Korn - 'Hold On'

If, like this writer, you’re not one for listening to anything a bit ‘metal’ then the default setting when faced with a band like Korn is to either: 1) throw a brick at the record player, 2) calmly set the volume to ‘0’ or 3) offer as balanced an opinion as possible, and hope that no Korn fans ever stumble across it. Option 3) it is, then. ‘Hold On’ is a melodic phalanx of crunching riffs, all gnarled vocals and chugging bass. There might be some kind of guidance counselling vibe here, too, but it’s hard to tell, what with all the gnarled vocals, crunching riffs and chugging bass. And if you can keep a straight face through a line like “this illness is like a monster that is eating us a live”, then all power to you. Not for everyone, but for fans of the band, and more specifically of the genre, this is bound to excite.

Released 04/02/08 on Virgin.