Korn have finally cracked open the vault, debuting new track ‘Reward The Scars’ live at Sick New World in Las Vegas.
It’s the first time fans have heard fresh material from the nu metal architects since 2022’s ‘Requiem’, and they didn’t ease into it, instead they dropped it straight into the desert air, loud and unpolished.
Before unleashing the track, frontman Jonathan Davis addressed the crowd with a mix of exhaustion and relief (per Blabbermouth):
‘I know it’s been a long-ass day, I know it’s been a long-ass day, but it feels so good to be back playing for y’all.’
Then he pulled the curtain back on what’s been brewing behind the scenes:
‘We’ve been out touring shit a little bit, but we’ve been stuck in a f**king studio for, like, five years, y’all,’ he continued. ‘We’ve been working hard. We had some good shit. We got rid of that, and we made some badass shit. Would you guys like to hear that song? It just came out.’
A surprise drop tied to Diablo IV
‘Reward The Scars’ didn’t just land out of nowhere, the track quietly surfaced last week as part of the ‘Diablo IV: Lord Of Hatred’ expansion soundtrack, blending Korn’s long standing taste for the dark and grotesque with the game’s hellish world.
The full expansion is set to drop April 28th (29th in Australia), giving the track a broader stage beyond the pit, the song marks Korn’s first new release since ‘Requiem’, which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart and proved the band still has weight behind every move, but Davis’ comments hint at something bigger than a one off soundtrack cut.
They’ve been reworking material for years, scrapping it and then starting again, that usually means a band chasing something sharper, not safer.
Touring machine rolls on
Korn aren’t slowing down either, a long overdue European headline run is locked in, their first in over a decade, backed by Architects, Pixel Grip and Youth Code, after Sick New World, they’ll head through Latin America with Spiritbox in tow.
Notably absent is bassist Fieldy, who stepped away in 2021 to focus on personal issues, he played on ‘Requiem’, but live duties have since been handled by Roberto ‘Ra’ Díaz.
Whether ‘Reward The Scars’ is a standalone drop or the first crack in a larger release, one thing’s clear, Korn aren’t done digging.
Follow me for more on the Australian and US Metal Scene:
MORE IN Music
