Heavy metal music soothes the soul. At least, that’s how I feel after spending hours, days, weeks and months in school. If you’ve ever been so stressed over having to constantly studying that you wanted to scream, you’ll know where I’m coming from. Fortunately for me, a Korn concert is just the place to do it.
Heavy metal band Korn, recently came to play at Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion Center. The concert opened with several heavy metal/scream bands: Silver Snakes, Motionless in White and Breaking Benjamin. Despite everyone’s obsession with them in middle school, I’m not a huge Breaking Benjamin fan. Yet, the band surprised me with their awesome energy and ability to make the audience jump around. They even whipped out a remake of Star Wars’ “Imperial March.”
Not long after Breaking Benjamin left the stage, Korn took over with shouts from the crowd. The band played for a solid hour and a half as metal heads united in head banging without a moment of rest. An army of hands was raised in the rock and roll sign while familiar songs like, “Freak on a Leash,” “Coming Undone,” “Blind” and “Good God” were played. Korn even played a few songs from their twelfth and newest album, “The Serenity of Suffering.” It is rumored to feature the Slipknot singer, Corey Taylor, and I would recommend giving the album a chance for that reason alone.
Korn is considered a nu metal band that formed in 1993 from Bakersfield, California. Known for their seventh and most popular album, “See You on the Other Side,” released in 2005, the band has continued to grow in fame. As of 2012, the band had sold around 35 million album copies worldwide. If you enjoy bands like Metallica, Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin or Pantera, this is the group for you, as these are some of Korn’s main influences.
As metal heads across the country attended this performance to watch the Korn concert, it seemed as if no one was disappointed as the audience chanted in unison for an encore, in which the band came back on stage after the concert ended to play one more song.
As a first year grad student, this was definitely a much-needed experience to highlight this year. I had been stressing over projects and papers, along with the jobs I have to support myself. To put it simply, being an adult is hard. But after I woke up the next morning with a soar arm, a hoarse voice, a violent headache and a pulled neck muscle from head banging all night, I felt like a teenager. I was happy and this concert was well worth it.