Korn have been teasing fans with the promise of a new album for quite some time now. The members have been hinting at the direction the group has been headed in, thumping their chests proclaiming it will be one of the heaviest Korn records yet. Guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch has divulged his feelings about this direction and is excited to get "back to basics."

"[The new material] is awesome. It’s mainly James ['Munky' Shaffer, guitar] and I," Head began telling Alternative Press. "We really wanted to go into what Korn does guitar-wise. James, Ray [Luzier, drums] and I started riffing back in June of last year. Then we’d go on tour, come back and spend a week or two just jamming out. We started getting ideas pretty quickly once we started going into bigger studios and everything. It just went in that direction of the heavier sound. It’s the most intense Korn music in a long time vocally [as well]."

Korn's career has taken them across a variety of different styles, which can prove difficult in a live setting. "We were thinking about the live show when we were writing the songs," revealed Head. "The last record had good songs on it, but we only played like two or three of them live because not all of them really translated live. This album has more of that quiet / loud dynamic but also sounds current. The whole band is pretty happy with it. We’ll be announcing the album title, song titles, release date and some new partnerships soon."

Head went on to reveal how he's looking forward to playing the new material live, adding that he has at least five songs in mind that would make stellar set additions. Believing fans of Korn's early material will find a close connection with the record, the guitarist continued, "My hope is that as people get excited about the new album and the word spreads that it’s a kind of back-to-basics Korn album, the core fans will really like it and we can play more of the material live and get a good reaction."

Going on about the necessity of including set staples like and the reaction when a song like "Freak on a Leash" gets cut from the set, Head conceded there's a fine line to balance. Over the moon about the upcoming album, he said, "You know what I would like to do after this new record? Maybe we do a short run of smaller places and play the new record in its entirety."

In addition to the new Korn album, Head released his latest book, With My Eyes Wide Open: Miracles and Mistakes on My Way Back to Korn, earlier this month. The book is centered around the guitarist's eight years spent outside of Korn, dealing with freeing himself from addiction, converting to Christianity, going bankrupt and more. Orders can be placed here.

See Where Korn's Albums Landed on the Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1990s

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