During an interview, Killswitch Engage’s vocalist Jesse Leach recently spoke about the nu-metal. The rocker mentioned the genre’s popular representative, Korn, and stated that some of the band’s early guitar riffs were goofy.
After the bands Overcast and Aftershock parted ways in 1999, Killswitch Engage was formed. Their lineup contains Jesse Leach, Joel Stroetzel, Adam Dutkiewicz, Mike D’Antonio, and Justin Foley. Their discography includes eight studio and two live albums representing metalcore, and they released their most recent album in 2019.
In a recent conversation, the interviewer asked the band members Adam and Jesse about their opinions on nu-metal, a subgenre of metal that mainly features heavy riffs and uses seven-string guitars. One of the leading representatives of nu-metal is Korn, and if a question about the genre arises, it is hard to answer without mentioning Korn’s influence.
Hence, Jesse stated that he could ‘take or leave some’ from the genre, meaning that he’s not a big fan of everything about it. He said he loves the Deftones and thought they were incredible, but Korn had some goofy riffs.
Here is Jesse’s answer:
“I can take or leave some of it, but I love Deftones. What they were doing was incredible, you can’t deny some of the riffs of Korn, but some of that stuff was a little goofy. I hated it at the time, but in retrospect, I prefer it to some stuff I hear now. It was a commercial sound, and we were into the underground, so it was a little hokey.”
After also revealing that he hated their ‘goofy’ riffs at the time, right now, it doesn’t sound as bad to him. His main concern was that their music was commercial, while he was more into the underground style, which explained his criticism.
