When it comes to the nastiest guitar tone ever recorded, opinions vary wildly – but if you ask Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza, there’s one clear winner: Korn's 1996 album Life Is Peachy. Speaking on a recent episode of The Garza Podcast, the deathcore mainstay weighed in on what makes a guitar tone cross from just dirty to truly iconic.
"I think that the guitar tone for Life Is Peachy is the nastiest tone of all time, and no one talks about that record. I think that's where it starts and ends. A lot of like… whenever I hear heavy bands now, us included, I'm like, 'ah, I'm not original. They're even not original.'
"I just hear Korn on every drug possible. Like, even when I do stuff, or I hear a new band, it's like — it just sounds like Korn on steroids and every drug imaginable. It's just maximized to the max. But I think back to Life Is Peachy the most. It's just an ugly, ugly tone.
Garza continued: "I think when we’re talking nasty tone, it’s kind of… it kind of sucks. It kind of sucks, and I purposely — I'm telling you — purposely, for hours, I sit down at my amp, or here, and I'm like: how can I make my tone… It’s a fine line between nasty and shitty. It’s an almost impossible line to hit. But when you hit it, it’s special.
"And I think this record is literally where it starts and where it ends. To get a really heavy, nasty tone — it is a moment in time."
Following the massive underground success of their 1994 self-titled debut, Korn returned with their sophomore album, Life Is Peachy, released on October 15, 1996 via Immortal/Epic Records.
Life Is Peachy was recorded at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, CA, the same location where their debut was tracked. Working again with producer Ross Robinson, the band deliberately aimed to capture a raw, abrasive, and unpolished sound. The result was a dirtier, looser, and more chaotic record compared to their debut.
