New metal is dead, but Korn remain, stronger than ever trends have shifted away from these new-metal pioneers, snuffing the careers of many of their countless clones. In response, Korn have circled the wagons and self-produced their best album to date, refining the formula to a black-cancer marmalade of corrosive riffs, fist-flying rhythms, gothic-carnival atmospheres and toxic vocals. ("Shut up! I'll fuck you up!" goes a typical no-time-for-subtlety shoutalong.) When not howling like a werewolf caught in a cyclone, Jonathan Davis manages some surprisingly haunting verses and even squeezes out a plaintive bagpipe solo. Davis hasn't traded self-pity for self-reflection, but he is screaming "fuck you" with greater precision.

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."