Follow The Leader

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

The third album from the hip-hop-tinged metal band is silly, swaggering and obnoxious--and those are its virtues. Korn's music isn't subtle: the volume on each song, just as in This Is Spinal Tap, is usually turned up to 11, and too many of the songs are simply numbing sonic assaults. But a few tracks grind along successfully, most notably Children of the Korn, in which rapper Ice Cube makes an engaging appearance. And the band's goofy audacity and Zeitgeist-savvy sense of humor are, at points, captivating. It's hard to completely dislike a CD that makes references to both the Waco disaster and Austin Powers' chest hair.

--By Christopher John Farley