer, Brian “Head” Welch, is getting in on the action.

Drawing on the nu-metal giant’s 1990s Indigo Ranch sessions with producer Ross Robinson, all 500 of Munky’s $250 Indigo Sludge pedals sold out before Guitar World could even write a news story about it. We don’t expect this new run of limited-edition stories to be any different.

This new dual preamp and fuzz pedal is built for Head’s deliciously nasty tonal standards, and, like its counterpart, features the same breadth of controls to nail every aspect of those seminal early Korn albums.

On its top row are dials for the Master, Gain, Volume, and Distortion, with a three-band EQ and a separate Tone control beneath. Tone-tweaking versatility is complemented by Presence and Octave mini-switches to ensure this thing hits hard, as well as dedicated footswitches for both sides of the pedal.

Once more, the pedal’s preamp section draws on the high-gain preamp stages that were all over the band’s first few records, conspiring to unfurl a “tight, saturated crunch.”

At the same time, the fuzz marries sustain with hairy chaos, ideal for seven-string brutality, with Korn among the earliest advocates of extended-range guitars.

A nice, nuanced touch is that while both pedals sport the same self-titled record-inspired artwork, Head’s version of the Indigo Sludge pulls away from the red visage of Munky's, opting for a color scheme closer to the original album cover.

“This pedal isn’t ‘inspired by’ – it’s built on the same ingredients that forged the sound,” says Head.

Distortion Inc has also teamed up with PRVNZ to provide easy, secure digital authentication for all Korn pedals.

Head’s Indigo Sludge pedal is available to pre-order via Korn.

Elsewhere, Korn bassist Ra Díaz has used the power of community to recover 15 stolen basses. In contrast, original bassist, Fieldy, has finally lifted the lid on the reasons for his exit from the band.

Korn bassist Roberto “Ra” Díaz has finally recovered 15 bass guitars that were stolen from a storage space in Las Vegas about two weeks ago – thanks to a concerted effort involving the local community and police force.

According to Fox 5 Las Vegas, a handful of instruments were discovered by local musician and tattoo artist Dave Chipp at a music store in Henderson, Nevada, around 16 miles from Las Vegas.

There were several signs indicating the basses belonged to Diaz, including the flag of Chile and other markings related to Suicidal Tendencies, the band the Chilean musician used to be part of.

“I picked it up, played it. I was like, 'Man, this is awesome.' And I looked on the 12th fret, and it said Ra ST, which is Ra Suicidal Tendencies,” Chipp told the news outlet.

Chipp went on to call a friend who was connected to Díaz. “He’s like, ‘Where did you find that? Our storage unit’s been broken into. Everything’s been cleared out,’” he recounted. “We found eight of them.”

Following this initial discovery, it took only a couple of days for Chipp to locate more of the stolen instruments – as well as pedals and personalized memorabilia – at other music stores in the area, and immediately notified the Henderson police.

Although no arrests have been made so far, the Korn bassist was finally able to recover the stolen goods and thanked all those involved in a social media post.

“As a musician, I’ve heard tons of stolen gear and equipment horror stories. I can’t believe how lucky I am that mine has a happy ending thanks to them,” he wrote.

“The amount of sentimental value some of these instruments have is impossible to explain, and the fact that they’re now safe in my possession is truly a blessing.”

Jameson Harding, the detective in charge of the case, commented, “One [bass] that we recovered had a Chilean flag on it. And Mr. Díaz is from Chile. And so, they’re getting ready to tour there.

“He was just super thankful that we found that guitar because he said his plan the whole time was to come back to Vegas for Sic New World, get that guitar, and take it on tour with him. So, it was really cool to be able to give him that. It’s obviously part of his heritage.”

In related news, Díaz’s predecessor and Korn's former bassist, Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, recently addressed his unexpected departure from the band.

Korn's former bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu has addressed his unexpected departure from the band in 2021.

Former Suicidal Tendencies man Roberto “Ra” Díaz has taken his place in the nu metal institution, but the reasons for Fieldy's departure have remained unclear during this period.

“The past six years I’ve been dealing with some personal issues that at times have caused me to fall back on some of my bad habits and have caused some tension with the people around me,” Fieldy's statement in 2021 read. “It’s been suggested to me to take some time off to heal.”

There was a widespread belief across the nu metal group’s fanbase that his exit would be temporary, but five years later, Diaz remains in post.

As per an interview conducted last year, which has now been belatedly published (via the PRP), Fieldy has spilled the beans at long last.

“COVID happened. That’s it,” he says of his exit. “I’m like, ‘I’m not going out there.’ That’s what happened, ’cause it was new. I didn’t get vaccinated or anything. When you reflect on it, that’s what happened. They’re like, ‘We’re going to Florida and all this.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not going to get vaccinated.’ I’m not going. I go, ‘People, this is weird right now.’”

Evidence suggests, then, that the band has simply pushed on, with Diaz holding down the low end, with no sign of a return for Fieldy. However, he sees a silver lining.

He continues, “It gave me time to sit, and once you sit, you can reflect; you’re kind of just waiting to know what’s next, ’cause I don’t know what the rest of this day is going to bring. I’m just on fire for whatever, whatever is ready.

“It’s rare that all the same [members stay in a band],” he continues. “I look back at my life and like, you know, almost 30 years with Korn, that was a blast. I don’t look back going, ‘That sucked.’ That was everything everybody dreams of.”

Requiem, which released in 2022, remains the band's most recent album, and features Fieldy's playing, but he was absent from Requiem Mass, its coinciding live album, which released a year later.

The band has now released a new single, Reward The Scars, in collaboration with Diablo IV video game. It's their first new music in four years, and ties into the game's new Lord of Hatred expansion.

In related news, Korn guitarist Munky has stuffed the sound of the band's debut album into a guitar pedal. Both Munky and Head have also revealed a bumper list of 20 songs which have shaped their sounds as players.

Hello, and welcome to Guitar World’s gear round-up, your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days.

From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay abreast of every new launch that may be of interest to you.

To make things a little easier, we’ve put together an essential must-read guide that will cover the major releases, the boutique drops, and everything in between.

What's in store this week, you ask? Oh, well, just three Oasis signature guitars, the evil twin of the Gibson Hummingbird, Manson's first-ever effects pedal and an Ibanez that channels serious SRV energy. No biggie, then...

Gibson Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard

Oasis came back this year. Noel Gallagher’s been playing a drop-dead gorgeous Les Paul on tour. The internet can’t stop talking about it. You know the score.

It is one of 2025’s most talked-about builds. But for those Oasis fans wanting to channel some Big Gallagher Energy, their only option was to either a) fork out for one of the 25 ultra-exclusive Murphy Lab models, or b) cut corners and get a Les Paul that came close to the source material.

Now, Gibson has answered the calls from those fans, reissuing the Gallagher Les Paul as a more affordable Standard USA model. It looks the part, right down to the chrome P-90s – which, apparently, took some time to get right – and chrome poker chip toggle switch.

It’s still a limited edition, but there’s more of them, so we imagine there will be plenty more happy Oasis fans this time around. We kinda want those pickups as aftermarket mod accessories, though…

For more: Gibson

Epiphone Gem Archer Masterbuilt Sheraton and Bonehead Riviera

The Oasis signature guitar ecosystem doesn’t just contain the Gallagher Les Paul, though. This week, two Oasis stalwarts received signatures of their own. Co-founder Bonehead got an Epiphone Riviera, based on the vintage model he used to help shape the Oasis sound, while Gem Archer received a recreation of the original Sheraton that was gifted to him by Noel.

Both are incredibly classy and are inspired by some truly great instruments. These are the Epiphones that have helped carry the Oasis sound, after all, and the ones that have played a huge part in making the reunion tour sound so darn good. We’re on the fence, but the sunburst finish of the Bonehead model is sooo pretty…

For more: Epiphone

Fender Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe

Blues maestro Kingfish is fast becoming synonymous with the Fender Telecaster. In years to come, when people have conversations about the Tele greats, Kingfish's name will be well in the mix. If we're honest, he already really is.

His loyalty to the Tele Deluxe template was further rewarded this week with a new-look version of his flagship signature. It's called Delta Day, has a sleek Daphne Blue colorway, and looks (and sounds) killer.

Funnily enough, though, Kingfish wasn't sold on the Telecaster when he first got his hands on one...

For more: Fender

Gibson Kirk Hammett Raven

Gibson’s homepage has been proudly taken over by the brand’s new Back to the Future ES-345s, and for good reason – the hunt for the film’s OG guitar has been high up on Gibson’s priority list this year. However, space was made for another new launch this week, which happened to be Kirk Hammett’s latest signature acoustic.

The release was eventually given plenty of fanfare and gothic grandiose, which seems appropriate for the guitar itself – those are some of the cleanest pickguard designs we’ve seen grace the top of a Gibson dreadnought, fully befitting the heavy metal guitar icon. It’s been dubbed a counterpart to the Hummingbird. Think if the Hummingbird had an evil twin.

For more: Gibson

Martin Jason Isbell 0-17

Jason Isbell has joined Jeff Tweedy on the (very short) list of ‘artists who got a Martin signature guitar this month’, partnering with the company for two acoustics of varying prices that look to recreate his prized pre-war acoustic.

The more expensive $5k version was a particular challenge to get right. For that one, Martin used the very-hard-to-source Brazilian rosewood – something that Isbell is particularly grateful for. It’s been joined by a more accessible $1,049 model, which channels the spirit of Martin’s Road Series, and a signature string set that looks to “set the standard for acoustic tone and playability”.

“They’re well made, they’re easy to play, and it encourages beginner guitar players and singer-songwriters to have something that is quality,” Isbell said. “I could take this guitar and make a living with it.”

For more: Martin

Donner x MIYAVI signature pedal

MIYAVI – the Japanese super shredder who worked with Fender to produce one of the wildest Telecasters we’ve seen – now has a few more pieces of signature gear under his belt: two multi-effects pedals, designed in collaboration with Donner.

MIYAVI, who is now both a Donner signature artist and the firm’s creative director, debuted his pedal pairing at Shanghai’s Music Show last weekend, with both promising to deliver “a distinctive tone beyond limits”.

The Dimension Weaver concerns itself with reverb, chorus and delay, while the Rage Breaker offers boot, fuzz and overdrive. Both follow the precedent set by Jack White’s surprising and uber-affordable $99 multi-effects – one of the White Stripe legend’s more unexpected partnerships – which came out at the start of last year.

Like White, MIYAVI is something of a maverick when it comes to gear, technique and tone, so both pedals here are pretty intriguing. Plus, with Donner pulling no punches in its artist ranks, we wonder which big-name player could be its next collaborator…

For more: Donner

Sterling by Music Man Rabea Massaad Sabre

When Ernie Ball Music Man announced Rabea Massaad as a signature artist back in 2023, promising at the time that they’d work together on some exciting new builds, it piqued our interests. After all, you had a goliath in the online progressive guitar scene working with a company unafraid to push the boundaries of guitar design – see the St. Vincent Goldie and Kaizen for evidence.

While not as radical as those two models, the resulting Sabre was unique in its own way. Highly refined and engineered for Massaad’s style, the guitar put a modern spin on the classic Sabre – and ever since the $4k model landed, fans have been waiting patiently for an affordable Sterling by Music Man version.’

Now, after a brief NAMM preview, it’s finally here, and it slashes more than $3,000 off the OG’s price tag. Of course, some cost-cutting measures have been adopted to hit that price point. The premium tonewoods are gone. So are the Bare Knuckle humbuckers. Still, it’s a Massaad Sabre, with all the feel and playability of the real deal.

For more: Sterling by Music Man

Korn Indigo Sludge

Korn’s self-titled debut album shaped the very fabric of nu metal. Oft described as the first nu metal album, the record included tracks such as Blind, Blown and Need To, which introduced the world to the band’s distinct sound – spearheaded by visceral, downtuned seven-strings and a raw, bone-rattling heaviness.

It’s been the muse of many tone-chasers over the years, but now the hunt can be called off. Korn has released its own self-branded pedal, which promises to put those exacting tones into one box. Unsurprisingly, it’s been deemed a pedalboard essential for many Korn fans. So much so, in fact, that it’s already sold out. Shame.

For more: Korn

D’Addario Pick Holder 360

There are a handful of certainties in the life of a guitar player, the most obvious one being that if you buy a pack of 20 guitar picks on a Monday, chances are you’d have lost all 20 come Sunday. Those things seem to vanish into thin air. It’s not our fault.

To resolve those woes and provide an answer to the missing pick conundrum, D’Addario is aiming to promote greater pick organization skills with its Pick Holder 360. As the name implies, the gizmo can spin 360 degrees for immediate access to up to 12 picks, with space underneath for storage. That is, if you can remember to put them back in the spinner and keep the tine stocked up with picks…

For more: D'Addario

Positive Grid Spark NEO Core

Positive Grid’s Spark NEO wireless headphone amp was one of the biggest stories to come out of NAMM this year, so it’s no surprise to see the practice amp expert expand its lineup with a wired version that keeps all the sought-after sonic specs of the flagship pair but slashes the price down to a very tasty $159.

Silent practice is just a cold hard necessity of guitar-playing – you can’t always crank amps, unfortunately – so practice amps and headphone amps are excellent ways to keep playing late into the night. The NEO Core looks like a solid option in that regard.

For more: Positive Grid

To The Stars: The Adventure Box

Is there an award for the best-named effects pedal? There should be. The Adventure Box would win. The latest creation from To The Stars and designed with Tom DeLonge himself, this 2-in-1 compressor and delay (a rather obscure blend for a twofer stompox, we note) puts “the tones you’ve been listening to for 20 years right at your feet”.

Specifically, the tones are born from DeLonge and producer Aaron Rubin’s recording sessions, and are especially voiced for humbuckers. It also offers six studio-approved settings for songs such as The Adventure and Adam’s Song.

For more: To The Stars

Manson Supermassive Black Fuzz

We know what you’re thinking: Manson? Making a fuzz pedal? Based on a Muse hit?! The Matt Bellamy-backed British firm has been flexing its guitar-making nous for some time now, but now it’s decided to show off its newfound effects pedal expertise by branching into the stompbox game for the first time ever.

And what a way to start. The grizzly, gnarly fuzz tones of Muses’ Supermassive Black Hole are what inspired the aptly named Supermassive Black Fuzz, which has been years in the making. With a chassis that wouldn’t look out of place on a Beetronics shelf, the Supermassive fuzz was concocted with the help of ThorpyFX’s Adrian Thorpe, and was fine-tuned by Bellamy himself at various studios around the world.

We are so here for Manson’s pedal era. We can’t wait to see what the firm does next.

For more: Manson Guitar Works

Ibanez Gaofunk GF1

Ibanez certainly has a few Strat-y guitars on its books. The AZ Essentials line, for example, is inspired by the classic double-cut design. But the GF1 – built for Japanese blues funk maestro Gaofunk – might be its Strattiest build to date. That sunburst finish. The tortoiseshell pickguard. The rosewood fingerboard. It all screams Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bravo, Ibanez.

For more: Ibanez

Korn has announced a super-limited run of guitar pedals that put Munky and Head’s iconic and genre-shaping debut album guitar tone into a single stompbox.

Dubbed the Indigo Sludge Preamp + Fuzz, it replicates the tones used to drive seminal early hits like Blind and Shoots and Ladders. It does so by offering “the same preamp roar and fuzzed chaos” of the group’s Indigo Ranch sessions, conducted with producer Ross Robinson in the mid-’90s.

Sold exclusively through Korn's website, it comes with a host of controls and features to cover all the tonal bases concocted during those change-making sessions.

The preamp section is modelled on the high-gain preamp stages from those Indigo rigs, “delivering the tight, saturated crunch that defined Munky & Head’s seven-string riffs.” A fuzz circuit is included for “woolly, sustain-drenched chaos,” and an Octave switch looks to bring gut-rattling depth.

A three-band EQ, Volume, Gain, and Presence dials allow full autonomy of the pedal’s character, and the fuzz gets independent controls for Gain, Volume, and Tone. It's well-equipped to get weird.

Beyond that, there's true bypass and 9V power for easy pedalboard integration, as well as a road-ready chassis.

“This isn’t ‘inspired by’ Korn’s tone. It’s built on the same ingredients that forged it,” the band says.

What exactly those ingredients were has been kept secret for decades. Fans have theorized that Marshall tube amps, Peavey solid states, and a battalion of Boss Metal Zones may have been in the mix. Either way, this pedal promises those tones on tap.

Only 500 of the $250 pedals were made, but unfortunately they have sold out within two days of the band posting about it on their Instagram.

See Korn for more.

Both Korn guitarists were bestowed with new signatures back in January, with Head having recently rejoined the Ibanez family.

Founded in Japan all the way back in 1957, with roots stretching to the Hoshino Gakki company in 1908, Ibanez stands today as one of the key players in the guitar market.

The brand has always been synonymous with high quality – so much so, in fact, that there’s even a now-collectable ‘lawsuit’ period of instruments from a time when American brands felt threatened by their Eastern imitators.

And while it’s easy to think of Ibanez as a company that’s at the cutting edge of metal machines for the modern age, it's also innovated much further afield: producing timeless acoustics, semi-hollows, and hollowbody instruments – not forgetting, of course, some of the world’s best-selling overdrive pedals in the Tube Screamer series. Which is exactly why this list of the 25 most important Ibanez players crosses through various genres and styles.

It's become the go-to brand for all kinds of players, from original jazz cats like George Benson and fusion pioneers like Pat Metheny to acoustic renegades like Jon Gomm and Marcin and modern trailblazers like Nita Strauss and Yvette Young.

Steve Vai

Could Steve Vai be the most quintessential Ibanez player of them all?

After all, it was his first JEM signature in 1987 that inspired the RG series, which quickly became a bestseller for the company. And then just a few years later, his Universe signatures made history as the world’s first mass-produced seven-string electric.

More importantly, however, Vai ended up cementing his name as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, from his stints with Frank Zappa, Whitesnake, and David Lee Roth and game-changing solo records like Passion And Warfare, Real Illusions: Reflections, and his latest instrumental masterpiece, Inviolate.

Joe Satriani

How many guitarists can say they taught the likes of Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, and Alex Skolnick? Joe Satriani is truly one of a kind in that sense, but more significantly, he took rock guitar to new heights with the double Grammy-nominated album, Surfing With The Alien, and continued to innovate on the releases that followed, most notably Flying In A Blue Dream and The Extremist.

The legato-loving legend has also been prolific as a collaborator, having conquered arenas as part of Mick Jagger’s band and Deep Purple, as well as starting the G3 supergroup alongside Steve Vai. More recently, he’s been busy working with ex-Van Halen members on the Best Of All Worlds tour.

Paul Gilbert

Alongside Vai and Satch, Paul Gilbert completes what many would consider to be ‘The Big Three’ of Ibanez shredders.

His work in Racer X and Mr. Big sets him apart as one of the most advanced minds to pick up a guitar, as well as one of the most ferocious alternate pickers the world has ever seen, fusing the neoclassical edge of Yngwie Malmsteen with the impromptu bluesiness of Edward Van Halen.

He’s had all kinds of Ibanez signatures through the years, from the PGM series to the Fireman models he’s usually seen with today, having designed the latter, reversed-body model himself.

Pat Metheny

Since the release of his debut album in 1975, Pat Metheny has continually proven himself to be one of the most revolutionary minds to ever work in jazz, cross-pollinating elements of the traditional with more worldly and experimental meditations.

He currently has two Ibanez signature models, the PM200 and PM3C, and his most famous works include Still Life (Talking), Letter From Home, and Bright Size Life.

As well as these sizeable contributions to the world of electric guitar, he’s also recorded unaccompanied acoustic albums like 2003’s One Quiet Night and last year’s MoonDial release, which saw him wielding a custom-built baritone guitar made by the luthier Linda Manzer.

Tim Henson and Scott LePage

The genre-smashing guitarists from Polyphia could very well be two of the most ground-breaking names in the company’s roster of signature artists, at least in terms of recent additions.

Their most recent album, 2022’s Remember That You Will Die, was voted as the best guitar album of that year by GW readers and was also notable for featuring fellow Ibanez endorsee Steve Vai on its mind-melting closing track, Ego Death.

By that point, both guitarists already had their own signature electrics, but what really got the industry talking was Henson’s TOD10N nylon-string electric, as prominently featured on the album’s lead single, Playing God.

Ichika Nito

As the very first Japanese guitarist to become an Ibanez signature artist, you could say Ichika Nito is making history for all the right reasons.

Much like Tim Henson and Scott LePage, his take on guitar is an incredibly contemporary one – combining the sounds of tech-metal with spanky and funky cleans while dazzling listeners with an array of legato and two-handed techniques.

He currently has two Ibanez models, the Talman-inspired ICHI00 and the headless Q Series-style ICHI10.

John Scofield

Having worked with everyone from Miles Davis and Charles Mingus to Herbie Hancock and Weather Report, John Scofield’s jazz credentials are as impressive as they come.

His most famous works include 1986’s Still Warm, 1994’s Hand Jive, and 1997’s A Go Go, as well as 1994’s I Can See Your House From Here – which saw him team up with fellow Ibanez signature artist Pat Metheny for an absolute tour-de-force of modern jazz. He’s also ventured into bluesier sonic pastures, having collaborated with John Mayer and Gov't Mule.

Josh Smith

Continually featured in lists of the best blues guitarists in the world today, it’s no wonder that Josh Smith ended up being recruited by Joe Bonamassa and has become a regular face in the blues giant’s backing band. The pair also work together regularly as producers, lending their expertise to fellow blues powerhouses like Eric Gales and Larry McCray.

The guitarist/singer currently has two T-style signatures, the FlATV1 and FlATV2, and is also highly regarded for his informative tutorials, some of which he has authored for this very publication.

Manuel Gardner Fernandes

As the driving force behind progressive metal band Unprocessed, German guitarist Manuel Gardner Fernandes is someone who knows how to blend the power of gargantuan riffs with blistering lead work.

Last year he was awarded his own signature guitar, the MGFM10 – a stunning headless model in Obsidian Black Low Gloss, boasting the same advanced switching system he uses to make his guitar go from apocalyptic roars to spanky cleans.

This year’s latest Unprocessed album, titled Angel, served as yet another firm reminder of his all-encompassing talents.

George Benson

Now at 82 years old, George Benson is one of the dyed-in-the-wool veterans of jazz guitar – a multiple Grammy-winning master who influenced the sound of an entire genre and ended up inspiring countless players that came after him.

Over the years, as well as releasing an extensive solo discography, he’s worked with mainstream greats such as Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, and Frank Sinatra, making him one of the most prolific jazz artists of all time. He currently has six Ibanez signature models, all of them hollowbody designs.

Yvette Young

There’s a wonderfully abstract quality to Yvette Young’s sound – of course, there’s plenty of dexterity and technicality, but the real magic lies in the sheer amount of personality the Covet guitarist throws into every note she plays.

Part of this comes down to her alternate tunings, which she has often cited as a secret weapon for yielding interesting results, as well as her experimental approach to tone, but then there’s also her piano background – which has led to her unique sense of phrasing and ear for melody.

Marcin

Having just turned 25, it would be fair to say Polish wunderkind Marcin Patrzałek is spearheading a new generation of daredevil acoustic guitarists.

He rose to fame partly thanks to his viral videos that shocked listeners in how they were able to blur the lines between classical and contemporary music. This all led to the release of his first signature in 2022, the Ibanez MRC10, and a major label deal that started with last year’s debut full-length, Dragon In Harmony.

Nita Strauss

In 2018, Nita Strauss made history as the first woman to have her own Ibanez signature model, which she named the JIVA. It was certainly well-warranted, given her background playing in Alice Cooper’s band, as well as the all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens.

Since then she’s worked with pop sensation Demi Lovato and has also released two solo albums, the latter of which featured an array of high profile guest stars, including Marty Friedman, David Draiman, and Lzzy Hale.

Andy Timmons

When it comes to tasteful shredding, Andy Timmons is up there with the likes of gold-standard legends like Eric Johnson and Steve Lukather.

He knows how to impress people, but more importantly, he knows when to focus on the melody. Which is exactly why he’s worked with high profile names like Olivia Newton-John, Paula Abdul, and fellow Ibanez endorsee Paul Stanley.

He currently has three Strat-style Ibanez signatures, which come fitted with three DiMarzio humbuckers, including his own AT-1 pickup in the bridge.

Jon Gomm

English guitarist Jon Gomm became one of the early standouts in the modern percussive acoustic scene thanks to the 2011 track Passionflower going viral, which led to both national and international coverage.

In 2020, he announced he’d joined the Ibanez roster, and two years later he unveiled a pair of signature models – the JGM5 and the JGM10 – tailor-made for wanting to implement two-handed ideas based on open tunings, while also using the body of the guitar for drum beats.

Lari Basilio

Over the last decade or so, Brazilian virtuoso Lari Basilio has established herself as one of the most tasteful players of her generation – striking that perfect balance between technical wizardry, emotional phrasing, and an inimitable sense of feel.

Her Seymour Duncan-equipped LB1 signature was debuted in 2021, making her the third female signature artist for Ibanez, with the latest update being this year’s version in black.

Her latest album, Redemption, was also released earlier this year, with no shortage of dazzling fretwork and earworm melodies.

James ‘Munky’ Shaffer and Brian ‘Head’ Welch

Steve Vai may have helped invent the world’s first mass-produced electric seven-string with Ibanez, but it was Korn who took that extended range to new (or nu) metallic heights, inventing a whole subgenre in the process.

For guitarists Munky and Head, the extra low-end only intensified the heaviness and helped them reinvent guitar music in the mid-90s.

Head left Ibanez for ESP back in 2016 but made his official return to the fold earlier this year with the launch of the K7 series.

Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström

Much like Munky and Head from Korn, Meshuggah guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström were early adopters of the seven-string, as demonstrated on the 1995 tech-metal landmark, Destroy Erase Improve.

Other releases like Chaosphere, Nothing, and Obzen would also become hugely influential on the tech-metal scene, with bands like Animals As Leaders, Periphery, and Tesseract taking metric modulations and polyrhythmic concepts to new sonic horizons.

The Swedish pair would later move onto eight-strings, leading to signature models like the M8M, M80M, and FTM33.

Paul Stanley

It’s easy to think of Kiss as a Gibson band, given the kind of instruments usually seen in the hands of lead guitarists like Ace Frehley and Tommy Thayer.

Singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley, however, has been using Ibanez guitars on and off since 1977 – most notably the company's Iceman offset – which led to the five signature models that currently bear his name, including the striking Cracked Mirror PS1CM.

Kiko Loureiro

There’s a golden rule for anyone who plays lead guitar in Megadeth – you have to be, without question, one of the best shredders on the planet.

Brazilian virtuoso Kiko Loureiro had already proven his merits in Angra and was a perfect fit for the thrash titans when he joined in 2015. He recorded two albums with the band, 2016’s Dystopia and 2022’s The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!, before announcing his departure in 2023.

He currently has three Ibanez signature models, all of which feature his custom DiMarzio pickups and a double-locking tremolo system.

Dexter Holland and Noodles

As the two guitar players in The Offspring, Dexter Holland and Noodles are well-known for dialing in tones that are guaranteed to cut through any mix.

The pair were at the very forefront of the 90s punk rock scene, with key albums like Smash and Ixnay On The Hombre setting them up for the mainstream success that followed with the 1998 bestseller Americana, which yielded hit singles like Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), Why Don’t You Get A Job?, and The Kids Aren’t Alright.

Holland sticks with ARZ and RG models while Noodles has had several signatures, the latest being 2020’s NDM5.

Daron Malakian

Joining Paul Stanley, Fredrik Thordendal, and Tom G. Warrior in our list of Iceman devotees, System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian is someone deeply connected to the striking offset shape.

“I went to Guitar Center, and I saw this Iceman sitting there, and I was like, ‘You know, that’s a guitar that not too many people use’,” he once explained.

The Armenian-American group became one of the biggest bands of their generation thanks to the world-conquering success of tracks like Chop Suey!, Toxicity, and Aerials.

Nili Brosh

Well-renowned for being one of the most versatile musicians in the Ibanez roster, Israeli-American shredder Nili Brosh has performed with Danny Elfman, Cirque Du Soleil, Dethklok, The Iron Maidens, and Tony MacAlpine – a list which perfectly demonstrates just how well-rounded her skillset is.

Her third solo album, titled Spectrum, was released in 2019 and her main guitars include an Ibanez LA Custom RG770 and a Desert Yellow RG550.

Jake Bowen

The sole Ibanez endorsee in Periphery’s trio of hotshot guitarists, Jake Bowen is also their longest-serving member after founder Misha Mansoor.

Over the course of seven full-length albums, they’ve become torchbearers for the modern tech-metal scene and in many ways typify the ‘djent’ wave of bands that arrived roughly 10 years after the new millennium.

He currently has three signature models: the JBM9999 and JBM10FX six-strings as well as the JBM27 seven-string.

Martin Miller

Martin Miller is a man of many talents. The German musician is a highly respected educator, with books and video courses to help rock guitarists expand into fusion.

He also writes, records, and tours original music, but his biggest calling card has been a series of live studio performances that find him enrolling guitar heroes old and new to cover hits of every kind. Hey Jude with Paul Gilbert, Kiss from a Rose with Lari Basilio, and Get Lucky with Kirk Fletcher are just three prominent examples.

He has a pair of Ibanez signatures to his name, the most recent being the MMN1, which was released in 2023.

Last year, Tetrach’s Diamond Rowe made history as the first female guitar player in the history of Jackson with a signature guitar.

She also became only the second Black female artist to be honored with a signature guitar – her single-cut Pro Series Monarkh following Fender's multiple collaborations with H.E.R.

But despite carving her name into electric guitar folklore, she says one of her greatest achievements happened behind the scenes, when Slipknot’s Jim Root asked her for guitar lessons.

“I got messaged by Jim Root and he was like, ‘Dude, you need to give me guitar lessons!’, I was like, ‘OK, dude, come on,’” she tells Stereoboard, rolling her eyes as her wicked sense of humor strides forth. “I was like, ‘How about we exchange guitar lessons?’”

Rowe hasn’t revealed what tips were traded during their lessons, but it’s clear that both players have plenty to offer one another – oh, to be a fly on the wall for that!

Tetrarch's blend of nu-metal nostalgia and whammy-laden guitar solos has left many of her peers impressed. She's had the backing of Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares and Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta – but mastering the art of the guitar solo in a nu-metal setting wasn't easy.

Speaking to Guitar World about the challenge last year, she said: “Not many bands of Tetrarch’s nature play guitar solos, I've had to learn how to fit our style and not just play some dad-rock solo.”

During her Steroboard chat, she also revealed that, in recognition of how much his weird, off-kilter style of playing has imprinted on the band, she gifted one of her signatures to Korn's Brian “Head” Welch. “That experience was crazy!” she beams.

Rowe's rise with Tetrarch, who released their third album, The Ugly Side of Me last month, comes after a pact the band made years ago.

“When we were just 11, we were like, ‘We want to be one of the biggest bands in our genre,’” she recalls. “I don’t want to sit around and celebrate our new album for too long, because there’s still a lot to do. We want to play bigger shows and bigger tours and become a household name, and do this until we can’t do this anymore.”

As for common misconceptions about having a signature model? “I think some people look at a signature model and think, ‘I’m gonna put everything I’ve ever wanted to try into this guitar,’” she says. “But for me, I looked at it more like, ‘No, I want it to be what Diamond plays.’ So anyone picking up this guitar is getting something I truly believe in.”

In 2025, she stands as a modern-day guitar hero and a mold-breaker, and it’s a growth that has happened without ego.

“I never tried to be something I’m not,” she underscores, “and I was able to accomplish all these things organically on my journey. And now, something like getting a signature guitar winds up having a bigger impact than maybe I could have even anticipated. That’s a cool thing. And it all comes from just being Diamond.”

The announcement of Ozzy Osbourne's return – and last-ever live performance – on July 5 marks the historic reunion of the original Black Sabbath members for their first show in 20 years.

Dubbed ‘Back to the Beginning’, this homecoming – and, frankly, celebration of a great legacy – takes Sabbath back to where it all began: Birmingham.

However, instead of a traditional headliner-and-support-style show, this event will bring together some of rock’s most influential, generation-spanning talents – a supergroup, if you will, or a “very supergroup,” as Tony Iommi shared with Planet Rock – for what already looks like an event destined for the history books.

Most intriguing among the lineup is a Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins supergroup, teased by Sharon Osbourne, who appears in the same interview.

“Tom Morello is going to be playing with Billy Corgan and you know the drummer from Tool [Danny Carey]. You wouldn't have thought that you would see those three guys together, but they're all from Chicago, so they're all home guys,” says Osbourne.

“Then you’ll see Slash and Duff [McKagan] and whoever they choose to play with,” she elaborates in an interview with NME. “David Draiman [Disturbed] is going to come up and sing, Jonathan [Davis] from KoRn is going to be here and he could be playing with [Red Hot Chili Peppers’] Chad Smith or whoever! Alice In Chains are coming and they’re playing as the band.”

As Osbourne explains, assembling all these big names was no easy feat – but their willingness to commit is a testament to Ozzy’s legacy and, by extension, Black Sabbath’s.

“People are coming in from all over the world – they're all gigging because it's the summer, so everybody's out doing festivals, and somehow, it worked. Bands like Anthrax, we asked them to be a part of it, and they said, ‘Oh, don't even bother to send us a ticket. We're going to be there no matter what.’”

After all, as Osbourne puts it, “This is a celebration – of the genre and the pioneers who started it and passed it on to all these bands. Usually, this thing is done when you’re dead – so it’s nice that these guys can be alive to be appreciated!”

Tickets for the mega-event go on sale on February 14, with proceeds from the show set to be shared equally between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice.

Visit Live Nation for tickets.

NAMM 2025: Ibanez has raised the curtains on an all-star new signature guitar line-up for the coming year, with the big news being a twin set of reprised K7 Korn signature builds for long-time endorsee James ‘Munky’ Shaffer and, returning endorsee, Brian ‘Head’ Welch.

The latter left Ibanez and joined forces with ESP in 2017 (Head has said it related to disagreements over his favored Evertune bridges, alongside a changing of the guard). Regardless, that’s all water under the bridge now, because he’s back in the fold alongside Munky (who has remained with the brand throughout).

As such, new Indonesian-built signature seven-string guitars are the order of the day, with Munky’s long-running APEX series being retired in favor of jointly reprising the K7 name.

If you’re not familiar with it, the K7 was launched as a Korn signature model in 2001 and was one of the first big commercially available seven-strings. Now the band is celebrating a 30-year association with Ibanez by bringing it back.

“To celebrate an esteemed 30 year career together and once again having both Head and Munky rocking Ibanez, we’re incredibly excited to debut two new K7’s, inspired by the eternal Yin and Yang,” says Ibanez.

“Both feature RGA-style bodies, meant to inspire visons of the original K7s, while also embracing the future. Each guitar is equipped with a set DiMarzio Blaze humbuckers for a breathtaking sonic onslaught and proudly displays the legendary K7 logo at the 12th fret.”

Munky is launching the all-black K7YIN and, Head, the dazzling K7YANG (see what they did there?) Both feature Wizard II-7 five-piece maple/walnut necks, RGA-style nyatoh bodies, Gotoh tuners and luminescent side dots.

Munky’s minimalist build adds an ebony fretboard, plus a Lo-Pro Edge7 tremolo to that base. Head, meanwhile, adds a maple top, rosewood fretboard and, would you believe it, an Evertune bridge. Both are due this summer, though we haven’t got a price yet.

Elsewhere, blues guitar and production whiz Josh Smith has a long-held passion for Japanese culture, so while it’s not the first name you’d associate with the genre, Ibanez is a natural fit for him.

His first signature, the FLATV was a streamlined take on T-style build, now he’s been awarded a new variant, bringing in the classic Tele Custom-style SH configuration – and it appears to feature a (very) new Seymour Duncan signature Flat V humbucker at the neck.

The original FLATV was priced at $2,499.99, so expect a similar ballpark here.

Lari Basilio is working on some big things for 2025 and, coming this summer, there is a classy new black finish option for her LB1 signature, which really makes the gold hardware pop.

Basilio’s build (priced at $2,699.99) is one of the coolest signatures of recent years, complete with that killer HSS combo of Seymour Duncan signature pickups. And if you think a demo clip for a refinish is somewhat unnecessary, well, then you’ve clearly not heard Basilio’s playing on this one…

Joe Satriani had one hell of a busy 2024, taking on the Van Halen guitar duties in Best of all Worlds and touring and releasing music in a doubleheader with Steve Vai. They’re back on the road this year and Satch is going to need something spangly – hence the dazzling JS1GD, which has a gloss gold body and satin gold top, alongside a DiMarzio Satchur8 humbucker and Sustainiac neck pickup.

It’s available to order now at a price of $5,999.99.

Last, but by no means least, the almighty George Benson has a beautiful new black variant of his GB10 signature model (usually $3,599.99). The spec otherwise remains unchanged, but sometimes that’s a very good thing…

Head to Ibanez for more information on all of the new signature builds.

Thall is one of metal’s newest, darkest and most inventive movements. From Sleep Token and Spiritbox to Animals As Leaders – check out Red Miso for a savage centerpiece – the sound is now spreading into mainstream metal.

It’s full of weird tunings, robotic techniques and a dichotomy between crushing distortions and frosted clean tones. But what are the mechanics at the heart of this fast-rising sound?

What is thall?

Vildhjarta guitarist Calle Thomér describes thall as “djent’s colder younger brother.” Both movements grew out of a love for Meshuggah, with thall emphasizing evil atmospherics and a wider, more nuanced sonic spectrum.

There are two core components to the sound: melancholic cleans and winding, seemingly random riffs that meld together neck-breaking chugs with swarms of intricate hooks and banshee-esque noises.

Like djent, it builds on easy-to-follow 4/4 drum beats – typically at spacious slower tempos – with riffs placed over the top that are anything but. They’re overloaded with quick-fire motifs and bursts of melody that will repeat in different ways, broken up by laser-tight syncopation for an angular but memorable aural assault.

Origins of thall

Alongside Meshuggah’s influence, Korn’s penchant for high-low riffs is a core impactor, with both sounds mutated into Vildhjarta’s debut album, Måsstaden.

Founding guitarist Daniel Bergström and 15-year veteran Thomér wanted to oppose djent’s poppier elements by crafting a more nightmarish world while playing discordant high notes against low-tuned aggression.

Importantly, they retained the spasmodic grooves and chugging violence of djent as core ingredients, which is why the two movements will forever be intertwined.

Who are the biggest thall bands?

Vildhjarta are thall’s forefathers, and still its biggest band. They take the machine-like riffs of Meshuggah but add greater intricacies into their grooves. There’s also an extra coldness via ambient clean guitars that sound like cutting winds in a graveyard – a quirk most thall bands draw from. Those elements have continued to evolve with their later releases.

Humanity’s Last Breath (HLB), the brainchild of Buster Odeholm, blends thall’s slow-motion violence with deathcore’s viscerality. With an emphasis on polyrhythms, gut-wrenchingly low guitars, and acres of space for their heavy emotions to weigh the listener down, they deliver brutal walls of sound on every song.

Nebraska’s Catsclaw are making waves with frenetic, almost-hardcore energy icing their thall contructions. Finland’s Indistinct and Wisconsin guitarist Olympus Lenticular offer accessible takes on the sound, while Mirar lurks on thall’s darkest, most extreme fringes.

Creepy Cleans

There’s an element of horror tropes to thall; when creepy cleans chime in, you know something far more gruesome is just around the corner.

Thomér says these riffs, typically arriving with other instrumentation, create a spacious but threatening ambiance that accounts for “more than 50% of the sound. The parts are minimal; it's letting the delay do the work rather than picking lots of notes.”

In terms of tones, he adds that you “just need a clean signal with a little reverb and delay. It's more in the actual notes and how it's played than the gear. And just go straight for feel, rather than melody.” Although, stealing a trick from Tesseract, removing the cab sim when using plugins or modelers can make those clean tones even more chilling.

Thall riffs

After cleans have set the mood, it’s time to get heavy. Importantly, those cold cleans typically continue underneath the riffs – another reason to focus on minimalism and feel.

Thomér explains: “What I do is put down a 4/4 drumbeat and riff until I can hear a cool hook, and start progressing with that idea. I always think my riffs suck in the beginning, so I have to keep on polishing them – that’s how I end up with tonnes of intricacies.”

Writing thall riffs is a meticulous process that taps into the benefits of bedroom recording over jamming in a room with other musicians. It’s less about nailing full takes as it is piecing motifs and disgusting noises together – pick scrapes, whammy pedal squeals and harmonics.

As Thomér says, “It’s like building a puzzle more than writing a riff. You can’t really write this kind of music in the studio. You have to do it at home. I can’t remember the last time I recorded a take that was longer than two or three bars.”

Low and slow 

With thall bands usually down-tuning to disgusting depths, Youtuber and guitarist Nik Nocturnal feels slowing pace is a necessity.

“The lower the tuning, the more groove is involved – the faster you play, the muddier it gets,” he says. “So everything should be more spacious. And all that space combined with modern production elements, and the intricacies of the riffs, are what makes it so heavy.”

That cavernous space, he adds, allows for the drums to be extra weird, playing against the riffs.

“Vildhjarta’s drums kind of go against the groove – it’s wild. That realm is very technical, but it has this extra level of heaviness because of how things are rhythmically accented with the guitars. It sounds futuristic.”

Robotic tightness

Like in djent, Thomér stresses that “tightness is extremely important.” He continues: “I do so many retakes when tracking it’s ridiculous. I double-track my guitars with the same tone left and right. I want it to be so tight it sounds like mono.”

That quest for tightness is also why you won’t see Thomér using vibrato. He believes that stripping what is a very personable technique from his music helps glaze his riffs with an extra coldness. “I try to mimic robots playing guitar,” he says. “it’s supposed to sound like a machine.”

High notes

“Going from really low notes to really high notes is like a breath of fresh air,” Thomér believes, emphasizing his band’s desire to use “the full spectrum of notes.” These higher parts are typically played across two strings, with the notes a semitone apart.

HLB tune those strings a semitone apart to make fretting the diads easier. They’re essential to the coldness of thall – see Mirar's Dégenèse for a seismic example of those opposites in action.

Extending the fretboard 

Thomér says he “thinks horizontally instead of vertically, so 90% of the time I’m using the two thickest strings. I like the timbre of them, especially high up on the neck. When you pick the 24th fret on the lowest string and bend it, that can be a really satisfying sound.”

That’s led to Thomér collaborating with Arizona’s EIR guitars on a custom 28” baritone six-string with 27 frets. For Thomér, “those extra three frets changed how I write music. I utilize them in almost every riff I write.”

An extension of the horizontal outlook sees him thoroughly abusing the pitch-shifting abilities of his DigiTech Whammy DT. It opens up more of the fretboard, avoiding the need to play a higher note on a thinner string, and extending the lower range of the guitar.

The feature may only be used for one or two notes at a time, so MIDI automation is a key assistant here.

Tunings

Having used seven and eight strings previously, Vildhjarta have been utilizing baritones more recently, as “they're easier to play” and are typically tuned to E1-C2-F2-A#2-D#2-G#3 – a standard tuning, save the lowest string dropping one-and-a-half tones.

HLB’s main tuning – E1-B1-E2-A2-Ab3-A3 – is a take on another standard, albeit an octave lower. The thickest two strings provide drop-tuned fretting, while the higher strings are all about ease of dissonance. Everything in between is tuned a standard fifth, apart from the next string, so it’s not a world away from familiar tunings.

Odenholm is left-handed but plays a right-handed guitar strung upside down, so the thickest strings are at the bottom. His downstrokes therefore equate to upstrokes for most players, so when he rakes chords the last note to sound is the dominant.

Tones

Vildhjarata remains loyal to Line 6's Pod XT modeler and its Big Bottom amp mode, which was the sound of their favorite Meshuggah record, Catch 33. Their guitars naturally offer a lot of low-end and high mids, so they seek to EQ out some of the harsher scratchy sounds. They’ll use a boost pedal to push the mids further accentuating the clickiness of the tone.

Their gain usually just sneaks past the halfway point, with the bass rolled off, the mids and trebles cranked, and presence at midrange. A compressor is typically set to offer a slow attack and fast release.

Odenholm also has several presets on Neural DSP’s Fortin Nameless Suite plugin, which are paired with PODs on HLB records.

Pickups

Lundgren pickups – popularized by Meshuggah’s Fredrik Thordendal – may be too sterile for some, but for they’re perfect for thall. That’s why you’ll see Thomér’s beastly baritone, Odeholm’s Hapas Judge 628 HLB ET and Bergström’s Ibanez Prestige RG1077XL loaded with M6s and M7s respectively.

As with djent, though, expensive gear isn’t crucial. Thall is a sonic mindset where skin-tingling cleans and growling but hook-filled riffs reign supreme. By embodying the chilling spirit of the movement, players can make even a child’s guitar thall hard as hell.

In a decade now best remembered for trends that suffocatingly enveloped one another, nu metal may well be the most infamous of them all. Filled with baggy-jeaned, backwards-hat-wearing types (hello, Fred Durst) who conjured the full gamut of emotions, from eternal sadness to hyper-illicit wrath, nu metal set the stage for a generation of angst-filled musical fans to groan, moan and sob along with.

Of course, 12 or 12,000 of you might be wondering aloud, “What is nu metal?” And to be honest, with all the shade that’s been thrown its way, combined with the fact that many of the bands labeled as such are so different… it’s a bit difficult to define. But if we were to try, we’d say: nu metal combines elements of heavy metal and hip-hop with syncopated layers, dense guitars and gloomy (but not really doomy) down-tuned guitars. 

Oh, and there are bits of grunge, funk and just about everything else mixed in there. And, for better or worse, we should mention the general aggression and anger that seems to run rampant through nu metal. Sounds fun, right?

The guttural music of the all-too-short nu metal era will forever be trapped in a vacuum of the ’90s, with those who lived through it being the genre’s willing (or unwilling) victims. Though it’s not always taken seriously, it’s also not to be taken lightly. What follows are 10 late-’90s nu metal albums worth a second listen. Or something like that.

10. The Fundamental Elements of Southtown – P.O.D. (1999)

Before Youth of a Nation came along after Y2K, Christian-meets-nu-metal outfit P.O.D.’s finest hour was 1999’s The Fundamental Elements of Southdown. With rage-filled yet altruistic visions relayed through platinum-selling hits like Southdown, it was easy to get down with Marcos Curiel’s chugging, atmospheric licks. 

Also of note: this record includes a trapped-in-time cover of U2’s Bullet the Blue Sky, which, if nothing else, is a curiosity worth hearing at least once.

9. Tonight the Stars Revolt! – Powerman 5000 (1999)

Fueled by guitar duo M.33 and Adam 12, Powerman 5000’s Tonight the Stars Revolt! was a weapon of mass destruction, yet brimming with suffocatingly sweet hooks. The group was unique if only for their apparent obsession with all things sci-fi en route to their biggest hit, When Words Collide.

8. Coal Chamber – Coal Chamber (1997)

Coal Chamber were early torchbearers for an impending nu metal scene, along with a few others. Released on the genre’s commercial peak precipice, 1997’s Coal Chamber obtained gold status, but the band has been mostly forgotten since.

Never a group to dazzle, instead, tracks such as Sway found the L.A. natives brandishing an uber-simplistic approach, as evidenced by Miguel Rascón’s rudimentary yet effective Telecaster-driven methods.

7.  Soulfly – Soulfly (1998)

Soulfly have been known to genre-hop over the years, but for their 1997 debut, the group shined with a period-correct approach steeped in nu metal splendor.

Jackson Bandeira and Max Cavalera trade guitar tricks throughout Soulfly, but most interesting about this record is the array of guest stars scattered throughout. What self-respecting nu metal aficionado wouldn’t love a roster featuring Dino Cazares, Chino Moreno and Fred Durst?

6. Dysfunction – Staind (1999)

Nu metal suffers from several disorders, the most unfortunate of which is that some (OK, many) people don’t take it entirely seriously. But that was never an issue for Springfield, Massachusetts act Staind.

With Mike Mushok handling the fretwork, Staind were musically sound, but what truly set them apart was Aaron Lewis’ stark lyrics, which covered just every grizzly subject one could imagine. Pair that with semi-deranged cover art and you’ve got a recipe for a nu metal-driven nightmare.

5. Around the Fur – Deftones (1997)

The members of Deftones – notably guitarist Stephen Carpenter – are evasive when asked about their foray into nu metal. They’ve stepped away from the genre for the most part, but in the late ’90s, few did it better, a trick on full display via 1997’s platinum-selling Around the Fur.

In truth, Deftones are often thought of as a cut above the rest of the field, and it’s with good reason, considering Carpenter’s ringing open strings, dissonant voicings and deafening use of power chords in his rhythms.

4. Slipknot – Slipknot (1999)

Widely considered one of the better metal albums of the past 25 years, it’s no surprise to see Slipknot’s 1999 self-titled effort still soaking up ink in rock’s back pages. Though classified as “nu metal,” Slipknot also indulged their desires for expansiveness, injecting healthy doses of death, thrash, industrial and speed metal into the nu metal mix. 

Purity and Frail Limb Nursery are remembered for issues pertaining to copyright infringement but are lasting just the same. Problems aside, Corey Taylor showed his mettle as a songsmith, and Mick Thomson, Jim Root and Josh Brainard’s attack on guitar was nothing short of seismic.

3. Devil Without a Cause – Kid Rock (1998)

You didn’t think we’d make it out of here without mentioning Kid Rock’s Bawitdaba, did you? And who could forget what would become a harbinger of country rap and cowboy metal, the indomitable Cowboy? 

Say what you will about Kid Rock’s value as a songwriter, Devil Without a Cause dominated radio waves and MTV alike in the late summer of 1998, en route to fame, fortune and, yes, infamy. Far from a guitarist’s delight, Kid Rock’s backing band, Twisted Brown Trucker (featuring Jason Krause and Kenny Olson) is, at the very least, a semi-memorable duo capable of crafting tidy riffs.

2. Significant Other – Limp Bizkit (1999)

Netflix’s 2022 documentary Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 vividly reminded fans that Break Stuff was indeed the mantra for Limp Bizkit. Considering its rage-filled lyrical themes, which inspired the masses to tear plywood from the walls of outdoor concert venues and crowd surf to their destiny, yeah… you could say Significant Other was critical to the nu metal movement. And if we’re being honest, Wes Borland is one of the few actual guitar heroes in a genre that’s a bit lacking in said department.

1. Follow the Leader – Korn (1998)

It didn’t matter where you were; there was no escaping Korn’s 1998 magnum opus. The album was popular from the get-go on the strength of Freak on a Leash. And the accompanying Family Values Tour was a boon, carrying Korn to nine MTV Video Music Award nominations and one Grammy nod.

In retrospect, Jonathan Davis’ depressing yet at times awe-inspiring lyrics, bookended by Head and Munky’s effects-filled guitar heroics, made Follow the Leader a pillar of nu metal. In a genre defined by tortured souls and savage imagery, Korn gifted the masses with a record to yelp to at ear-splitting volumes. 

Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox had a good run with Chesney Hawkes in the last month, covering The One and Only – from Hawkes’ 1991 album, Buddy’s Song – as well as Fountains of Wayne’s pop-punk classic, Stacy’s Mom, and The Killers’ pop-rock anthem, Mr. Brightside. Sadly though, the trio have now parted ways.

But wipe those tears away, as YouTube’s most enigmatic musical duo are back with regular scheduled programming on their ever-intriguing Sunday Lunch series.

Back in August, Fripp and Toyah took on Limp Bizkit’s Nookie – one of the defining tracks of Woodstock ‘99 – shortly after the release of Netflix’s tell-all Trainwreck documentary, which cataloged the series of poor management decisions leading to the festival’s eventual downfall.

And now, the pair take us back to the ill-fated festival once again with an utterly chaotic cover of Korn’s debut album opener, Blind.

Now, if you’ve seen the documentary, or indeed, footage from Korn’s raucous set at Woodstock ‘99, you’ll attest to the mayhem that erupts when the band performs Blind to hundreds of thousands of wound-up metal fans.

Fripp and Toyah’s take on the track isn’t nearly as havoc-inducing, perhaps because Toyah doesn’t yell Jonathan Davis’s classic opening line: “Are you ready?!”

The pair do their best at matching Korn’s Woodstock performance from the comfort of their kitchen, though, as Toyah dances on the table while the King Crimson man plays powerchords on an LP-style Fernandes electric guitar.

Other metal classics tackled by Fripp and Toyah since their Sunday Lunch series began in the Covid pandemic include Pantera’s 5 Minutes Alone, Metallica’s Enter Sandman and AC/DC’s Back in Black.

Sunday Lunch sees Robert Fripp display his humorous side, but he’s also one of the most accomplished prog rock guitarists in the world.

In a recent interview with Guitarist, he spoke about his goal as a guitar player to blend the sounds of both Jimi Hendrix and Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, as well as what made King Crimson “problematic” and why he has “no interest in gear at all”.

Brian "Head" Welch

“I got a good list for ya! It’s unique,” says Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch. “Well, it’s not really unique. [Laughs] Now that I look at it, it’s more along the lines of metal, but I threw in some atmospheric ones that I can’t live without… 

“And you know what’s crazy? I picked all these artists and a lot of them are still going strong. AC/DC is bigger than ever, Ozzy is still going strong. Iron Maiden had a massive resurgence the last five years. Journey is killing it. So… I picked the good ones! [Laughs]”

1. AC/DC – Back in Black

“The album and the song that got me lit with the fire for the passion for rock music. It was my favorite magical Christmas year, when you’re 10 years old and everything’s magical still. I didn’t believe in Santa Claus at all, but just the season of all these new fresh things in your life. I got a stereo that year, a record player, a new bike and Back in Black. 

“When I put on Back in Black, something just clicked for me, and I got obsessed. Time has shown that it’s one of the best-selling albums ever, so I guess I had an ear for music… along with millions of other people. [Laughs] That was the year I started to play guitar, and that’s the album that got me going.”

2. Ozzy Osbourne – Flying High Again

“Flying High Again reminds me of a time in life when it came out. You know when you hear a song and it makes you feel a certain way… in your soul, emotionally, mentally? This one did it for me. Randy Rhoads was one of my greatest heroes. [AC/DC’s] Angus Young opened the door and I wanted more. 

“I was drawn to really play the instrument. Angus is amazing and he can shred and he has his own blues style. But I love melody. And I love the darker classical approach Randy Rhoads took. And that album and that song got me obsessed with Ozzy and Randy.”

3. Journey – Don't Stop Believin'

“I was into the heavier darker stuff like Ozzy and AC/DC, but I like the lighter side too. And I got into Journey, a lot. Honestly, I listened to Back in Black and Angus, but I couldn’t really play the leads. 

“The first lead I learned was Don’t Stop Believin’. I was faking leads up to that point, but once I could nail that one I felt like I had a chance. [Laughs] I’m definitely drawn to Neal Schon’s style, tone and melody. You felt something when you heard his solos.”

4. Boston – More Than a Feeling

“Dude, I can’t live without this song! Even today if I hear that on a classic rock station, I make sure to stop what I’m doing so I can listen to the whole song before I move on to whatever I was doing. If I was on an island, I would definitely want this song. It’s got a sound… like nobody else.”

5. Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast

“Iron Maiden were along the lines of Ozzy, as far as, like, the theatrical dark edge and the Satanic vibe or whatever. I wasn’t into any spiritual or Satanic stuff, but I was drawn to the dark and I really loved horror movies growing up. And Iron Maiden had it. 

“They had Eddie and the imagery on the cover. And the opening of that song – ‘Woe to you, o’er Earth and Sea’ – where they speak that whole scripture in Revelation. The drive of The Number of the Beast’ and [singer Bruce Dickinson’s] vocal range… just everything. It makes me feel something special when I hear it, even now.”

6. Van Halen – Eruption

“Such a crazy piece that Eddie Van Halen invented. I think it was a one-take thing he did... It had to be. I mean, How the hell do you do that? It’s just so perfect. I wanna go deep dive and find something that explains the whole recording process.

“The effects he had on it… it sounded like something from outer space! It’s hard to wrap your head around it. But I was like, I wanna do that. How do I do that? [Laughs] It’s mind-blowing.”

7. Soaking in His Presence & William Augusto – It Is Finished

“No one’s going to know William Augusto. I don’t think he’s on any major label or anything. I found him on YouTube… He puts out these instrumental pieces and they get millions of views. 

“I love the song and if I was on an island stranded for the rest of my life, I would really want an atmospheric song so I could just center myself. Because life would pretty much suck without any grocery stores or fast-food joints or friends or family.” [Laughs]

8. Metallica – Master of Puppets

“I was a late bloomer on Master of Puppets. I got into Mötley Crüe and Ratt and I love Def Leppard… So when Master of Puppets came out I was like, ‘Ew, what? That’s too loud.’ [Laughs] But once I gave it a chance, it really got me. It’s structured like a classical piece of music, through the metal lens.

“It’s a work of art. James Hetfield’s voice at that time, the scratchiness of it… I think most people can relate to the message of that song: falling into something that’s mastering you, could be a person, or a substance… Great, great idea for the whole thing. It’s amazing.”

9. Faith No More – The Real Thing

“This is my favorite song by Faith No More. How they put that piece together just blows my mind. It’s a work of art. It starts with the drums, and he does those rim-shots with the dark-sounding synths in the back. It’s an amazing crossover with a thrash feel on the guitars, but not too much. 

“With [Mike] Patton’s freaking bluesy style of singing over very minor music, I thought it was incredible and unique. They were instrumental for me in terms of crossing over into alternative ideas [and realizing] the possibilities are endless about how alternative you can get and mixing different styles of music. They were huge for me and Korn.”

10. Hans Zimmer – Time

“My god, that takes you on a ride. It helps me when I need to think about life, and myself, and centering yourself on positivity and what matters. For me, with prayer and connecting with Christ, that song really helps me. I don’t like organized religion at all, but I love the spiritual aspect of… what I learn about the teachings of the wisdom. This song helps me focus on that and experience that.”

James "Munky" Shaffer

“I looked through my library of songs, and I thought, Man, how can I not live with all of this!” says Korn guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer with a laugh. “Music’s so important to me and has gotten me through so many hard times, and good times as well. 

“I make playlists: I made playlists for my wedding and the reception, and for when my children were born. The doctor let me play songs in the delivery room! But I narrowed this list down to ‘why I play music’ and some of the more important guitar-driven songs. And it’s still hard! [Laughs] And these are in no particular order. It would take me a week to put these in order!”

1. Faith No More – Caffeine

“Lemme start with [guitarist] Jim Martin and his contribution to Faith No More on Caffeine. It’s got, I think, a 6/8 or 3/4 time signature. So when I first heard it in 1992 I was kinda put off by the feel of it. I was probably 21, and it was something new for me.

“Of course, Mike Patton delivers these screaming verses that are just epic. And then it has two breakdowns in it, which is unusual for a song. It comes out of that heavy section in the middle and into the ending with a really melodic thing. Those guys have been such a big influence in my personal musical growth in every aspect.”

2. Pink Floyd – Time

“David Gilmour, Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon … It’s hard to narrow down one song! But I listened to the album last night, which was fun, and the song Time feels like an epic moment for me. The intro – and the way it draws you in – is so intense. 

“The song’s called Time, but it’s really a timeless song. Lyrically speaking, musically speaking, it has something I feel resonates through generations. The way Pink Floyd plays with the minor dark and the major uplifting moments is just brilliant. That’s something I try to strive for to this day.”

3. Mr. Bungle – Quote Unquote

“Another one of my favorite guitar players is Trey Spruance from Mr. Bungle. When I first heard the song, it was originally called Travolta. But for whatever reason they changed the name ... There’s a bottle smash, and then it comes in so heavy. It was like nothing I’d ever heard. 

“That band and the way he plays is so non-traditional … It made me feel like music can be everything. It influenced me on so many creative levels [including] the aesthetic and the ominous look of the band. I was like, This is what our band has to be like!” [Laughs]

4. Nine Inch Nails – The Wretched

“The Fragile is such an epic double-album. Lyrically it pulls on you … When you’re in a dark place and you want to feel like you’re not alone you can put on that album and that song. It has the pulsating electronic elements … The way Trent [Reznor] creates songs, the electronic portion of what he does is very organic. 

“I’ve watched all the phases they’ve gone through. I like all the old stuff and new stuff. But this album captures it for me, as well as that particular [touring] band: [guitarist] Robin Finck, [keyboardist] Charlie Clouser and [bassist] Danny Lohner, those guys killed it.”

5. Tool – 10,000 Days

“My favorite song from Tool is 10,000 Days … I love the metaphysical aspect of Tool and the art and the videos. Even [without] the visuals, if you just listen to them it takes you on a journey, I think, spiritually. There’s something I can relate to on 10,000 Days.

“I lost my mother to cancer … And she was very religious, and this song really touches me because I know there was a similar situation that [Tool singer] Maynard [James Keenan] had gone through with losing his mom and what this song’s about. That song I hold very close to me, and that band is very special to me.”

6. A Perfect Circle – The Package

“This song starts so chill, and the snare is turned off – I think Josh Freese is playing. Him, [guitarist] Billy Howerdel and Maynard … I can’t say enough about them. Their chemistry together is epic. 

“These are three of the most talented people on the planet. The way the song builds, and draws you in is very… I can’t articulate what it is. [Laughs] I don’t have words for it! It’s heavy, melodic and all the things I love about music.”

7. Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of a Madman

“This was the first cassette I bought with my own money. I was maybe 12 years old, right around 1982 … Diary of a Madman is the last song, and it starts with this classical guitar intro and there’s an odd time signature. And then the guitar solo … It’s Randy Rhoads, I feel, at his best at the time. It’s everything I love about Randy. That’s one of the albums that really got me into heavy music.”

8. David Bowie – Fame

“A song my mom used to play. It’s a collab between David Bowie and John Lennon. She had it on vinyl, and she’d put it on and dance around – my mom was a very eclectic person and full of life, crazy in a good way. 

“When she used to play this song, she’d get into this weird, strange mood and it made me feel good. So when I hear this song it reminds me of her. And now I can relate to some of the lyrics, as well. But that’s a cool, funky song with a lot of cool guitar textures throughout.”

9. Van Halen – Eruption

“Van Halen came out in 1978, so that was kind of the first hard rock I ever heard. It [started with] Runnin’ With the Devil and then goes into Eruption, and when I heard that at first I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know it was the sound of the guitar. 

“It was before I played guitar, so I didn’t understand what it was. I just thought, ‘This is the most incredible thing in the world!’ It awakened my senses in some way that nothing else did.”

10. Led Zeppelin – The Rain Song

“Jimmy Page has an unusual way of tuning his guitar – the voicings are different. When you try to tune your guitar to Jimmy Page tunings, it opens so many doors, musically, for a guitar player that’s just starting. And also, it’s one of the first rock songs that I heard with strings in it, and I thought it was the greatest thing. 

“It takes you on a journey. It’s melancholy and then it lifts you up and the drums come in, and then it ends on this really dissonant diminished kind of chord and then right at the end it releases into a major. It’s a brilliant piece of music.”

• Requiem is out now via Loma Vista.

Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch made an appearance at an Arizona high school earlier this week to give a talk about both his career and suicide prevention, and even gave some kids the opportunity to jam with him onstage.

The event, dubbed Scream 4 Me and arranged by Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers, took place on Tuesday (September 20) at Mesa’s Skyline High School, and saw Welch talk about mental health alongside his Love and Death bandmates, and Cooper host a Q&A session on the subject.

During the event, Welch and his bandmates took to the stage with the help of some high-school students to play a pair of classic Korn tracks: Blind, from the band’s 1994 self-titled debut, and Got the Life, from 1998’s Follow the Leader. 

As you’d expect, the performance garners a notably more raucous audience reaction than that of an average school assembly. One TikTok user who was present managed to capture snippets of the show, which can be seen below.

Solid Rock Teen Centers, the organization which hosted the event at the high school, aims to help young people in Arizona thrive.

“Like all great ideas, Solid Rock began on a simple premise. That inside every teen, there is a purpose. It all begins with hope,” its website states.

"A faith-based organization, Solid Rock’s primary mission is to make an everlasting difference in the lives of teens by helping them meet the spiritual, economical, physical, and social needs of teens in the community by offering a safe, engaging environment during non-school hours.

"Maintaining that ‘a teen’s worst enemy is too much time on their hands,’ Solid Rock provides the music, arts, vocational programs and fellowship that challenge teens to discover their passion through music, dance, video and sound production, self-expression, and creativity.”

Earlier this year, Brian “Head” Welch and his Korn bandmate James “Munky” Shaffer told YouTuber Ola Englund that they've “never sounded better” since using EverTune bridges on their guitars.

“We used them on recordings on a couple of albums – it saves so much time. Especially in a live scenario where we’re both playing [with a] heavy right hand and pulling on the strings and chords. We can get away with a lot more. And we’ve never sounded better because everything is perfectly in tune the whole show.”

Dunlop has released a set of signature electric guitar strings designed in collaboration with Korn electric guitar titans James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch.

The seven-string set will serve both Munky and Head’s needs, and promises to provide an increased dynamic range, optimal tension for drop tunings and improved tuning stability.

According to Dunlop, the set was designed from the ground up and specifically tailored to cater to the seven-string demands set by the two nu-metal maestros, who approached the brand in search of something that would “unlock the true potential of their instruments”.

The Head x Munky strings feature .010, .013, .017, .028, .038, .048 and .065 gauges, and built around Dunlop’s Heavy Core technology – a proprietary technology designed for drop and lowered tunings.

It works by incorporating a unique core wire and proprietary wrap ratios in an effort to provide players the ability to retain a tight low-end while attacking the strings.

Head and Munky’s signature string set is available now for $24.

For more information, head over to Dunlop.

It’s already the second string release of the week for Dunlop, which recently partnered with Slipknot’s Jim Root for a trio of new signature string sets.

Korn’s Brian ‘Head’ Welch and James ‘Munky’ Shaffer have been proponents of extended range guitars since their self-titled debut album. But as anyone who has played a seven-string or eight-string guitar knows, tuning can be an issue, particularly when dabbling in the lower registers.

But since the pair have equipped their electric guitars with EverTune bridges, they insist the increased tuning stability means they’ve never sounded better.

“[Brian] started using [an EverTune], and he was like, ‘You’ve gotta try this,’” Shaffer recalls in a new interview with Ola Englund. “I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ And then I had a couple put on my guitars.

“We used them on recordings on a couple of albums – it saves so much time. Especially in a live scenario where we’re both playing [with a] heavy right hand and pulling on the strings and chords. We can get away with a lot more. And we’ve never sounded better because everything is perfectly in tune the whole show.”

“We used to fight that back in the day,” Welch adds. “Now, if someone goes out of tune, we know it’s the bass player, instantly!”

Elsewhere, the guitarists discuss the effects they have on their current touring pedalboards.

“As I get older I want more simple,” Welch says. “[Whereas Munky’s] like mister freaking spaceship with like 40 pedals.”

“I love having old analogs right in front of me,” Shaffer replies. “I make mistakes. I tend to make more mistakes by not hitting that switch or this switch, but I’m a little bit of a control freak when it comes to selecting the right effect.

“Because if some guys hire somebody, they’ll have their tech or somebody do the switching, and every time I’ve done that they’ve made so many mistakes, and then I get mad at them.”

The guitarists also touch upon where they find inspiration in songwriting. “Every day there’s something to draw inspiration on, whether it’s your own personal stuff or something from the past,” Shaffer says. 

“We did a thing in London the other night, and Jonathan [Davis, Korn frontman] was like, ‘I’m finally happy in life,’ because he just got into a place of peace,” Welch adds. “And I go, ‘So does that mean Korn records are gonna suck now?’ But that’s not how it is. We’re drawn to the dark things in life – all of us. Movies, TV shows… It’s always gonna come out. Even if we’re happy, it’s gonna come out.”

“Now that we’re older, [we've learned] how to balance the light and the dark in our lives,” Shaffer continues. “Before it was just like, there’s this whole darkness, and we didn’t know how to control it. But now we have clarity.”

“And with age and having children and kids and having different things in our life balances the light and the dark. And we like to jump in the dark with the art we create. But we don’t live there. We know how to go there, to play music, and then we know how to put that aside and then joke and be happy in the afternoon. No walking around gloomy all day. Most of the time we’re joking around and clowning around all day on tour.”

• Korn's James ‘Munky’ Shaffer and Brian ‘Head’ Welch: "We love making weird noises – filling that synthy space using our guitars is something we love doing"

Founded in Bakersfield, California, in 1993, at a time when alternative rock and metal was blossoming and anything and everything was up for grabs, Korn seized the nettle and took a different path to their contemporaries.

Influenced by Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the iconoclastic idea of referencing hip-hop in rock, and, perhaps most significantly, inspired by the musical potential of having a 7-string guitar in the shape of the Steve Vai-designed Ibanez Universe, guitarists James 'Munky' Shaffer and Brian 'Head' Welch tuned metal down, loosened it up, pocketed it in a groove. 

The quiet/loud dynamic that allowed for the chorus to be explosive was exploited in full, especially once they hooked up with producer Ross Robinson – a collaboration that established nu-metal as a global concern with the breakthrough success of their sophomore LP, Life Is Peachy. Imitators followed, in their scores. Others absorbed the influences and took it in a different place. And in 2022, the Korn legacy has been traveled far and wide.

1996 – Sepultura

Although Sepultura formed a whole decade before Korn, the Brazilian metallers’ classic 1996 album Roots took some major cues from the Californians. 

The album even featured guests spots from Korn singer Jonathan Davis on Lookaway and drummer David Silveria on Ratamahatta, and was produced by Korn’s go-to guy Ross Robinson. 

“Sepultura adopted our nu-metal sound for a couple of records, which was really flattering,” says Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch. “But at the same time we were like, ‘Ross, why are you giving our tone away?!’”

1999 – Slipknot

Slipknot’s first album was released five years after Korn’s, and though they would end up surpassing them commercially, the members of Slipknot have always been open about their admiration for Korn. 

“I feel like people have forgotten how explosive and poignant Korn were when they hit the scene,” said Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor. “To me, I would put the first Korn album on the same level as Appetite For Destruction and Nevermind as far as albums that shifted things culturally.”

2000 – Limp Bizkit

Korn didn’t invent rap-rock by any stretch, but they were certainly responsible for aligning hip-hop grooves with more extreme, down-tuned metal riffs. It’s something Limp Bizkit took and ran with – particularly guitarist Wes Borland – spawning early noughties hits like Break Stuff and Rollin’.

2010 – Of Mice & Men

Californian metalcore quartet Of Mice & Men have been on Korn’s radar for many years. 

As Korn guitarist Head says: “There’s a lot of bands out there we’ve influenced, and I would say Of Mice & Men are definitely one of them, though it’s very hard to replicate Korn because of Jonathan’s unusual style of singing... no-one else tries or wants to do that!”

2016 – Cane Hill

As well as naming their band after psychiatric hospital in the London suburb of Croydon – which is exactly the kind of thing Korn singer Jonathan Davis would think of – this New Orleans quartet have made a name for themselves as one of the breakout groups in the recent nu-metal resurgence.

2018 – Poppy

Twisting childlike innocence with macabre horror much like Korn were on Follow The Leader, this Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter’s videos are certainly not for the faint-hearted. Drawing from a diverse pool of bubble-gum pop, industrial rock and nu-metal, she is an artist who thrives in contrasting extremes.

2020 – Tallah

Featuring Max Portnoy – son of ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy – behind the kit, Tallah certainly have a rhythmic advantage over other modern metal bands. 

Further intensified by the down-tuned riffs played by guitarists Derrick Schneider and Alex Snowden, it’s helped establish them one of the most explosive newcomers to the modern metal scene.

2021 – Tetrarch

“We like to mix nu-metal with shred stuff,” Tetrarch guitarist Diamond Rowe told Total Guitar last year. “When I started learning guitar I was listening to bands like Korn, Slipknot and Linkin Park – they were the contemporary metal bands of my teenage years. That’s where we are coming from musically.”

When we think of the innovators who shaped heavy music through the decades, Korn deserve recognition alongside more obvious names such as Iron Maiden, Metallica and Soundgarden. 

Formed in Bakersfield, California, Korn were, after all, the first metal group to popularise seven-string guitars – the band’s two guitarists, James ‘Munky’ Schaffer and Brian ‘Head’ Welch used the subsonic weight of the added B string to explore new uncharted tonal depths, thus inspiring players from bands such as Fear Factory and Meshuggah to follow suit and embrace a whole new world of low-end. 

Korn’s self-titled debut album, released in 1994, was a true game-changer, its mix of heavy riffs and hip-hop rhythms shaping the sound of nu-metal and influencing generations of bands from Slipknot and Linkin Park to rising stars of today such as Tetrarch and Cane Hill. 

That signature sound is still very much in evidence on the new Korn album Requiem, the 14th studio recording of the band’s long career. The music is thunderously heavy and brilliantly melodic, with Munky and Head whipping up a seven-string storm. And now, when these guys look back on how it all started, they acknowledge the influence of one guitarist in particular.

It was super-shredder Steve Vai who helped develop the seven-string with Japanese guitar giants Ibanez in the '80s. And for Munky, a teenager back then, Vai was a hero.

“After reading interviews with Vai, I learned how he could map out what someone was saying with his instrument,” Munky says now, citing Vai’s intro to David Lee Roth’s Yankee Rose – in essence, a ‘conversation’ between Roth’s voice and Vai’s guitar – as the mark of a musician wholeheartedly in tune with his instrument. 

“Vai could match the tonality of the human voice, using the same rhythms and lines to tell a story. I remember my mother telling me off when I was young, saying, ‘You play the guitar more than you talk to us!’

“But she also pointed out that it was my true voice. I thought about this later on in life and realised she was right: anything I try to say with my voice, I can say through my guitar. Whether it’s happy or sad, whatever I’m feeling can come through the guitar and out of a speaker. It was empowering. It helped me realise my purpose.”

He continues: “What I learned from Steve Vai – and I’m still learning from him because he’s amazing – was how he embodies the feeling he wants to transcend through his instrument. That’s something I really took from him. What do I want the listener to feel? Is it pure aggression or something purely melodic? He helped me kick that door open.”

Head tells the story of how Munky’s fixation on Vai led inevitably to the seven-string. “I was a Vai fan too,” he says, “but Munky was obsessed and followed everything he did. When he found out about the seven-string, he went to Guitar Center and was like, ‘I need this!’ He’d work little odd jobs to save up, getting 50 to 100 dollars a week. After a few months, he had enough money, but even in the meantime he was always in that store playing the guitar, telling us it was his before he’d even bought it.”

The day the young James Schaffer took that guitar home was unquestionably life-changing. The seven-string would become fundamental to Korn’s signature sound, allowing them to go lower, harder and deeper than any band that had come before them and help create the blueprint for what would soon become known as ‘nu-metal’. As Head says: “Steve Vai may have invented that guitar, but Munky had the vision for using it in heavy music.”

The combination of the seven-strings, the hip-hop-inspired rhythms of bassist Fieldy and drummer David Silveria and the new wave-influenced vocals of Jonathan Davis made for a unique sound. 

“We started mixing all these influences to find our new sound,” Head recalls. “We listened to everyone from Vai to Helmet, Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, Metallica and Faith No More, plus all this hip-hop music. Jonathan loved Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and The Cure, so it really was an interesting blend, with us embracing that low B-string on guitar. 

“That’s what was cool about nu-metal and the movement we started. We put all these genres together because we were fans and tried to make it our own, which I think we did.”

Requiem sees the band expanding on the melodic structures within that heavy sound. The album’s nine tracks – totalling just over half an hour – feel remarkably tight and focused, with no shortage of powerful themes and anthemic hooks. One of the standout tracks, Let The Dark Do The Rest, has the band revisiting the tones of their 1998 album – and commercial breakthrough – Follow The Leader.

Head explains: “Let The Dark Do The Rest was a homage back to 1998 and the track B.B.K. – which had a lot of those screechy sounds. We love making weird noises with our guitars. When you kick in that Whammy pedal and push all the way down it kinda sounds like a catfight! Filling that synthy or keyboardy space using our guitars is something we love doing. 

“Our old producer, Ross Robinson, taught us that on the first two Korn records and we stuck with it. However, at the beginning of Let The Dark Do The Rest, you can hear these weird piano notes... that’s actually Munky playing a keyboard on his iPhone with a mic on the speaker. It just sounded so cool, he was talking about recording it on a proper piano but we all said it sounded perfect as it was because of that super-lo-fi vibe.”

As per classic Korn albums of the past, the new tracks showcase how the two guitarists often cover different ends of the instrument at the same time, maximising the depth of the group’s collective sonic profile. 

There are moments on tracks such as Lost In The Grandeur where they’re not even playing notes in the conventional sense, instead looking at their instruments purely on a noise-making level like Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who started making waves in the same Californian clubs a few years before them...

“Exploring the whole fretboard to divide and conquer is extremely important,” explains Munky. “When I grew up, I always felt like the higher strings and top of the neck was just for soloing. But then I started finding these staccato, dissonant sounds that were really useful. 

“Whether it was just a noise or sound effect or even a pick scrap across the higher strings, I started to think about how I could include those things into my riffs. It filled out the spectrum, because I was using the higher and lower end of the guitar’s range within the same riff...

“That’s one thing I always tell new players: don’t be afraid to use the higher strings or go up the neck. And it doesn’t always have to be the ‘traditional’ way of playing guitar. Come at it more like a sound designer trying to find the right noises, in combination with the low rhythmic thing on the heavy strings. It’s fun for people listening through headphones.

“We want to put some noise candy in there for people to go, ‘Woah, did you just hear that?!’ Tom Morello was great at all that stuff – using the whole guitar, from the body to the hardware, as his instrument. He’d even use the strings above the nut to get these unorthodox noises, and we started doing that too, just to create more atmosphere.”

Tracking the guitars for Requiem was very much business as usual for Munky and Head – the former sticking with his Ibanez Apex signature series, which were originally launched in 2007, and the latter handling his own custom models through ESP and LTD, having switched over from Ibanez in 2017. 

That said, the two guitarists also understand when situations call for something different, turning to other brands and instruments where necessary.

“We usually go through five to seven guitars each and figure out which sound best,” says Head. “Every record is different because we get new guitars and the tones change depending on what the tracks needs. On this record, I used one of my ESPs and one of my signature LTDs, which was funny, because the more expensive ESP model didn’t always sound the best. 

“There were moments where we felt the cheaper guitar sounded better! I can’t explain why. We’d also grab old Telecasters, Strats and Les Pauls for little bits here and there. Jonathan has all these freakin’ weird old guitars, which we’d use for verse overdubs and things like that.”

“We’d bring out Fenders, Gibsons and 12-strings, even this seven-string acoustic that I have,” adds Munky. “I also love the Fender Bass VI. I have one that was built in Mexico, but it works great – I love how growly it sounds. There was also a Starcaster in there somewhere – we’ll use random guitars to add extra textures and depth to certain parts, depending on what we’re trying to accomplish. If it’s a nice clean melody, for example, then we’ll pick up a Telecaster.”

Similarly, it was a mixed bag for amplification – the Korn pair used a combination of different heads and cabs to dial in that perfect punch, favouring an old-school analogue approach to their signal path as they typically have done in the past.

Though very occasionally they might have used something like an Axe-Fx or Kemper for “crazy atmospheric sounds”, to their ears nothing sounds better than real valves being driven through loud speakers. You simply can’t beat that sensation of air being moved, insist the duo, and we’d be inclined to agree.

“My setup is a 150-watt Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier with a Diezel and an old modded Marshall, all blended together,” continues Munky. “The Marshall goes into a Marshall cab, the others into a Mesa cab, which are mic’d using various SM57 and Royer microphones. So there are quite a few faders mixing all these tones to make one sound! Head’s side has a Triple Rec, a Bogner Uberschall and an Orange. 

“When we’re both playing, you’re hearing six amplifiers! We also use these really expensive room mics to get more ambient sounds. It really helps because you feel like you’re in the room with the cabinet, but from a back corner. You can feel the air being moved. Even if we only use a little bit of that, it sounds cool and brings a more distant sound that the up-close ribbon mics don’t catch, with its own natural reverb.”

In between the guitars and amps were a host of pedals, including many enduring staples of the Korn arsenal, including that “catfight” DigiTech Whammy pitch-shifter. The pair also engaged its lower octave harmony function to create what they refer to as “tractor” sounds, in order to thicken the main riffs with a distorted sub frequency. It’s an old trick that, for them, will simply never go out of fashion.

“I also had my Boss Chorus Ensemble, which I’ve always used for melodies,” recalls Head, citing it as his go-to. “You can hear it on Let The Dark Do The Rest and the chorus of Start The Healing, just to add some colour to the melody. I’d actually say seven or eight of the nine songs had that Boss in there somewhere, even if just a little bit to add a wet kind of feel. 

“Sometimes I might even turn every knob so it’s on full blast and warbles like it’s underwater. I love that sound! Munky uses a different one, the pink Ibanez BC9, which blends really well with mine. I had my old Uni-Vibe pedal with me. Munky used an Electro-Harmonix Small Stone on Worst Is On Its Way.”

“I also had a Strymon Timeline for repeats and the BigSky for those big open wet sounds,” adds Munky. “I have some boutique pedals to get some crazy modulation – one of them is the Blackbox Quicksilver, which is similar to a Small Stone but it’s a warbly delay. I also have this WMD Geiger Counter fuzz pedal which is really over the top and distorted... it’s really dope.”

As their gear roster makes clear, there has always been a lot more to Korn than just seven-strings through high gain amps. “Uniqueness has always been very important to us,” says Head, explaining how there’s a sea of new bands and artists constantly coming out, arguably now more than ever. 

Those lacking a sense of strong musical identity often get pooled with the rest and disappear amongst the noise. Embrace your idiosyncrasies, he says, and celebrate whatever it is that makes you weird. After all, that’s what worked for Korn.

“At the end of the day, the best song wins,” Head says, “so my best advice is write, write and write. That’s how to craft your skill and develop your gifts. It might take hundreds or thousands of songs until you find the one that shows you the way. I learned all my pentatonic and blues scales back in the day – they were pretty helpful. 

“Then I moved onto major scales, running through them while watching TV, constantly practising to get the movement and finger strength. I got into Yngwie Malmsteen, George Lynch and Eddie Van Halen, but I couldn’t develop a lead style that was as good. I could fake it, but those guys are on another level. It wasn’t my calling to be a shredder.”

He pauses for a second and points out how embracing his own limitations and oddities is precisely what got him to where he is today.

“Instead, I found my own style through a band, rather than just my own solos,” he says. “So we focused more on the riffs. When we wrote Blind, for example, we were listening to a lot of Mr. Bungle. They were so weird, with all those dissonant chords which we loved. Jonathan brought that song from his old band Sexart. 

“We rewrote the chorus and made it really bouncy and heavy, taking it down really low. We came up with the intro because we all loved Jonathan’s ‘are you ready?!’ and it needed an amazing build to get there. I look back now and think, ‘What a cool, left-field intro!’ And that became our thing. When we started this band, we wanted to be weird because we love the weird...”

• Requiem is out now via Loma Vista.

Welcome to Guitar World’s weekly roundup of the musical highlights from the, erm, world of guitar. Every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Eve Adams - Butterflies

What is it? This slow-burning soundtrack to a ’40s film noir that never existed is the spookiest guitar-and-vocals song you’ll hear all year. Eve Adams’ melancholy arpeggios are accompanied by a wealth of tremolo’d overdubs that amplify the intrigue and suspense.

Standout guitar moment: The wailing single-note lines that flicker in and out of the mix are a masterclass in atmospheric textures.

For fans of: Chelsea Wolfe, Adia Victoria, Julien Baker

– Michael Astley-Brown

Steve Vai – Zeus In Chains 

What is it? The fourth single from Vai’s upcoming instrumental album Inviolate – his 13th studio album and his first in six years. Yet another display of Vai's virtuosic abilities, Zeus In Chains seamlessly transitions between intriguing chord voicings, powerful rhythm work and the usual dose of fretboard acrobatics.

Standout guitar moment: There is some really nice chord work going on, but we couldn’t forgive ourselves if we didn’t choose one of the many solo exchanges as the standout guitar moment – the effort from the two-minute mark is not to be missed.

For fans of: Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Jeff Beck

– Matt Owen

Venom Prison – Nemesis

What is it? The brutally anthemic third single from the UK outfit’s upcoming album, Erebos. Shifting back into high gear after their more subdued last single, Pain of Oizys, Nemesis is a brilliant cacophony of savage drop-tuned guitars and destructive breakdowns, and we’re excited for the album when it drops on February 4.

Standout guitar moment: Aside from the Gojira-style pick scrapes that lurk throughout, there’s a quick-fire lead line at the 1:34 mark that piqued our interest.

For fans of: Parkway Drive, Bleed From Within

– Sam Roche

Michael Romeo – Divide & Conquer

What is it? Cinematic, powerful and explosive, the lead single from War of the Worlds, Pt. 2 – the forthcoming solo album from Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo – has the grandiosity to match the sci-fi epics it’s inspired by.

Standout guitar moment: Come for the bludgeoning power metal riff, but stay for the solo – a rollercoaster ride of technical acrobatics and compositional brilliance that showcases Romeo’s versatility as a guitarist, and is an absolute blast to turn up loud.

For fans of: Symphony X, Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Angelo Batio

– Jackson Maxwell

Muse – Won’t Stand Down 

What is it? Muse’s first single since 2018, and arguably their heaviest effort yet. Employing a clutch of gargantuan riffs and gargling, gain-saturated guitar tones, Bellamy and his bandmates pull no punches as they serve up a brutal – yet incredibly welcome – metal-inspired offering.

Standout guitar moment: That chaotic final post-chorus breakdown. No ifs, no buts. That outro guitar line is simply relentless, and we hope there will be more like it when Muse inevitably drop their next album.

For fans of: Royal Blood, Nothing But Thieves, Foals

– Sam Roche

Fontaines D.C. - Jackie Down the Line

What is it? The Dublin post-punk outfit’s flirtation with Cure-inspired atmospherics, Jackie Down the Line is all modulated clean chimes and guttural Bass VI rhythms. Given this is the first single to be taken from forthcoming third album, Skinty Fia – following full-length records in 2020 and 2019 – the quantity and quality of material being produced by Fontaines D.C. is quite remarkable.

Standout guitar moment: It’s gotta be that opening Bass VI part. Fender’s Justin Norvell told us interest in the low-tuned instrument has exploded following the release of The Beatles: Get Back, and this track is further evidence of its ability to shape any material that plays host to its guttural heft.

For fans of: The Cure, IDLES, Squid

– Michael Astley-Brown

Envy of None – Liar

What is it? The debut single from Alex Lifeson’s new band, Envy of None. The track sees the former Rush guitarist take a more synth-influenced musical direction than he has been known for, which he “proudly” acknowledges. It does however feature plenty of strong Nine Inch Nails-inspired guitar textures.

Standout guitar moment: Nothing glaringly obvious, but there are loads of subtly layered acoustic guitar lines going on underneath the in-your-face synths.

For fans of: Nine Inch Nails, HEALTH

– Sam Roche

Shamir – Reproductive

What is it? The beautiful, introspective third single from the Las Vegas-born, Philly-based singer/songwriter’s much-anticipated upcoming album, Hetereosexuality. 

Standout guitar moment: Those swan-dive slides in Reproductive’s chorus gives the song a dream-like quality that brings the best aspects of shoegaze to mind, without any of that genre’s intentional obfuscation.

For fans of: Cocteau Twins, Pixies

– Jackson Maxwell

Pavement – Be The Hook 

What is it? A previously unreleased track taken from Pavement’s 1998 Twilight Terror sessions, which is set to be reissued as an expanded 45-track offering later this year. Boasting a swaggering chord progression propped up by some delightful cleans and a charming solo, the track is quite simply quintessential Pavement.

Standout guitar moment: The clean tone employed throughout is worthy of a mention, but the standout moment has to go to that nonchalant quick-fire solo, which mirrors the vocals with a quirky charm.

For fans of: Silkworm, Dinosaur Jr., Pixies

– Matt Owen

Cloakroom - Fear of Being Fixed

What is it? Like fuzz? You’ll love Cloakroom. Despite frontman Doyle Martin and bassist Bobby Markos slathering their tones in the stuff, the Indiana trio still conjure plenty of dynamism through smart arrangements that meld shoegaze ethereality with stoner swagger.

Standout guitar moment: The psychedelic middle eight, which weaves ringing acoustic lines over a sea of sludge.

For fans of: Hum, Cave In, Torche

– Michael Astley-Brown

Christian Lee Hutson – Rubberneckers

What is it? Featuring Phoebe Bridgers behind the boards and on backing vocals, Rubberneckers is the humbly tuneful lead single from singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson’s sophomore solo album, Quitters.

Standout guitar moment: Always one to color a song’s edges with textural work, Hutson does allow himself a solo here. The nifty hooks within show what a craftsman he is, while the overcooked filter effects give the proceedings a charming, self-deprecating sense of humor.

For fans of: Phoebe Bridgers, Better Oblivion Community Center, Wilco

– Jackson Maxwell

Korn – Forgotten

What is it? Only another massive-sounding single from one of the biggest nu-metal names in the world. The second track from their forthcoming album Requiem – which arrives February 4 – Forgotten finds James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch once again offering up their finest seven-string guitar work.

Standout guitar moment: That absolutely monstrous opening riff. Obviously.

For fans of: Static-X, Limp Bizkit, System of a Down

– Sam Roche

After a series of teasers across the band's website and social media over the past week, Korn have dropped Forgotten, the second single and opening track from their forthcoming 14th studio album, Requiem.

Hot on the heels of the record's first single, Start the Healing, Forgotten is similarly varied in dynamics, and features a monolithic seven-string guitar riff and a series of delicately arranged clean arpeggios from James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch.

The track's accompanying visualizer video was created by EFFIXX, a visual effects artist who worked on the music video for Start the Healing. Check it out below.

Requiem – which arrives February 4 via Loma Vista Recordings – was “conceived out of very different circumstances than the majority of the band's catalogue”. This is due to the ongoing pandemic, which allowed the album to be “born of time and the ability to create without pressure”.

In a recent interview on Loudwire Nights, James “Munky” Shaffer revealed that the new record “has a vibe to it that's like early 2000s”.

“I don't know why,” he confesses. “Maybe it's just because we took more time on guitar. We got a lot of textures, and there's some layering and techniques recording-wise that we've done [such as] recording to tape.”

The guitarist added that due to the “dystopian” nature of the circumstances in which the record was made – “the whole world shut down”, “big fires” in LA – it “might take fans a minute to digest”.

Though bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu sat out Korn's summer US tour last year in an effort to get “bad habits out of [his] system”, his bass recordings will appear on Requiem. For that tour, the band recruited Suicidal Tendencies bass player Ra Díaz.

Take a look at Requiem's tracklisting below.

1. Forgotten
2. Let the Dark Do the Rest
3. Start the Healing
4. Lost in the Grandeur
5. Disconnect
6. Hopeless and Beaten
7. Penance to Sorrow
8. My Confession
9. Worst Is On Its Way

The weekend is indeed almost here, but don’t turn your eyes away from the screen just yet, dear readers – we have to tell you about the week’s most exciting new guitar-driven tracks. 

This week, Slipknot made a chaotic, full-throated return with The Chapeltown Rag, Nilüfer Yanya offered a tantalizing glimpse of her forthcoming sophomore album with the razor-sharp stabilise, Foals debuted a Talking Heads-esque piece of effervescent funk called Wake Me Up, while PUP made a return of their own with the riotous Kill Something.

So kick your feet up, turn the dial to the right, and usher in the weekend with these fresh tunes.

Slipknot – The Chapeltown Rag

Boy, Slipknot never miss the mark do they? Two years since the release of their last studio album We Are Not Your Kind, the Iowa nine-piece have ushered in the next stage of their artistic evolution with a sickeningly heavy new single, The Chapeltown Rag.

Accurately described by frontman Corey Taylor as “a punisher," “frenetic” and “classic Slipknot," the track is both a nod to the band’s first two albums – Slipknot (1999) and Iowa (2001) – and a push into new, potentially even-heavier-than-before waters.

Kicking off with a breakbeat a la Eyeless from Slipknot, the track takes little time shifting into gear, with resident six-stringers Jim Root and Mick Thomson serving up plenty of their usual chugging drop B riff work over the thunderous rhythm section comprising Jay Weinberg, Shawn “Clown” Crahan and Michael Pfaff. (SR)

Foals – Wake Me Up 

At risk of sounding like an old cliche, English rock trio Foals are something akin to a fine wine, having produced a repertoire jam-packed with intricate, off-kilter guitar lines, mammoth riffs and infectious lead hooks. Situated right at the forefront of today’s alt rock guitar scene, Foals’ newest single, Wake Me Up, ushers in the latest stage of the band’s ongoing evolution.

After producing two albums and 20 tracks over the course of 2019, Foals took a step back – possibly in an effort to avoid any potential fatigue – and have now returned with a rejuvenated sense of purpose buoyed by an energetic new direction.

While it’s not as reliant on the guitar as any Antidotes track, the selectivity and application of the six-strings is arguably just as satisfying. Disco-esque, upper-fretboard chordal frills are layered to the rafters, with the mix-piercing riff providing enough rumbly low-end to make you boogie one minute then head bang the next.

Sometimes less is more, and while 2019’s Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 and 2 were undeniably enjoyable, we can’t help but feel the break has done the group a world of good, and that an even more enjoyable effort is on the way. (MO)

PUP – Kill Something

The Canadian joy-punks have debuted their first new material since 2019, and it’s as life-affirming as you’d hope. Waiting and Kill Something are both riotous explorations of the band’s ability to channel distortion into delight, and while the former boasts a winner of a punk-metal riff, we found ourselves particularly taken by the ebullient leads on Kill Something.

The track itself is an ode to frontman Stefan Babcock’s dog, who destroys the things he loves, but the concept meets its juxtaposition in Steve Sladkowski’s wild lead breaks, whose wild, fuzz-heavy explorations sound like he loves what he destroys. (MAB)

Nilüfer Yanya – stabilise

Since she dropped the Feeling Lucky? EP late last year – and with it, the phenomenal, genre-fusing tune Day 7.5093 – we’ve been dying to see where Londoner Nilüfer Yanya would go next. 

stabilise – the lead single from her forthcoming sophomore full-length, PAINLESS – gives us the first glimpse of what the singer/songwriter has up her sleeve for 2022, and boy is it a tantalizing one.

Driven by restless energy, stabilise paints a frank picture of the challenges of modern urban life, and how it can lead to anxiety, listlessness and loneliness in equal measure.

With spiky, intertwining single-note guitar lines that wrap themselves around the song’s framework in an intricate web, stabilise brings the glory days of Silent Alarm-era Bloc Party to mind, but remains an enthralling, vital and fresh piece of guitar-rock. (JM)

Korn – Start the Healing

Following the success of their 2019 album The Nothing – nu metal heavyweights Korn have announced a followup entitled Requiem, and shared its first single, Start the Healing.

A mid-tempo masterclass in dynamics, the track sees Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer deploy a brooding 7-string guitar riff in the verses, before using open powerchords and melodic octave lines to expansive effect in the choruses.

We’d wager we’re in for some of the most progressive music yet from Jonathan Davis and co. In a statement accompanying the single’s release, the band said Requiem was “conceived out of very different circumstances than the majority of the band’s catalogue," as because of the Covid pandemic, the record was “born of time and the ability to create without pressure." (SR)

Cousin Kula – Something So Sweet 

Multiple listens will reveal just how good Cousin Kula’s new track is. A dreamy jazz odyssey that combines enveloping synth soundscapes, orthodox smooth sax solos, melodic drum beats and serene, modulated guitars, Something So Sweet is a satisfying thirst-quencher for fans of intricate compositions.

Lifted from the Bristol-based band’s upcoming debut album, Double Dinners, the track boasts the tonal and studio gravitas of a seasoned jazz outfit, though takes it one step further with some boundary-blurring and genre-blending motifs that make Something So Sweet an absolutely necessary pre-weekend playlist addition.

Remarkably, “most of the tunes on the album are live takes” according the the band, and while there are no ultra-choreographed fretboard fireworks or rehearsed solos, there’s just enough to six-string delicacy stirred up in the mix to sufficiently whet the appetite and leave us wanting more.

Lucky for us, “more” is right around the corner. Double Dinners set to drop on November 26 via Rhythm Section. (MO)

Code Orange – Out For Blood

“When they go right, we go left,” says Code Orange vocalist Jami Morgan, describing the band’s latest single, Out For Blood. It’s a beautifully concise way of summarizing the artistic direction of the new track, which dabbles in more pop-centric vocal melodies than heard on the Pittsburgh quintet’s last full-length, Underneath.

But these lighter stylings are few and far between; the band once again showcase their unique brand of digitally-enhanced heavy metal in full force, with tons of killer downtuned electric guitar riffs and a knockout solo from Reba Meyers, undoubtedly fueled by her insane pedalboard. (SR)

Camp Cope – Blue

Whether she’s offering up a beautiful, heartfelt eulogy to a loved one or a scathing takedown of sexist scene boys, Georgia Maq has always imbued Camp Cope’s power trio attack with complex narratives and one-liners that are difficult to forget.

Blue, the band’s first new material since 2018’s stellar How to Socialise & Make Friends, shows the Aussie band subtly exploring some new sonic territory, without losing their affecting touch.

If you came to Blue without context, you could conceivably close your eyes and almost hear a country song. Maq’s tender vocal performance – assisted by some sweet harmonies – covers heavy emotional ground with the gravity it requires, without taking its eye off of tunefulness and big hooks.

Maq’s guitar work, too – along with the usual punky drive – has a touch of Nashville-like twang and bite. Head-fake or not, Blue leaves us more excited for the trio’s as-yet-untitled third album than we already were. (JM) 

Rolo Tomassi – Drip

With new single Drip, the unclassifiable UK experimentalists continue to push the boundaries of contemporary metal. Layers of polyrhythmic drones build to one of this year’s finest palm-muted chug assaults, and indeed, Chris Cayford’s playing has never sounded tighter or his tone more defined.

But as is always the case with Rolo Tomassi, it’s the landscapes the song traverses that set it apart from the work of the band’s contemporaries. Drip’s shimmering, arpeggiated post-rock breakdown – complete with sweetly sung vocals from vocalist Eva Korman – highlights the band’s ever-evolving dynamism. 

It’s so meticulously crafted and beautifully layered, it’s almost a song within a song, before those thrashing single-note riffs return to bring proceedings to a tumultuous close. New album Where Myth Becomes Memory is out in February, and it looks set to be an essential listen. (MAB)

Following 2019's The Nothing, Korn have announced their 14th studio album, Requiem, and shared its first single, Start the Healing.

A rollercoaster in dynamics, the track sees Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer deploy a series of slow-burning 7-string guitar riffs underneath Jonathan Davis's signature vocals, before offering some expansive open powerchords and massive-sounding octave lines in the choruses.

The track's accompanying music video is directed by Tim Saccenti – who has worked with the likes of Flying Lotus, Run the Jewels and Depeche Mode – and depicts a “live action and animated visual feast about death and re-birth amidst an array of preternatural creatures and humanoids”. Check it out below.

“Our idea for this video was to mutate that aspect of the DNA of Korn, of what makes them so inspiring, their mix of raw power and transportive aesthetics and human emotion,” Saccenti says.

“I wanted to take the viewer on an emotional journey, as the song does, a visceral, cathartic death and rebirth that will hopefully help transport the listener through whatever their personal struggles are.

“Collaborating with 3D artist Anthony Ciannamea, we tapped into Korn's mythology and explored their vast well of light and darkness to create a surreal, liminal-pace body-horror nightmare.”

Korn's forthcoming album, Requiem, was “conceived out of very different circumstances than the majority of the band's catalogue”, as due to the Covid pandemic, the record was “born of time and the ability to create without pressure”.

2021's been a hell of a year for nu-metal lovers; in the past month alone, we've also seen a new album from Limp Bizkit and a pummelling new single from Slipknot, The Chapeltown Rag.

Requiem arrives February 4 via Loma Vista Recordings. Check out its tracklist below.

1. Forgotten
2. Let the Dark Do the Rest
3. Start the Healing
4. Lost in the Grandeur
5. Disconnect
6. Hopeless and Beaten
7. Penance to Sorrow
8. My Confession
9. Worst Is On Its Way

Korn’s James “Munky” Shaffer recently took the hot seat on Axs TV’s Rock My Collection show – a series that sees artists show off their prized pieces of music memorabilia – to flaunt his pristine-looking Gibson EDS-1275 electric guitar.

Seeing the axe in all its glory was, however, only part of the story. One aspect of Rock My Collection requires guest stars to share their personal acquisition stories, and Shaffer’s own tale – we think you’ll agree – is pretty darn cool.

As it turns out, the guitar is signed by none other than Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page, famed for wielding a double-neck himself, who was introduced to Shaffer while attending a Korn gig way back in 2002. Who knew the rock ‘n’ roll legend was such a big fan of nu-metal?

“I was on tour and I was really getting into [Led Zeppelin’s album] Physical Graffiti,” began Shaffer. “There was a song where I was like, ‘I’ve got to learn how to play that song.’ And so I wanted a double-neck guitar.

"And we had a tour manager called Eric Barrett – an English guy. We are going through London and he’s like, ‘Guess what? I have a guest, you’re never going to believe it, coming to the show.’ ‘Okay, who’s it going to be?’ He’s like, ‘Jimmy Page is going to fucking come to the show.’

“I was like, ‘Come on, really?’ He knows him. They’re friends.”

Shaffer then showed off his Jimmy Page-signed double-neck, which sports scrawls on the rears of the both headstocks. While the upper 12-string head reads, “James, keeping up the good work!” the six-string head features the date – 7/09/02 – and Page’s signature.

Out of all the guitarists to wield the revered Gibson EDS-1275, Jimmy Page is arguably the most famous of them all. 

After recording Stairway To Heaven using a Harmony acoustic guitar, a Fender Telecaster and a Fender electric 12-string, the Led Zep man specially donned the double-neck for live renditions of the track, and soon become synonymous with the EDS-1275.

Slash was another big-name Gibson double-neck-wielder, and picked up an Ebony model for Guns N’ Roses Use Your Illusions tour in the early ‘90s.

Elsewhere in the interview, which was filmed prior to Korn's current tour, Shaffer spoke about hitting the road once again, saying, “I live for that. I don’t drink or do drugs anymore – that is my drug, being in front of an audience and feeling that connection between the band and the synergy. 

“That’s my drug, the adrenaline, and I’m really looking forward to going back on the road,” he added. “I’m sure people are really excited to see live shows again."

Rock My Collection – hosted by the head of Frank Zappa's estate Ahmet Zappa – is on every Sunday at 8/7c, and sees expert appraiser Stephen Braitman evaluate and appraise a catalog of unique instruments.

Said instruments are then placed up for auction on Gotta Have Rock And Roll, which has partnered with AXS TV for an interactive viewer experience.

Having said that, Shaffer's Jimmy Page-signed Gibson EDS-1275 isn't currently available for auction. To be fair, we don't blame him for wanting to hold on to it. We wouldn't want to part ways with it, either.

To find out more, visit Rock My Collection.

Korn have played their first show with new bassist, Ra Díaz of Suicidal Tendencies, who is currently filling in for founding bass player Fieldy. 

Appearing at Upheaval Festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Díaz made his live debut after rehearsing with the group for the past month. 

The move followed an announcement from the group’s regular bass player, Fieldy, that he would be sitting out the group’s summer tour.

“It's been suggested to me to take some time off to heal. I'm going to respect what was asked of me and take that time,” said Fieldy, in an Instagram post in June. “Unfortunately, you will not see me on stage with my band. I will be working towards getting the bad habits out of my system.”

Various videos have cropped up on social media documenting Díaz’s first gig with the group, including clips of the tracks Falling Away From Me and Freak On A Leash.

Korn will soon kick off a tour of the US with Staind, playing dates across the country from August 5 to September 23, 2021.

After the short-lived Suspect208 announced their breakup in May this year, Noah Weiland, son of Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, and Tye Trujillo, son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, have unveiled their new venture Blu Weekend.

The band, which also features guitarist Anthony Laurie and drummer Jackson Morris, have yet to release any music, but have detailed their forthcoming material in a new interview.

Ahead of their performance at the iHollywood Film Festival for the premiere of Charvel documentary The Original Charvel Gang last weekend, Trujillo was asked by The Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show how the act would differ from their previous band.

“I guess we have more of a punk vibe,” Trujillo responds. “What we’re gonna play tonight is gonna be more of a punk vibe to it. ‘Cause, we’re gonna play a song called Shark Attack, playing one of Noah’s old songs. So, it should be pretty fun.”

During the interview, Trujillo was also asked whether he will once again fill in for Korn bassist Fieldy, who last month announced he will be sitting out the band's forthcoming summer US tour.

“Well, I mean I'm ready,” Trujillo says. “I mean, I know the songs from a while back, so you know, I have my experience playing, and if they're interested, then I'm obviously more than down to go play with them.”

Supergroup Suspect208 also featured drummer London Hudson, son of Guns N’ Roses guitar legend Slash, alongside guitarist Niko Tsangaris. However, the band decided to part ways with Weiland due to issues with substance abuse. 

“We were really close to him, and it is the last thing we would’ve ever wanted to do,” the group said in a statement. “But it had to be done for his safety, as well as the longevity of the band. This decision was made by the band because it was the last thing we could do to keep going.” 

The remaining members later replaced Weiland with singer Cody Houston until they broke up entirely.

In an interview with Wall of Sound, Tsangaris explains that they “decided to end it because Tye [Trujillo] left and Cody [Houston] left to be a dad and we didn’t want to keep dividing up our fan base by getting new people”.

This led to the guitarist and Hudson forming their own new project called S8nt Elektric, who released My Eyes at the end of April.

Korn bassist Fieldy is to sit out the band's upcoming summer US tour in order to work on dealing with “bad habits”.

Taking to social media yesterday, the 51-year-old bassist – real name Reginald Arvizu – explained the decision, saying he didn't want to “bring any tension or bad vibes” to the band.

“To all Korn fans worldwide,” the statement reads. “The past six years I've been dealing with some personal issues that at times have caused me to fall back on some of my bad habits and has caused some tension with the people around. It's been suggested to me to take some time off to heal. I'm going to respect what was asked of me and take that time. 

“Unfortunately, you will not see me on stage with my band. I will be working towards getting the bad habits out of my system. In the meantime, I will be staying creative to keep my mind and soul in a good place.

“I'm thankful for all of your support, patience and understanding as we all have something that we deal with.”

This isn't the first time Fieldy has missed tour dates with Korn. Back in 2017, Tye Trujillo, the then-12-year-old son of Metallica's Robert Trujillo, filled in for the bassist on a South America tour after he couldn't appear due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

Korn's upcoming US tour is set to commence August 5 at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, and close September 21 at the Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas, Texas.

Alice in Chains were honored with a Founders Award from Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture on December 1 with a virtual celebration that featured tribute performances and accolades from Metallica, Korn, Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney, Mastodon, Krist Novoselic, Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson and many others.

The Seattle-based non-profit museum, dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary pop culture, held the event virtually for the first time. You can watch the full award ceremony, complete with performances, above.

The celebration was highlighted by a performance from Alice in Chains and a one-off supergroup jam featuring Corey Taylor, Taylor Hawkins, Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney covering Man in the Box.

Additionally, Metallica delivered a semi-acoustic performance of Alice in Chains’ 1992 hit, Would?, which you can watch below.

“Hey Alice in Chains, hey buddies, congratulations on the Mopar Auto band of the year award,” joked front man James Hetfield after the performance. “Just kidding. Congratulations on the MoPOP Founder’s Award. We’re glad to be a part of your journey in life.”

Other highlights from the evening included remaining Soundgarden members performing Angry Chair with Mike McCready, Billy Corgan tackling an acoustic version of Check My Brain, as well as Lily Cornell Silver, daughter of Chris Cornell and AIC manager Susan Silver, singing Black Gives Way to Blue.

MoPOP has also announced the release of MoPOP Founders Award Honoring Alice In Chains: A Benefit for the Museum of Pop Culture, a brand-new Amazon Originals compilation.

Available for streaming only on Amazon Music, the compilation features highlights from the event, including Mastodon’s cover of Again, City and Colour’s take on Rain When I Die, covers of Would? by Korn and Metallica, the Man in the Box jam, Alice in Chains’ performances of Your Decision and No Excuses and more.

The Founders Award event serves as the nonprofit museum’s principal annual fundraiser for youth development programs, access initiatives, community engagement, and world-class exhibitions. So far the celebration has raised more than $600,000 and counting, attracting more than 275,000 views online throughout the evening.

Said Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, “It feels truly special to receive the MoPOP Founders Award in our hometown of Seattle. It’s also humbling to be joined by so many of our friends, peers and heroes to rock some AIC tunes. I hope people watching enjoy the show as much as we did putting it together.

“A big hearty thanks to everyone who participated in making this virtual thing happen during these strange times. Music has the power to unite, heal and inspire. It is all of ours. Let’s continue to create and celebrate that which feeds the soul. Rawk on!”

Listeners can access the compilation album by asking, “Alexa, play the MoPOP Founders Award album” in the Amazon app for iOS and Android and on Alexa-enabled devices.

The full show is available to view on MoPOP’s YouTube channel and contributions to support the museum’s exhibitions, programs, and educational work can still be made at www.MoPOP.org/FoundersDonation. 

You can check out the full tracklist below.

1. Your Decision - Alice In Chains
2. Rooster - Ann Wilson
3. Down in a Hole - Duff McKagan, Shooter Jennings, Ayron Jones, Martin Feveyear
4. Would? – Korn
5. Rain When I Die - City and Colour
6. Put You Down - Liv Warfield
7. Again - Mastodon
8. Black Gives Way to Blue - Lily Cornell Silver with Chris Degarmo
9. Nutshell - Mark Lanegan, Maggie Bjorklund
10. Man in the Box - Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins, Corey Taylor, Chris Chaney
11. No Excuses - Alice In Chains
12. Heaven Beside You - Aryon Jones
13. Check My Brain - Billy Corgan
14. Them Bones - Fishbone
15. Drone - Kim Thayil with Krist Novoselic, Giants in the Trees
16. Brother - Nancy Wilson, Mark Lanegan and Liv Warfield
17. Angry Chair - Members of Soundgarden with Tad Doyle, Mike McCready and Meagan Grandall
18. Black Gives Way to Blue - Eric & Encarnación
19. It Ain’t Like That - Kim Thayil with Shaina Shepherd, Bubba Dupree, Bill Herzog, Nathan Yaccino

Korn have revealed a reimagined cover of Charlie Daniels' country hit The Devil Went Down to Georgia, featuring US rapper Yelawolf.

With the California nu-metallers' hallmark drop-tuned guitars as a backdrop, the two vocalists take on the roles of The Devil and Johnny to tell the tale.

"Charlie left a musical legacy that goes beyond just one genre, and we want to honor his talent and influence with our own rendition of his song," Korn said of their nu-metal arrangement.

"I've always said it, but country music is some of the darkest ever," Korn frontman Jonathan Davis said in a press statement. "Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and, of course, Charlie Daniels all turned pain into some really powerful music that sounded alive. The Devil Went Down To Georgia is a classic story, and we wanted to release it now to help others in need."

The track is available for purchase via Bandcamp, upon which all proceeds will be donated to Awakening Youth, a nonprofit that helps young people deal with the loss of a parent due to divorce, addiction, death, being surrendered for adoption and more.

You can listen to the cover below.

There's something particularly satisfying about plugging in a 7-string guitar and riffing out in between the traditional ranges of the guitar and bass.

A lot of great music has been made on seven-string guitars over the past three decades or so since Ibanez released the Universe at Steve Vai's behest. During the first era of the seven-string, Vai was pretty much the only guy exploring the instrument's potential. It fell out of favor until the mid- to late '90s, when a bunch of guys picked up secondhand Universes and built their sound around the lowest string.

Then detuning a regular six became all the rage and everyone forgot about the seven for a while. And now it's back. There's a lot of history behind the seven-string now, and here are a few of our personal favorites. 

1. Steve Vai - I Would Love To

There are other Steve Vai songs that make use of the 7-string, sometimes quite obviously (The Audience Is Listening, The Riddle, Ya-Yo Gakk) and sometimes quite subtly (For the Love of God; listen really closely to see if you can spot where Vai lands on the low B).

But I Would Love To was the most radio-friendly, MTV-visible track from his breakthrough solo album Passion And Warfare, and the song makes a great case for the seven-string's use as a wide range guitar, rather than just an excuse to play really, really low notes.

2. Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons

Much like I Would Love To, John Petrucci's work on A Change of Seasons is a great example of how to use the 7-string guitar to play things you couldn't play on either a regular six-string guitar in standard tuning or on a baritone. 

He zips all around the neck, making full use of the 7-string's range in clean and distorted settings, on supportive rhythms, blindingly intricate passages, wailing solos and crushing riffs. Yet at no point does the choice of instrument distract from the song itself.

3. Strapping Young Lad - Skeksis

Oh, so standard 7-string tuning's not low enough for you? How about Devin Townsend's GCGCGCE tuning? You can hear this used to great and guttural effect on Skeksis from Strapping Young Lad's Alien album. 

Progressive, exhilarating, intense and ridiculously heavy, the sheer technicality of this song foreshadowed the djent movement. I'm sure I can hear this song's influence when I listen to Periphery's Misha Mansoor.

4. Fear Factory - Descent

Fear Factory's Dino Cazares was an early pioneer of applying low tunings to thrash-influenced metal, but by the late '90s he was going the other way, using 7-string guitars to increase his range upwards rather than downwards. A perfect example is Descent from Obsolete, where Dino combines a low bassline with higher arpeggios. 

The riff itself isn't too tricky from a technical perspective, but it served as a timely reminder to guitarists of the era that there was much more to be done with a seven than just low riffage.

5. Joe Satriani - Hands in the Air

Satch isn't the first guy who comes to mind when you think of 7-string guitars, but he gets a pass on this list, thanks to the riff in Hands In The Air, one of the most fun riffs you'll ever play for an hour straight. Or maybe that's just me. Joe has had other 7-string songs over the years, including one called - get this - Seven String.

6. Korn - Freak On a Leash

Korn kickstarted the second wave of 7-string use in the '90s, and they inspired a lot of less-creative copycats who just ran with the low-end aspect of what the band were known for, but the interplay between guitarists Head and Munky on Freak on a Leash offers a great lesson in a more atmospheric use of the 7-string. 

Creepy high melodies and muddled low chords build tension, then the chorus riff shifts and snakes in a really unique way before the creep sets in again.

7. Jeff Loomis - Jato Unit

Loomis's 7-string skills are put to great use on this monster. Big octave melody lines, low palm-muted riffage, wide arpeggios, whammy bar dives, syncopated rhythms - this one is a great song to sharpen your skills, and, if you're a proficient six-string player making the transition to seven for the first time, it's a great one to cut your teeth on. Make it to the end and you can truly call yourself a 7-string guitarist.

"Man, we’ve made so many albums I can’t keep up any more. This October was 25 years since the first album came out. Back then, you think you’re unstoppable!" These are the words of Reggie ‘Fieldy’ Arvizu, bassist with Korn, arguably the first nu-metal band – if that term means anything anymore.

The quintet from Bakersfield, California, who are now accurately regarded as pioneers in their field after a quarter of a century and over 40 million album sales, have just released The Nothing, their thirteenth studio album since their debut record appeared in 1994. 

Reminded of these facts, Fieldy displays a refreshing refusal to take his band’s success for granted, marvelling: “It’s surreal. The chances of us making it this far must be almost a one in a million. We’re in disbelief. It’s amazing... I can’t even wrap my head around it.”

Piercing the wall of riffs produced by seven-string guitar-slingers Brian Welch and James Shaffer, Fieldy’s bass tone on The Nothing is instantly recognisable – a clicky, buzzy, clangorous, chiming twang that is unlike that of anyone else, delivered from his signature Ibanez K-5 five-string.

Some people like this tone, millions of Korn fans presumably among them, but others – many of whom are this magazine’s readers and indeed, writers – can’t stand it, regarding it as unrefined or worse.

For this interview, we’ve collated a bunch of pointed questions from our staff and visitors to our social media: it’s time for Fieldy to take the stand and explain exactly what the hell his trademark sound is all about...

You’re in a band with two seven-string guitarists. Is that why your bass tone has so much top end?

"Yes. The band’s sound is so low, I need to know how to cut through and be heard, you know? I want it to be an almost percussion-sounding instrument rather than a bass, because I’m like, ‘If you guys need bass, you can get it from the kick drum’. You can always get enough low end from seven-string guitars and a five‑string bass. We’ve never struggled to have enough low-end with Korn. If you ask me, I have to compromise with too much low-end. That’s why I have that  clicky, clangy, noisy string sound so I can kinda cut through and everything doesn’t get washed out."

Do producers and engineers ever refuse to work with that tone?

"Yeah, for sure. I’ve had it happen a few times, and on those albums, you can clearly hear that there’s no bass on them. But I still step back and I listen to them, because it was kinda necessary – it gave a change of flavour to Korn for a while. They’re still Korn songs; it’s just the bass isn’t my tone, it’s not there. It happened, and it could happen again, who knows? Look at Metallica, for example. I don’t even know if there’s bass on [Metallica’s thin-sounding 1988 album] ...And Justice For All. But was it necessary for the process or the longevity of the ride?"

Your sound is obviously a challenge for producers.

"Oh yeah, it was tough, man, because we were trying to cut through a bunch of low end and the frequencies where we tune down, and to find that happy medium of being heard. It’s challenging for anybody to mix Korn."

Your producer Nick Raskulinecz did a great job on The Nothing, though.

"Nick is hands-on, and there the whole time, encouraging you and helping you. The cool thing is that he’s a bass player too, and so he has an ear for bass. He’ll be like, ‘What if you move over here?’ and ‘What if you move the timing just a little quicker so you can go over here?’ and things like that. Tiny, slight changes that are huge. You’ve got to be willing for a producer to give you a slight change in your riff or your style, or to suggest a slight movement change that is a game-changer."

Do you require multiple takes to record the bass?

"Honestly, when I work with the producers over the last 450 million Korn albums that we’ve put out, the stereotype for the most part is that I say, ‘You have to tell me what you want.’ Basically, they all want four takes, even if the first one went down perfectly. I’ll lay down the first one and say ‘Is that good, or do you want me to do it again?’ and they’ll be like ‘Give me one more’, and I’ll say ‘Okay.’

"So I’ll do that and I’ll go ‘Is that one good?’, and they’ll say ‘Let’s do it again’, and I’ll keep going until four or five are done. I kinda do what I do, and I’m just being me.

You once said that a bassist’s picking hand is much more important than the fretting hand. Can you explain that for us?

"I think that hand becomes the main character of what you bounce to and what you’re listening to. Both hands have got to go together, of course, but if your right hand is super comfortable in a style and in a rhythm, that becomes your percussion hand, kind of like your drummer hand. The other one is more your feel: when and where you move the note. At the end of the day there’s three or four notes that people use, but it’s not how you use them, it’s when you move to them."

Do you still record with two amps, one for high frequencies and one for lows?

"My advice to people would be to record with a DI, a low, a high, analogue, through Pro-Tools – have it all. You can take this or that out, but you’ll have it all, and in the studio we do use it all. The studio is a whole different game to playing live."

Would you say you are a more or less ‘busy’ player these days?

"I would say that I play both more and less on this album. When I’m actually playing with the guitar players, I’m playing more, but when there’s parts where I’m shining, I’m playing less. I’m really working on playing that swings, you know. It makes your head bounce if you choose the right notes, and that’s really the backbone.

"If you’re ripping out some bass scale or something, it makes your head stop bobbing. I want to find a good groove, but that’s not easy to do. I’ve been working on that, because it’s out of my comfort zone, and out of my pocket, but I know my ear wants that bounce."

What basses do you use in the studio? 

"It’s the craziest thing. Back in the day I had my original Ibanez K-5 with a wood finish. It was the first one they came out with: we wrote ‘Number 1’ on the back of it because it was the first recording bass we used. I think I’ve used that same bass on at least 10 Korn albums, because it sounds better than all of my other basses. 

"There’s something about that bass, maybe the way the wood has settled over the years. We try all the other basses and we always come back to that one. That’s a stay-in-the-studio bass, I never take it out on the road. Some day there might be a bass that sounds better than that one, but this one always seems to be the go-to."

Did your 15-string bass make an appearance this time?

"Nah. I tried it, but it was more like a gag-type bass. On my solo bass album [Bassically, 2017] I played two or three songs on the 15-string, and it sounds cool, but if I was to do that now it would be taking over a guitar part. I’m hoping to do it, but it’s really hard to play."

Presumably that bass requires a pick, as it’s made up of five three-string courses?

"It’s not the picking hand that’s difficult – it’s holding all the strings down. I don’t know if anybody else has a 15-string bass, but those are thin little strings when you’re playing high. You end up playing a little bit behind the beat because you’re holding down all those strings, too."

Are you on in-ears, live?

"No, I wear earplugs, because I don’t really like low-end and I don’t like loud music. Everybody laughs about that. I happen to be in a metal band, and a metal band that loves a lot of low-end. So there’s my Murphy’s Law, right there."

How do you achieve your tone?

"When I came across the K-5 bass, and I plugged that thing in, I just liked the way it sounded. And then, back in the day, when I came across the amplifiers, it didn’t matter what kind they were – but when I came across 4x10 cabinets with a horn in the middle, they enhanced the active pickups in my bass and gave me that hot sound. All that combined together gives you that sound that I have. 

"I stumbled across it. When I saw the cab with the horn in the middle, I said ‘Okay, turn that thing on 10’. In the early days it would drive the producer nuts, because he tried mic-ing up the cab, but that wasn’t my tone. I’d go ‘Here!’, put the microphone right on the horn and say ‘There we go! That’s my tone’, ha ha!"

So how do you get that sound when you play live?

"Live, I’m running 8x10s with the horn in the centre of each cab, but they’re just for the sound on stage. My sound guy takes most of the signal from the DI box and adds a little bit of my amp. He knows what my tones are and he’ll recreate them, instead of trying to keep my sound from the stage. There’s so much noise from the drums and the vocals and the guitars that it’s going to be impossible to get that sound from my amp. I trust my sound guy – he knows my bass tones."

What amps do you use?

"I’m basically back to Mesa/Boogie. Over the years I’ve tried so many things, but I always end up back with the same old gear. I’m at least trying to get to use the new Mesa/Boogies, because I think they sound a little better, but you know, everyone has got to like it."

Do you remember your first ever bass?

"It was a black Ibanez Soundgear four-string, when I was 17. I worked in a hot shed all summer long in Bakersfield and bought it. I’ve never played any other kind of bass – I’ve tried them and they don’t feel right for me. I’m always open-minded and I’ve tried a lot of other basses, but there’s something about the Ibanez that just fits for me."

Was it love at first sight?

"Yes, it was just accidental. I saw it hanging on the wall and it was the perfect size. It was a little bit smaller than all the other basses, which I liked because I was a guitar player first and all the other basses looked massive. So I played the Ibanez and asked the guy ‘Why does it sound like this?’ and he said, ‘Well, because it has a battery in the back.’ I said ‘I gotta have this’ and that was it."

Which bassists did you admire when you were younger?

"For years, Flea was one of my favourite bass players, and still is. I couldn’t even try to play like that. Les Claypool too, he’s just mind-blowing, and when I was younger, I was listening to a lot of Stanley Clarke. There’s always been a small handful of bass players that really blew my mind.

"The chemistry of the way that Bill Gould plays bass in Faith No More is incredible. He and I kind of play the same, but he plays on-beat and with a pick most of the time, even though it sounds like he’s slapping. As much as I practise, I can’t play like that."

You embraced Christianity a few years ago. Does that affect the way you look at bass?

"No, because we’re not making worship music. It has nothing to do with my playing. That’s about how I changed my life. I can’t change Korn. That’s like Alice Cooper becoming a Christian, if he ever says ‘I can’t be Alice Cooper any more’, no-one’s gonna go see him play. It’s a heart change. If anything it’s made me want to play with more integrity and do my job even better. It’s actually bettered me into wanting to give my all."

You have a unique sound, which is an achievement. Most of us couldn’t say the same.

"Well... I’m not really good with compliments. I just don’t believe them. When people say nice things about my bass playing, I’m like, ‘Really?’ I don’t know, I don’t think much of myself. I think I just do what I do. Maybe it’s because I [admire] Flea and Les Claypool and Stanley Clarke that I say ‘You’re saying that about me?’ I can’t even try to do what they do."

What I meant was you sound like you, and no-one else.

"Yeah. That’s one thing I do understand. I don’t have to be that good, but somebody can go ‘That’s Fieldy from Korn playing bass’ which is the best way to be. If someone can hear your style and know it’s you, that I can understand. If I’ve developed a style that is recognisable, that’s really cool."

Thanks for the interview, Fieldy. It’s great to have you on our cover again.

"I’m honoured, man. I can’t wait. It’s very humbling and it’s very appreciated. Like I said, I don’t believe it.

"The last tour we did with Alice In Chains, I was blown away. I used to listen to them when I was a kid, and now I’m on tour with them. I’m walking down a hallway with Jerry Cantrell and he’s saying hi to me. It’s weird! And we were in Brazil and Kirk Hammett of Metallica walks past me and says ‘Hi Fieldy.’ In high school I used to write ‘Metallica’ on my folders, and now we’ve toured with them. It’s like a dream I haven’t been able to wrap my head around. Maybe I will in another 20 years..."

• The Nothing is out now on Roadrunner Records, and available from Amazon.

A new Korn album isn't all that the band's guitarist, Brian 'Head' Welch, has in the works.

Welch recently teamed up with German manufacturer Richter to release a signature guitar strap. With a design based on that of the Richter Springbreak I series, the Brian 'Head' Welch signature strap is available now for the eye-popping price tag of $130. 

The strap is crafted from a special nappa leather and features the 'Sir Headly' logo at the back area.

For that price, will it also get you some mid-'90s-defining seven-string riffage? That remains to be seen...

Richter Straps is also the company behind signature straps for Rammstein, Scorpions, Brent Hinds and Matt Heafy's infamous double-strap design.

For more info, head on over to richterstraps.com.

Korn have shared a new song, "Cold," from their forthcoming album, The Nothing. You can check out the visualizer clip above.

Set for a September 13 release via Roadrunner Records/Elektra, The Nothing was produced by Grammy Award-winner Nick Raskulinecz. In June, the band issued the first single from the album, “You’ll Never Find Me.” 

You can pre-order The Nothing—the follow-up to 2016's The Serenity of Suffering—right here.

Korn have announced a new album, The Nothing. 

Set for a September 13 release via Roadrunner Records/Elektra, The Nothing was produced by Grammy Award-winner Nick Raskulinecz.

You can preorder the album—the follow-up to 2016's The Serenity of Suffering—right here and check out its first single, “You’ll Never Find Me,” below.

“Deep within our Earth lives an extraordinary force," Korn frontman Jonathan Davis said in a press release. "Very few are aware of the magnitude and significance of this place where good/evil, dark/light, bliss/torment, loss/gain and hope/despair all exist as one—pulling at us every moment of our lives. It’s not something we can choose to navigate, but rather an awareness of this ‘presence’ that surrounds us with every breath, as if we are being watched at every moment. 

"It’s the place where black and white energies attach themselves to our souls, and shape our emotion, choices, perspective and ultimately our very existence. There is a miraculous and small realm within this vortex and it’s the only place where balance between these dynamic and polarizing forces exists—where the soul finds its refuge. Welcome to The Nothing."

You can check out the album art and tracklist for The Nothing below. To check out the band's upcoming tour dates with Alice in Chains, step right this way.

For more on Korn, head on over to kornofficial.com.

Korn—The Nothing

1. The End Begins 

2. Cold

3. You’ll Never Find Me

4. The Darkness is Revealing

5. Idiosyncrasy

6. The Seduction Of Indulgence 

7. Finally Free

8. Can You Hear Me

9. The Ringmaster

10. Gravity Of Discomfort

11. H@rd3r

12. This Loss

13. Surrender To Failure

Korn and Alice in Chains have announced a joint North American summer amphitheater tour, kicking off July 18th in Del Valle, Texas. Underoath will serve as the trek’s special guest, with Ho99o9 and FEVER 333 opening on select dates.

Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, March 1 at 10am local time at LiveNation.com.

Korn are currently in the studio finishing up work on the follow-up to 2016’s The Serenity of Suffering. Alice in Chains are touring behind their 2018 album, Rainier Fog.

Last year, Alice in Chains guitarist and co-vocalist Jerry Cantrell spoke to Guitar World about recording Rainier Fog at Studio X in Seattle, where the band had worked in the Nineties.

“It was Heart’s studio, Bad Animals, at the time we used it [to record 1995’s Alice in Chains],” Cantrell said. “And you know, it’s basically the same as it was. These days, a lot of recording stuff is getting kind of left to the wayside because people just record on their fucking computers at home. So a real analog studio with all the cool gear — that doesn’t get used that much. Studio X, they basically use it for orchestras and video games and movie soundtrack-type stuff now. There’s not a whole lot of rock bands there anymore.

“And you can see that in pretty much any studio you go into nowadays. You walk into Henson [Recording Studios in L.A.] and the hallway is just lined with Studer tape machines that are useless now because nobody records with them. So when we rolled into Studio X, that place hadn’t really been rocked out in a while. And we like to fuck around with everything that’s in there. We actually had to shut down for a couple days and have them go through the board and get everything tuned up.”

You can check out the full Korn/Alice in Chains tour itinerary below.

Korn/Alice in Chains U.S. tour 2019:

Jul. 18 - Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheater*
Jul. 20 The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman^
Jul. 21- Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion*
Jul. 23 - Birmingham, AL @ Oak Mountain Amphitheatre*
Jul. 25 - Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre*
Jul. 26 - Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena*
Jul. 28 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Coral Sky Amphitheatre at the S. Florida Fairgrounds*
Jul. 30 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach*
Jul. 31 - Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live*
Aug. 02 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater*
Aug. 03 - Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion^
Aug. 06 - Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater*
Aug. 07 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center*
Aug. 09 - Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center^
Aug. 10 - Hartford, CT @ XFINITY Theatre*
Aug. 11 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center*
Aug. 13 - Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre*
Aug. 14 - Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage*
Aug. 16 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center*
Aug. 17 - Burgettstown, PA @ KeyBank Pavilion+
Aug. 18 - Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center+
Aug. 20 - Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center+
Aug. 21 - Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre+
Aug. 23 - Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre+
Aug. 25 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center+
Aug. 27 - Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheatre+
Aug. 30 - Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre presented by Mercury Insurance+
Aug. 31 - Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion+
Sep. 02 - Chula Vista, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre+
Sep. 04 - Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre+

* with Ho99o9
+ with Fever 333
^ support to be announced

As we've been reporting of late, bassist Tye Trujillo, the 12-year-old son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, has been touring with Korn in South America for the past few days, filling in for Korn bassist Fieldy—on a purely temporary basis—due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

This past Saturday night in Lima, Peru, however, Robert Trujillo decided to join his son—and Korn, of course—onstage.

You can watch some average-quality, fan-filmed footage at the very bottom of this story, plus some additional closeup footage, courtesy of Ray Luzier's Facebook page.

• The elder Trujillo has been watching his son from the sidelines for the entire tour, and he likes what he's been seeing.

“It’s a beautiful thing, ’cause he’s still a 12-year-old and he still acts wild and crazy, as a 12-year-old should, but when it comes to music, he’s very focused,” the Metallica bassist told GloboPlay. “And with Korn, it’s funny, because I haven’t shown him anything at all for the Korn stuff—I’ve been too busy and I’ve been out of town a lot—and he’s taking this opportunity very serious.”

Korn’s Munky had this to say: “When we go to the shows, he’s got people wanting his picture and his autograph—he’s a little overwhelmed, but he’s handling himself just like his dad, which is cool, collected and modest.”

As we reported here last week, Tye Trujillo, the 12-year-old son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, is filling in for Korn bassist Fieldy during that band’s South American run.

Tye played his first show with Korn on April 17, and you can watch video from it below. The youngster, who plays for a SoCal band called the Helmets, will perform with the group through April 29 (see tour dates below). Fieldy returns May 6 to perform with Korn at Carolina Rebellion.

Korn’s Tour Dates with Tye Trujillo
04/21 - Curitibia, BRA - Live Curitiba
04/23 - Porto Alegre, BRA - Pepsi on Stage
04/25 - Mendoza, ARG - Estadio Malvinas Argentinas
04/27 - Santiago, CHL - Teatro Caupolican
04/29 - Lima, PER - Estadio Nacional de Lima

Over the weekend, Korn announced via Facebook that they'll be touring in South America with a “special guest.”

It turns out the special guest is bassist Tye Trujillo, the 12-year-old son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Tye will be filling in—temporarily, of course—for Korn's regular bassist, Fieldy.

“We are bummed Fieldy can’t join us on this run but excited to do a few gigs with a young player like Tye,” said the band. “We look forward to welcoming our brother Fieldy back when we return to the States in May.”

Tye plays for a SoCal band called the Helmets, and his supportive father has joined him on stage at least once. You can check out a father-and-son jam from May 2016 below.

"With this band, it’s just a big giant happy accident,” George Lynch says. “It feels good. It feels right. And it works.”

The guitarist is discussing KXM, his project with singer-bassist dUg Pinnick (King’s X) and drummer Ray Luzier (Korn), who have just released their sophomore effort, Scatterbrain.

The album is a wild and rollicking ride, from the frenzied, head-snapping intensity of the title track, to the grinding groove of “Breakout” to the dark psychedelia of “Noises in the Sky.” And throughout, Lynch dazzles with the type of six-string pyrotechnics that first established him as a guitar hero with Dokken and that he has continued to espouse with his own Lynch Mob.

After a day in the studio, the guitarist took some time to chat with Guitar World about the making of Scatterbrain, how he approached his guitar parts and KXM’s unique writing and recording process. He also offered some thoughts on his brief reunion with Dokken a few months back, and what the future—if there is one at all—might hold for that version of the band.

How did Scatterbrain come together?
It came together entirely in the studio. The whole concept of KXM is that we create everything on the spot. No preconceived ideas are allowed. Ray [Luzier] is pretty much the songwriting police about that. He can almost sense when you’re bringing in something you sort of already had in your back pocket. He’ll disallow that and he’ll force you to move on by changing it all up. He’ll change the beat on you. [laughs] So our product is improvisation.

How long did it take to put the album together?
Well, Ray lives in Nashville, Doug was in Texas at the time and I’m here in LA. We hadn’t seen each other in quite a while, so we booked a studio in North Hollywood and we just got to work. We spent 12 days on this one, which is two more days than we spent on the last record! That obviously doesn’t include mixing and vocals and all that—after 12 days we didn’t walk out with a finished product. But we did walk out with finished songs.

What do you like about working with Doug and Ray?

Nothing! They’re just bad people. [laughs] You know, it seems like we’re all searching for that perfect gig. Working in any field, you have the problem boss or the person you don’t get along with or the company that isn’t built on the right foundation. There’s always an issue. But with this project it seems like without thinking about it too hard everything just works. And I’m not even going to question why. It’s like, sometimes you build a guitar or you buy a guitar and it’s made of all the wrong stuff, and on paper it shouldn’t sound good or play good. But for some reason it’s the world’s greatest sounding and playing guitar! [laughs]

With this band, I really don’t dissect why it works. I just trust that it works. And for me personally, my biggest obstacle is just getting out of my own way and allowing the chemistry between the three of us to take over. When I go in there I’ll sometimes think too hard about what I’m trying to do. But with this record I consciously tried to flip that switch off. Not that I didn’t want to be thinking—I just didn’t want to force the flow of the ideas. It’s an interesting distinction.

Given the way you guys work, I assume that your leads are for the most part all improvised?
Yeah. What would usually happen was that we’d been hitting it for six or seven hours and the guys would go to take a break. And then it was, “Okay, well, we’ve got the mics on the guitars already, I’ll go into the control room and just go for it.” And then I’d develop ideas while I was in there.

What was your main guitar setup?

I was all over the map. I had an arsenal of guitars in there, for sure. I definitely used my ESP Tele [style guitar] quite a bit. It gets that spank. I love using a Tele in a rock context along with something else. So for tracking, for instance, I’d use the Tele along with a Les Paul. Or alternatively I’d use, like, an ESP Strat-style guitar with, let’s say, my ESP Super V, which is all mahogany, Gibson scale, PAF pickups. It’s that low/mid Les Paul chunk. Combining those two creates sort of a signature kind of sound that fills the whole spectrum, with just two guitars.

There’s a lot of great guitar playing on this record. In particular on the title track. Can you talk about that one?
“Scatterbrain,” it was real interesting because the whole thing was done with a guitar in drop D for the main riff, and then when I went to the verses I switched to an alternate tuning. I had a sort of interesting chord thing that I was playing when we were tracking it all together, but I couldn’t remember the fingering. So when I went in to do overdubs I took another guitar and tuned it to that chord and then played it. It was just some bizarre off-the-top-of-my-head tuning. And I still don’t know what it was. I didn’t write it down. If it ever comes to the point where we take this out live it’ll be very challenging to recreate.

And in the very beginning of the song I use a Whammy pedal. It was just something I was screwing around with. I was doing this octave sweep thing where it was the opposite of what I was doing on the guitar. So it was kind of crossing from low to high. It was an interesting sound so we used it to start the song. So there’s all kinds of different flavors going on on this record. I wanted to make it very interesting for guitar players and guys who appreciate that stuff.

So people might hear something and wonder, “How did he create that sound?” Because I love that about records. My old records, when I was a kid, I’d listen to them and be like, “How did he do that?” “What did he use?” I mean, I could never figure out how Hendrix got the seagull sound on Electric Ladyland. Like, “How the hell…” I thought it was wah wah pedal, or that he was rubbing his pick on the tremolo springs on the back of the body. All these different things.

And then when I was in the studio working on the first KXM record, I had my pedal board in front of my amp, and the amp was turned all the way up and all the effects were on. And the pickups and the speakers did this feedback loop thing and it did that exact sound. I had finally figured it out—45 years later or whatever. [laughs]

That’s why this music is good music. You keep discovering new things in it.
[laughs] Yeah. That was a great day when that happened. I was really jumping around. Nobody gave a shit. Like, “What’s the big deal? So you can make seagull sounds!”

You mentioned earlier that some of the music on Scatterbrain would prove challenging to recreate onstage. Is there a chance you guys will actually go out and do some live shows this time?
That’s the million-dollar question. It’s the number one topic in this band. We had some really great offers after the last record to go out and play some really big shows and we couldn’t do it. And we’re in the same boat now in that we’re all real busy, and Ray especially. There’s no way he can go to Korn and say, “Hey, I need three months off to go tour with KXM.” They’d be like, “What? I don’t think so.” But I love Korn. I think ideally if we could go out with Korn that would be the only way we could do it. But you know, that’s probably not gonna happen.

Recently you also reunited with Dokken for a handful shows, which is something else that a lot of people probably would have thought wasn’t going to happen. How did it go?
I’d say overall it was great. But we just got thrown together after 25 years. I mean, when you do something like that you really want to prep hard for it. But we had a couple rehearsals and then we got thrown out there. So there were some rough spots and I think the stress kind of showed on all of us a little bit. But now that we’ve done it once we’re talking about maybe doing something in 2018. And if that happens I think we’ll be a lot more relaxed and have a little more fun with it.

There’s also a new Dokken CD/DVD package in the works?
Yeah, we’re working on it right now. We wrote a new song that’s going to be on the live CD. A studio track. And that’s finished. And we’re doing one or two semi-acoustic versions of a couple of older Dokken songs. “Will the Sun Rise” is one of them. We finished those as well. They came out great. So yeah, that’ll probably be out near the end of the year, so that’ll be nice.

Korn have just released the new video for their track “A Different World,” featuring Slipknot’s Corey Taylor as guest vocalist.

The song is from the band’s forthcoming album, The Serenity of Suffering, which will be released October 21 on Roadrunner. Korn originally released the track September 29.

The new animated video, which takes place inside the mind of a demented man, was conceptualized by Mexican short film director Luis Tellez.

The union of Korn and Taylor occurred after Korn and Slipknot toured together last year. The two groups subsequently released a cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.”

“So that fueled that thing like, ‘Man, we’d love to get him on the record somehow!’ ” Korn drummer Ray Luzier says of Taylor’s guest spot with the band. “And we called him, and the timing just worked out. He flew to Nashville, came to the studio and just killed it. It’s one of my favorite songs on the record, gives me chills every time I hear it.”

Produced by Nick Raskulinecz, The Serenity of Suffering is Korn’s 12th studio album. To pre-order the album, head here.

Wesley Geer has logged time playing guitar in bands like Korn and (hed) p.e., but these days he spends a large portion of his energies focusing on Rock to Recovery, a program that helps those in treatment for drug and alcohol addiction and other afflictions.

The non-profit entity, which Geer founded in 2012, aims to bring music into treatment centers by enabling program participants to form bands, write songs together and even record their work, offering a therapeutic release and an opportunity to channel their energies into a creative pursuit.

This coming Sunday, October 2, Geer will host the first Rock to Recovery fundraiser at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. The event will honor Social Distortion leader Mike Ness, who will be the recipient of the first-ever Rock to Recovery Award, signifying his journey as a musician who has overcome addiction and become a positive role model to others fighting their own substance battles.

The event also will feature music from a band consisting of current and former members of Jane’s Addiction, Billy Idol, Sugar Ray, Korn and others.

Geer took a few minutes to discuss his own past with substance abuse, what led to his founding Rock to Recovery, and the star-studded event at the Fonda, tickets for which can be purchased here.

What's your history with addiction?

After I toured with my first band, (hed) p.e., that band kind of crumbled for a variety of reasons. Addiction was certainly a part of it. I was a musician lost in my addiction, not knowing which way to turn. But I listened to the people who said, “There’s a way out of this hole, and if you do certain things you could have this incredible life.” I listened and I gave them a chance and I tried this life of recovery. I thought music for me was over but it seems like god, the universe, whatever you want to call it, had a different plan in mind and now here I am. Instead of being cast out of music, I’m able to call upon all my friends and the things I created in my past and bring it together for something good. To going from the deepest, darkest hole to this magical place of being able to help people and get all my friends and musicians together, it’s just an incredible feeling. It’s triumphant, it’s fulfilling. It’s hard to believe.

How did Rock to Recovery come together?

It was a few things. I was with Korn, and I had already transitioned out of music once after (hed) p.e. And it was tough, because, you know, I’m a musician. I’m not a like a doctor or something—I don’t have a trade. So, the thing with Korn was, I figured, “Well, this gig’s probably not going to last forever. Nothing ever does.” And I had learned in this new sober lifestyle that instead of it being all about “money, fame, fortune, cars, women, what can I have? More, more, more,” you start learning that life’s about giving back. Life’s about bringing something. And I thought, I could die someday and it would just be, “Oh, yeah, that guy was a guitar player.” I wanted to leave my mark with something bigger than myself that could help people, and that could be around long after I’m gone. So, I started looking for this kind of answer. And I talked to a friend who had gone to rehab and he said he had done some music as a group. From there, Rock to Recovery just kind of came to me. Instead of being like, “This is so screwed—I’m sober and I’m a musician and I can’t be a musician and be sober,” I decided to turn it into a positive.

What was your experience in treatment like?

I remember when I was in treatment, there was no music, but I had my guitar. And the guitar, the drugs had made it have no value. Because that’s what happens, you get into your addiction and all the stuff you love, you just don’t care anymore. You’re just so bummed. Family, guitar, whatever you love, you don’t care about it anymore. But when I came into my new days of sobriety, all of a sudden the simplest chord would just soothe my soul and then we’d write these songs and would goof around. Because you go to rehab, and it’s 20 guys. It’s clique-y, you don’t like that guy, you like that guy, your case manager is annoying, you’re emotional, you’re bummed out, it’s very awkward. But we’d write these silly songs and all of a sudden the whole community would come together and we’d just start laughing.

We’d forget personalities and join together over music, as cheesy as that sounds. So that’s kind of where it came from. I was like, “I want to bring that experience into treatment centers because I know how much it helped us and helped me.” I didn’t really know how it would work or if it would work. I was just kind of desperate. But I talked to the universe and said, “Look, I’m a sober-drug-addict-alcoholic, and I’m a musician.” I kind of felt this was my destiny to be this person. So, instead of being bummed about it, I was like, “God, universe, how can I help people with who I am and make a living?”

How does Rock to Recovery work?

We are designed to integrate with treatment programs. At this point, we are not freestanding. So, if somebody was going to go into a treatment program, like a rehab or Wounded Warrior or something like that, we’re part of the treatment curriculum for over 60 different programs. So you would find us embedded in their treatment plan. We donate services also to a lot of state-funded places and non-profit organizations that would never get to experience our services. We’re even starting to work with the Boys & Girls Club of America, the Salvation Army, organizations like that.

What is your objective with the event at the Fonda?

The whole point of the event is to raise funds and awareness, so we can grow this program. I think for everybody, they’re like, “I’m not a musician, I can’t do this! And then they come out the other side saying, “Wow! I can do this!” There is joy and it kind of gets you to believe in the magic, if you will. That it’s not all doom and gloom. There’s a way out and I think it provides for people. Because the guys that do these sessions are all sober dudes who have overcome their dark days. So, I think it comes at people in a few ways. It gives them hope, it gives them self esteem. It gets them connected and pulls them out of that isolation.

Mike Ness of Social Distortion will be receiving the program’s first ever Rock to Recovery Award. Can you shed some light on Mike’s battle with addiction and what led in the decision to choose him as the program’s first official honoree?

Well, I would never speak to somebody else’s addiction. That’s not appropriate and just not my place. I can only say that usually, for us—people who battle addiction—it’s very much the same. Some of the scenarios may change, or maybe we use different substances. But there’s basically a loss of control. You’re putting your life in danger. You’re hurting the people around you. You have a deadly disease, if you will, that can be very difficult to overcome. And if you also add in the fact that, in Mike’s case, this is a guy who’s in the music world—not only just in it, but an iconic leader, the singer of his band—that makes it even more difficult, because it’s a lifestyle that’s all around. To make that transition in an industry that’s rife with drugs, alcohol and debauchery is really a statement of hope that it can be done.

And it can be done with dignity and class, and it can be done if you’re a punk or a rock n’ roll star. So that is the message of Rock to Recovery, and that’s why we wanted to honor him. Because along with that, along with overcoming all of the bad stuff, all the damage and all the hurt, when you get into recovery, now you have a guy like Mike who’s helping people. A guy who’s a beacon of hope and who shows that you can beat this demon.

The All-Star Jam will feature guys like Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, Steve Stevens, Billy Morrison and Erik Eldenius from Billy Idol’s band, Franky Perez from Apocalyptica and Chris Chaney from Jane’s Addiction. What led to them getting involved?

Well they’re not all guys battling addiction. Some are, some aren’t. Rock to Recovery isn’t only about helping addicts. We help Wounded Warriors who maybe drink, but have to overcome PTSD or TBI [traumatic brain injury] or suicidal ideation. We help at-risk youth. So we do work mostly on addiction, but we’re really implementing music in the areas where we can help people with it, which we found are mental health, depression and anxiety. So the guys here have donated their time to come out and play in support of the cause, which is great. We can reunite the sober world, the normal people world, whatever, and together join forces against these disorders, which really are all mental disorders. So what they’re doing is supporting us and donating their musicianship and their time to this cause, which is to take away the mystique of it all, shed more light on it and give more opportunity to help people that need it through our program.

Are there any other artists within the rock community that have donated to Rock to Recovery?

I consider someone’s time, or when an artist plays for free, a donation. So, all of the artists that you see on the bill have made a donation of sorts. And there are others. Jaime Pressly, an Emmy-winning actress, is super into this cause in supporting us. We’ve got Scott Holiday from Rival Sons. We’ve got Jason Wahler, who was on The Hills and Laguna Beach, who’s been a huge support. Tony Alva, the famous skater. McKenzie Westmore, the actress. Chester Bennington has been supportive of our organization. And we’ve got Mike Ness, who’s coming down and supporting us. That’s a big deal, you know? Because you don’t have to be open about this stuff. People can keep it private.

For those reading this article and are currently battling addiction, what message does Rock to Recovery have for them?

That you don’t have to do it alone. That alone, it’s very hard to overcome this stuff. But you don’t have to be ashamed. You just have to open your mouth and tell people that you need help. Together, we can totally overcome any challenges, whatever they are. There’s always a way out. There’s always someone who’s had it worse than you and who made it out to have an amazing life. So you don’t have to be afraid to say, “I need help.”

Korn have just released their new track, “A Different World,” featuring Slipknot's Corey Taylor as guest vocalist.

The song is a premiere from the band’s forthcoming album, The Serenity of Suffering, which will be released October 21 on Roadrunner.

Drummer Ray Luzier explained that the union happened after Korn and Slipknot toured together last year.

“Of course, we’re huge Slipknot fans, and Slipknot always said that if it wasn’t for Korn they probably wouldn’t have started,” Luzier explained.

“So we did a show in London. Fieldy [Korn’s] bass player had the idea, ‘We should just do a cover song. Not one of our songs or a Slipknot song. Let’s go way left field and do a Beastie Boys cover!’”

The result was a cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.”

“So that fueled that thing like, ‘Man, we’d love to get him on the record somehow!’ ” Luzier says. “And we called him, and the timing just worked out. He flew to Nashville, came to the studio and just killed it. It’s one of my favorite songs on the record, gives me chills every time I hear it.”

Korn have released a new single, “Insane,” from their upcoming album, The Serenity of Suffering.

The album is the follow-up to 2013's The Paradigm Shift and will be released October 21. It’s Korn’s second album since the return of guitarist Brian “Head” Welch. The band is on a co-headlining tour with Rob Zombie and will head off on another co-headlining tour with Breaking Benjamin in September.

The Serenity of Suffering Track Listing:

• 01 Insane
• 02 Rotting in Vain
• 03 Black Is the Soul
• 04 The Hating
• 05 A Different World (feat. Corey Taylor)
• 06 Take Me
• 07 Everything Falls Apart
• 08 Die Yet Another Night
• 09 When You’re Not There
• 10 Next in Line
• 11 Please Come For Me

You might remember Joey Siler from his videos, “Kitties in Chains ‘Cat in the Box’,” and “Cooking Hostile with Phil Anselmo.”

Well, he’s back with a new video called “Secret Metal Mysteries,” which looks into the hilarious history of how Korn got their name, and even features an appearance from the Deftones’ Chino Moreno.

Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments or on Facebook!

In the new video below, Korn singer Jonathan Davis speaks with the You Rock Foundation about his anxiety, depression, panic attacks, PTSD, schizophrenia and substance abuse.

But more importantly, he discusses what helped him through it, explaining how much medication, therapy, exercise and creative outlets for self-expression like music make a difference.

For more information, visit yourockfoundation.org.

We at Guitar World have put together a list of what we feel are the 13 creepiest album covers of all time.

Whoa — before all you Cannibal Corpse and Cattle Decapitation fans get all riled up, we've also compiled a list of the 13 most gruesome album covers of all time.

For this gallery, we weren't looking for blood and gore so much as a general, often-unintentional creep factor.

Don't know what we mean? Click through the list and we think you'll see for yourself!

And remember — Satan is Real!

Korn have premiered a new music video for “Hater.” Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments or on Facebook!

The track is from The Paradigm Shift: World Tour Edition, which was released July 15. The album includes three new studio tracks plus six previously unreleased live tracks. Enjoy!

For more about Korn and that thing they do, follow them on Facebook.

Korn have premiered a new song, “Hater.” Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments or on Facebook!

The track is from The Paradigm Shift: World Tour Edition, which will be released July 15. The new album will include three new studio tracks plus six previously unreleased live tracks. Enjoy!

For more about Korn and that thing they do, follow them on Facebook.

Below, check out "Faith Is a Room," a new song by KXM, a band that features guitarist George Lynch, Korn drummer Ray Luzier and King's X bassist dUg/Doug Pinnick.

The song is from KXM's new self-titled album, which was released yesterday, March 11.

"When you’re working as a pro musician in LA, you're frequently running into other players who you know and respect," Lynch told RevolverMag.com.

"A lot of times, the 'dream band' conversation comes up. It's fun to talk about. A lot of times, it's the alcohol talking. But the reality for most of us is that we're locked into other commitments and obligations that in the cold light of day don't really afford us the time or flexibility to pull off these projects that look great on paper."

For the rest of this conversation with all three members of KXM, visit RevolverMag.com.

KXM’s self-titled album was released March 11 and is available at ratpakrecordsamerica.com.

Korn have premiered the music video for "Love & Meth," the second single from their new album, The Paradigm Shift.

Check it out below — and be sure to tell us what you think in the comments or on Facebook!

The Paradigm Shift marks the studio return of guitarist Brian "Head" Welch after a decade-long absence.