Nu metal pioneers Korn have returned with the single Reward The Scars.
The new track, available on all streaming services as of today (April 23), is a collaboration with the role-playing video-game Diablo IV and its expansion pack Lord Of Hatred, which comes out on major consoles and Windows on April 28.
The song is available to stream below.
Reward The Scars is the first new music to come from Korn since February 2022, when they released their 14th studio album Requiem. It’s also their first studio recording to not feature founding bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, who parted ways with the band after the recording of Requiem. Roberto “Ra” Díaz has been filling in live since late 2021.
Formed in Bakersfield, California, in 1993, Korn released their self-titled debut album via Immortal and Sony-backed major label Epic in 1994. The album, which took influence from funk and rap as well as metal, has been recognised as one of the first nu metal albums. The band found mainstream success with their third album, 1998’s Follow The Leader, and along with such contemporaries as Limp Bizkit and Deftones, they made nu metal one of heavy music’s biggest-ever genres by the turn of the millennium.
Korn’s commercial success waned in the mid-2000s, but interest renewed in the early-to-mid 2020s, fuelled by the nu metal revival on TikTok and other social media outlets. In 2024, they played their largest-ever headlining UK show, performing at Gunnersbury Park in London to a reported 40,000 people. Loathe, Wargasm and Spiritbox served as support acts.
The new song comes shortly after Fieldy made an appearance on the Shady Characters and explained why he and his bandmates parted ways. He revealed that his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and his resultant inability to tour internationally, is what caused the split.
“COVID happened,” he said (via The PRP). “That’s it. I’m like, ‘I’m not going out there.’ That’s what happened, ’cause it was new. Now. I didn’t get vaccinated or anything – but when you reflect on it, that’s what happened. They’re like, ‘We’re going to Florida,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not going to get vaccinated. I’m not going.’ I go, ‘People, this is weird right now.’”
At time of publication, there’s no news of a new Korn album. Talking to Loudwire in February, guitarist Brian “Head” Welch said that the band were in no rush to put out another record.
“I really love the fact that it’s taking a long time,” he said. “I always told management that I wish that we would wait a little bit between albums. We’re just so addicted to the studio that we get in there and we’re putting albums out every two or three years, ever since I rejoined. And so I love that there’s been delays.”