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.”
