Let’s face it, for all the talk of a nu metal revival, much of the genre hasn’t aged well.
Plenty of its highest-profile practitioners are now derided as cringey (Limp Bizkit), cartoony (Slipknot), corny (Linkin Park) or utterly derivative and forgettable (Crazy Town, or insert your love-to-hate act here).
Even though Korn — one of the genre’s foundational influences — still has plenty of detractors, it’s maintained much of its popularity and avoided the clubs-and-state fairs circuit. That much was evidenced by the group’s current 30th anniversary tour, which filled San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center on Monday.
The tour matched up the headliner with French progressive metal act Gojira and Canadian metalcore export Spiritbox with mixed results.
Spiritbox is known for vacillating between chugging heaviness and atmospheric ethereality, allowing versatile frontwoman Courtney LaPlante to wail like a tortured banshee one moment and spin melodic siren songs the next.
For its half-hour set on Monday, Spiritbox focused on the crushing side of its sound, mostly blasting away at full volume. While energetic, the performance didn’t necessarily play to LaPlante’s versatility or the band’s ability to slip into a quieter kind of chaos. Just the same, it was over in a flash.
Despite being fresh off a profile-raising performance at this summer’s Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris, Gojira seemed like the odd band out on the tour. While groove plays a key role in many of quartet’s riffs, it’s best known for its unpredictable and mathy mix of progressive, death and thrash elements.
Gojira opened its set with “Born for One Thing” from its latest album, 2021’s Fortitude. Shirtless drummer Mario Duplantier laid down a lopsided fusillade of beats as the guitars unleashed chiming harmonics and chunky riffs.
Harsh white spotlights danced around the arena and jets of flames erupted behind the band as they played. For all its musical complexity, Gojira clearly comes ready to put on a show.
Keeping with the ecological and environmental focus of the band’s lyrics, singer-guitarist Joe Duplantier dedicated the song “Flying Whales” to environmental activist Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder who’s now being held by Danish authorities.
Before ripping into “Another World,” another scorcher from Fortitude, Duplantier reminisced about Gojira playing the White Rabbit some 20 years ago. For the gig, it was forced to stand on the lip of the stage because the headliner’s equipment left so little room.
“But we never stopped feeling it,” Duplantier said. “And here we are now.”
Beyond offering a chance to bond with the SA crowd, the story was a reminder that Gojira recorded its first album in 2000, making it nearly as long-running as the night’s headliner. That the French group spent the first half of its existence toiling in obscurity only highlights the remarkable nature of its more recent ascent into the mainstream — well, as mainstream as prog-metal gets.
Gojira closed out its set with “Amazonia,” the droning guitars bringing a world-music element to the band’s sound before it exploded into thunderous riffs and more drum set athleticism by Mario Duplantier.
“There’s fire in the sky; you’re in the Amazon,” Joe Duplantier bellowed during the song’s chorus. “The greatest miracle is burning to the ground.” As he delivered the apocalyptic line, more fire burst from the stage, erupting in sequences that seemed timed with the crushing music.
Even though the crowd consisted of a sea of people in Korn shirts, Gojira’s hour-long and dynamic set appeared to have won over a considerable share. Afterwards, a pair of young men in one of the Frost Bank Center bars observed that Korn had better “bring its fucking A game” after the opener’s fiery performance.
After a lengthy set change, the black curtain obscuring the stage dropped and Korn ripped into “Here to Stay.” The crowd was instantly on its feet, bobbing to the band’s signature grooves and downtuned guitars. Singer Jonathan Davis, clad in a red Adidas track suit, clung to the microphone stand, turning his ear to the audience as it shouted back the chorus.
Even though Korn has continued to release albums since its heyday, it leaned heavily on material from its early albums for its set, pounding out “Dead Bodies Everywhere” and “Got the Life” while its guitarists swung their dreadlocks like it was 1998 all over again.
A nostalgic rehash? Maybe. But the San Antonio crowd was there for it. Korn kept the hits coming and the audience swayed along with the ominous mid-tempo songs, shouting along every time Davis called on them to finish a line.
Those who deride nu metal for its reliance on groove over memorable riffs, its lack of guitar solos and its element of sameness probably wouldn’t change their mind after Monday’s performance.
But, clearly, Korn continues to speak to a lot of people. The crowd boasted plenty of middle-aged folks in vintage shirts bearing the band’s logo — some even had their kids in tow. There was also an abundance of Hot Topic-equipped teens and twenty-somethings too young to have experienced the band during its peak.
Who can blame Davis and crew for giving them what they want?
While innovation is what drives music forward, the comfort of nostalgia sells. The bulk of Monday’s crowd was there to bask Korn’s crowd-pleasing stroll down an angsty memory lane. That’s how the music biz works, and those who bought the ticket appeared to enjoy the trip.
Even so, it was inspiring to see Gojira hold its own, proving a hard-edged band can challenge listeners while kicking fucking ass.
