Jonathan Davis’ angry, high-pitched voice and death metal growls have always been one of the integral elements of Korn’s signature sound. The band’s guitarist James Munky Shaffer, who sat down for a conversation with WSOU, was one of the people who was surprised by Davis’ insane vocal lines and praised his bandmate for this mastery over his voice.
“We’ve discovered strengths that each of us has,” said the guitarist, emphasizing how well Korn members know each other musically and how well they can put it to work. “He’s very good at putting melody lines over the top of my weird chord voicings, I guess.”
He continued, “And then I don’t know how Jonathan does it, but he can sing over pretty much anything we write, which is incredible because we write some weird stuff. It’s probably not weird to some people, but he has the gift of singing that… He baffles Brian and I. Cause we’re, like, ‘There’s no way he’ll be able to write over this, and it’s gonna get thrown in the trash.’ We write these riffs sometimes that… It’s kind of hard to describe.”
Jonathan Davis’s success may have something to do with the fact that his main concern is not to sing the song ‘perfectly’ but to convey different emotions to the listener in an unfiltered way. The growling and screams of many renowned metal vocalists are often surprisingly powerful; however, when it comes to Davis, he manages to expert the sounds that would be unexpected not just from a metal vocalist but even from a human being.
The Korn members have managed to preserve their signature sound for 30 years and are still active on the metal scene. They released their latest record, ‘Requiem,’ last February and were on tour to promote it. Their next closest concert is scheduled for May 2023.
