Korn, the nu metal band that helped pioneer the heavy rock genre, has a new song that’s inspired by the grind of Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo games. It’s the first new music from Korn in four years, and arrives with a grisly new animated video timed to the release of the Diablo 4 expansion Lord of Hatred.
It’s a sensible pairing. Korn and Diablo are both products of the ’90s, and each trades in dark, violent imagery and the cathartic release of pent-up energy. Korn frontman Jonathan Davis also just happens to be something of a Diablo enthusiast himself. He plays as a Bloodwave Necromancer, he says, professing a love for “just smashing fools with that big blood wave continuously over and over.” (Davis says that he’s likely to continue playing as that Necromancer build, even with two new classes coming to Lord of Hatred.)
During a recent group interview with Davis, the Korn singer and frontman said he likes to “unwind and release my pent-up aggression from whatever pisses me off” by playing Diablo 4. “Games are really, really good for people,” he says. “It gives them an escape. It’s better than drinking, or going out and doing stupid shit. It’s just fun.”
Davis says that his band’s new collaboration with Blizzard for Diablo 4 was a natural pairing. “Blizzard approached us and asked if we would be into doing a song for [Diablo 4: Lord Hatred],” he explains. “I said, ‘Of course,’ because I’m a huge fan of the game. I’ve been playing it for a long time. It was just a no-brainer — of course we want to be involved.”
Korn took one of the band’s existing unrecorded songs that didn’t yet have lyrics yet and crafted it into “Reward the Scars,” which Davis says is written about the experience of playing a Diablo game.
“When you start writing a song like this, the music comes first,” Davis says. “We had a bunch of songs we’re working on. We picked that song [and] I started writing lyrics for it. The lyrics were inspired by the game. I thought ‘Reward the Scars’ was a good title, because it’s basically what happens if you grind in the game: You’re going to be rewarded with loot.
“That’s what sucks you into the game. You’re trying to get that badass gear.”
Davis said that he fondly remembers “when I got my first purple” loot in Diablo 4. “I called my son, and I was freaking out. It was a big deal. I know it sounds weird, but I’m quite fucking excited about gear and shit.”
Blizzard Entertainment and Korn teamed up for a video for “Reward the Scars” which includes some incredibly violent animation inspired by Lord of Hatred. The graphic video is very much inline with Korn and Diablo’s dark aesthetics, though the band’s frontman puts a more hopeful and positive spin on why he is still making music with Korn after more than 30 years.
“I love creating things,” Davis says. “Sometimes I’m not in the mood to create. Sometimes I’m [backed] into a wall, and that’s when my best stuff comes out. But I think we’re all put on this planet with a purpose, and I think my purpose was to be able to channel whatever it is in the universe that I do, that comes through me, to help people. I had no idea when I was 24 years old, when I did that first Korn record, I would have such an impact on people, and that I was the person that they looked to that made them feel not alone. I thought I was all alone in this, so it really helped me a lot.
“I love, bottom line, helping people. If it’s making them go crazy at a show, or if I help them not feel alone, or get through a rough patch, so be it. That’s what fuels my creativity that, you know, there’s more stuff in me that’s got to get out. And if I can help people and make people happy, then so be it. That’s why I’m here.”
Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred is out on April 27, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. If you want to stream Korn’s new Diablo-inspired song, you can listen to “Reward the Scars” on Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. The song is also available on a 7-inch picture disc from Loma Vista.
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