The Nothing is the thirteenth studio album by the nu metal band Korn. It was released on September 13, 2019, through Roadrunner and Elektra. The album was produced by Nick Raskulinecz.
The Nothing debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 with 33,000 album-equivalent units, of which 29,000 were pure album sales. It is Korn‘s 14th US top-10 album. As of the end of 2020, the album has sold over 80,000 traditional copies in the US.
According to the band’s lead singer, Jonathan Davis, the title of the album was inspired by a villain from The NeverEnding Story. This is the first album recorded after the deaths of Davis‘ wife Deven and mother Holly Marie Chavez, which is reflected in the lyrics of songs such as “Finally Free”.
This affected Davis during the recording of the album, which he treated as a form of personal therapy. Some of his emotional breakdowns were recorded and ended up on the album, most notably towards the end of the intro, “The End Begins”. Davis said about the album:
“I went through hell last year and had to purge what I was going through and bring the listener through that experience. I don’t know how to explain it but it takes me over. When you hear me break down and cry, that’s not fake. It’s how I get it out. Some people go to a shrink. My music is that for me.”
Following the album’s release, the band was scheduled to go on tour co-headlined with Alice in Chains.
Tracklist:
- The End Begins (Written by Jonathan Davis)
- Cold (Written by Korn, Lauren Christy, Nick Raskulinecz)
- You’ll Never Find Me (Written by William Patrick Corgan, Korn, Nick Raskulinecz)
- The Darkness Is Revealing (Written by Korn, Nick Raskulinecz)
- Idiosyncrasy (Written by Korn, Nick Raskulinecz)
- The Seduction Of Indulgence (Written by Jonathan Davis)
- Finally Free (Written by Korn)
- Can You Hear Me (Written by Korn)
- The Ringmaster (Written by Korn
- Gravity Of Discomfort (Written by Korn, Lauren Christy, Nick Raskulinecz)
- H@rd3r (Written by Korn, Lauren Christy, Nick Raskulinecz)
- This Loss (Written by John Feldmann, Korn, Nick Raskulinecz)
- Surrender To Failure (Written by Jonathan Davis)
Korn
Jonathan Davis: lead vocals, bagpipes
James “Munky” Shaffer: guitars
Brian “Head” Welch: guitars
Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu: bass
Ray Luzier: drums
Additional personnel
Nick Raskulinecz: producer
David “Beno” Benveniste: executive producer
Nick “Sluggo” Suddarth: additional production on “Can You Hear Me”
Josh Wilbur: mixing
Ted Jensen: mastering
Nathan Yarborough: engineering
Chris Collier: additional engineering
Jim Monti: additional engineering
Matt Wallace: additional engineering
Guilherme Coelho: programming
Nathan Davis: programming
Tiago Nuñez: programming
Jules Venturini: programming
