Take a Look in the Mirror

Take a Look in the Mirror
Studio album by Korn
Released November 21, 2003
Recorded April–June 2003, August 2003
Studio Jonathan Davis's home studio in Los Angeles
Genre Nu metal
Length 56:43
Label Epic/Immortal
Producer Jonathan Davis, Frank Filipetti
Korn chronology
Untouchables
(2002)		 Take a Look in the Mirror
(2003)		 See You on the Other Side
(2005)
Singles from this album
  1. "Did My Time"
    Released: July 22, 2003
  2. "Right Now"
    Released: October 7, 2003
  3. "Y'All Want a Single"
    Released: March 9, 2004
  4. "Everything I've Known"
    Released: April 13, 2004 (promo only)

Take a Look in the Mirror is the sixth studio album by American nu metal band Korn, and is the last studio album to feature their full original lineup, with Brian "Head" Welch departing from the band soon afterwards (however, Brian rejoined the band a decade later, in 2013, with the release of The Paradigm Shift). It was also the last studio album by Korn under Epic/Immortal.

Album information

The album continued Korn's lowering in sales, debuting at number 19 and peaked at number 9 with first-week record sales of about 179,000, due to the release date of the album being pushed up to a Friday, with fewer sales than if it was released on the standard Tuesday. The track "Did My Time" was previously released as a CD single for the movie Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life and the track "Right Now" was accompanied by a provocative cartoon video animated by Spike and Mike. The ending track "When Will This End" is followed by a long silence before a live cover of Metallica's "One" starts playing. The album was also released in a "clean" version which utilized backmasking as well as growling in place of profanity. The band has admitted in interviews to writing this album at somewhat of a rushed pace, due to the sales of Untouchables not reaching the heights they were expecting, and having to write with the time restraint of being on that summer's Ozzfest tour. Take a Look in the Mirror has sold over 1.2 million copies in the US and over 2 million copies outside of the US according to Nielsen SoundScan as of January 4, 2013 and was certified platinum on December 16, 2003.[1] It has been claimed that the album was rushed,[2] due to the lower than expected sales of Untouchables which had left the band in debt.[2]

Composition and music

Critically acclaimed rapper Nas is featured on the album.

Take a Look in the Mirror marks Korn's attempt to return to a more aggressive sound as featured on their earlier albums, with guitarists Brian "Head" Welch and James "Munky" Shaffer mostly utilizing thick, heavy distortion and the occasional clean tones for contrast.[3] The album features strong elements of nu metal and has the aggressive sounds featured on their early work,[4][5][6][7][8] as well as a reworked and re-recorded version of the track "Alive", which had previously only been released on the band's first demo, Neidermayer's Mind. Also of note is the song "Play Me" which features rapper Nas,[9] making Take a Look in the Mirror the first Korn album since Follow the Leader to feature such a collaboration. Furthermore, Davis plays bagpipes on "Let's Do This Now", marking the return of a tradition that has, to date, only been absent on Untouchables. Regarding the making of the album, guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer recalled "We weren't in the best space. The songs weren't flowing and the creativity was a bit muted from these personal dramas each of us had."[10] He also claimed the album was a forced effort.[10] Jonathan Davis of Korn said “[This album] is about us as a band, taking a look in the mirror and remembering where we came from, remembering our roots, going back to basics,” Davis said. “We reflect and look back why we really got into this band to begin with and why we started it. It’s to make aggressive, heavy music. Over the years … we were just experimenting. It always was Korn, but it was different spins on what we were doing. So this time we wanted to make an aggressive, heavy album and just kill it. And that’s why we’ve produced it ourselves. Nobody knows Korn better than ourselves.”.[11]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic49/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
CDNow
Billboard(positive)[14]
Blender[15]
Entertainment Weekly(D)[16]
IGN[17]
Metal Storm[18]
musicOMH.com(positive)[19]
The New York Times(mixed)[20]
NME[21]
Q[22]
Rolling Stone[23]

Take a Look in the Mirror has received mixed reviews from professional critics but acclaim from fans. Metacritic scores the album 49 based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews", while the user's average score is 8.2/10.[12] AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier states the album is "a little paradoxical, but that's precisely what makes Take a Look in the Mirror so interesting, especially for longtime fans" and goes on to say that "because of the emphasis on brevity and variety (and especially quality), the album's over before you know it and you're left feeling hungry for more Korn."[24] On the contrary, Entertainment Weekly scored the album a D, saying "Korn remain[s] technically proficient, but Take a Look in the Mirror serves only to make the case that the genre has officially screamed itself into caricature."[16] NME gave the album a negative review, criticizing it for being a "self-parody", they wrote "this is an exercise in sterile studio-rock. Meticulously Pro-Tooled, and built almost entirely around bassist Fieldy’s relentless, sludgy mid-range, it’s an approach that demonstrates little craft and even less actual feeling."[21] In 2005, the album was ranked number 384 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[25]

In a 2013 interview, guitarist Head cited Take a Look in the Mirror as "the worst record we did."[26]

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Right Now"   3:10
2. "Break Some Off"   2:35
3. "Counting on Me"   4:49
4. "Here It Comes Again"   3:33
5. "Deep Inside"   2:46
6. "Did My Time"   4:04
7. "Everything I've Known"   3:34
8. "Play Me" (featuring Nas) 3:21
9. "Alive"   4:29
10. "Let's Do This Now"   3:18
11. "I'm Done"   3:23
12. "Y'All Want a Single"   3:17
13. "When Will This End"   14:24
Total length:
 56:43

Personnel

Production and other credits
  • Frank Filipetti - production, engineering, mixing
  • Nasir "Nas" Jones - vocals on "Play Me"
  • Jim "Bud" Monti - production, engineering
  • Tim Harkins - engineering
  • Cailan McCarthy - artist coordination
  • Doug Erb - art direction
  • Brandy Flower - art direction
  • Gayle Boulware - art consultant
  • Darren Frank - assistant
  • Jesse Gorman - assistant
Production continued

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 37
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[29] 2
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[30] 24
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] 11
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[32] 21
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[33] 21
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[34] 10
French Albums (SNEP)[35] 14
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[36] 8
Irish Albums (IRMA)[37] 25
Italian Albums (FIMI)[38] 16
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[39] 19
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[40] 27
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[41] 15
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[42] 17
Scottish Albums (OCC)[43] 46
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[44] 18
UK Albums (OCC)[45] 53
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[46] 2
US Billboard 200[47] 9

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[48] Gold 35,000^
Germany (BVMI)[49] Gold 150,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[50] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[51] Platinum 1,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Extras

The album contains a scrapbook of photos from the band's personal collection, titled "SkЯapbook", instead of a front cover booklet, however, some copies do not feature a booklet, instead, it was released with a normal front and inside cover. The limited edition version contains a bonus DVD.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "RIAA – Gold & Platinum Searchable Database – October 17, 2012". riaa.com. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  2. 1 2 http://www.soundscapemagazine.com/az-korn/
  3. ↑ "Take A Look In The Mirror". Retrieved 5 Aug 2010.
  4. ↑ http://www.nme.com/reviews/korn/7246
  5. ↑ http://www.melodic.net/?page=review&id=1728
  6. ↑ http://www.review-o-matic.com/?p=350
  7. ↑ http://www.musicomh.com/albums/korn.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,556194,00.html
  9. ↑ "Korn - Take A Look In The Mirror". Retrieved 5 Aug 2010.
  10. 1 2 http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/interviews/korns_james_munky_shaffer_talks_to_ug_readers.html?no_takeover
  11. ↑ Moss, Corey. "Korn Land Nas For Mirror, Ask Fans To Direct New Video". MTV. (November 4th, 2003). Retrieved on September 27th, 2015
  12. 1 2 "Review: Take a Look in the Mirror". Metacritic. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  13. ↑ Take a Look in the Mirror at AllMusic
  14. ↑ Billboard Review
  15. ↑ Blender Review Archived September 27, 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  16. 1 2 Entertainment Weekly Review
  17. ↑ IGN Review
  18. ↑ Metal Storm Review
  19. ↑ musicOMH.com review
  20. ↑ The New York Times Review
  21. 1 2 NME Review
  22. ↑ (Feb. 2004, p.102)
  23. ↑ Rolling Stone Review
  24. ↑ "Take a Look in the Mirror - Korn". Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  25. ↑ [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 55. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  26. ↑ "Korn Interviewe by U.K.'s Scuzz". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
  27. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Korn-Take-A-Look-In-The-Mirror-6-Bonus/release/3224924
  28. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  29. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror" (in German). Hung Medien.
  30. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  31. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror" (in French). Hung Medien.
  32. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  33. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  34. ↑ "Korn: Take a Look in the Mirror" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  35. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  36. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  37. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 48, 2003". Chart-Track. IRMA.
  38. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  39. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  40. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  41. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
  42. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  43. ↑ "2003-12-06 Top 40 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company.
  44. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Hung Medien.
  45. ↑ "Korn | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  46. ↑ "20031130 Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40 | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  47. ↑ "Korn – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Korn.
  48. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2003 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  49. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Korn; 'Take a Look in the Mirror')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  50. ↑ "British album certifications – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Take a Look in the Mirror in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  51. ↑ "American album certifications – Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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