Take A Look In The Mirror
by Korn
  • Record Label: Epic
  • Release Date: Nov 21, 2003
User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 163 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 136 out of 163
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 163
  3. Negative: 9 out of 163

Review this album

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Xaremathras
    Sep 26, 2019
    6
    To echo the critics, yes, this album seems rushed, offering nothing substaintially new to neither Nu Metal, nor the Korn catalogue, and a bit stale at times. BUT NOTE THIS IS KORN'S HEAVIEST ALBUM WITHOUT QUESTION.

    Backstory: in 2000, the label gave the world's greatest band an unlimited timeline and budget to create an album. Korn spent 2yrs and $4MM creating Untouchables. Unluckily    To echo the critics, yes, this album seems rushed, offering nothing substaintially new to neither Nu Metal, nor the Korn catalogue, and a bit stale at times. BUT NOTE THIS IS KORN'S HEAVIEST ALBUM WITHOUT QUESTION.

    Backstory: in 2000, the label gave the world's greatest band an unlimited timeline and budget to create an album. Korn spent 2yrs and $4MM creating Untouchables. Unluckily for them, reviews were lukewarm, and illegal downloading had become the norm. This meant that the label had lost a lot of money on Untouchables. So they forced Korn back into the studio to create a 2003 follow-up on a much tighter budget and schedule. So although Untouchable and Mirror are only 1yr apart and have a similar sound, they are basically Night and Day. This tension also caused guitarist Head to leave after this album.

    Pros: heaviest album, songs Did My Time, Everything I've Known, I'm Done. Play Me ft. Nas, many songs are straight-to-the-point metal.
    Cons: you can tell it's rushed - moderate production value, obvious "filler" parts in many tracks, at least 2/3 of the songs sound identical, lack of substance/depth.

    This album signaled the end of an era in many ways - nu metal/alt metal pretty much died as a mainstream genre after 2003, guitarist Head left and this is the last album with original lineup, and even though Korn created the "nu metal" sound, both critics and fans were saying this album sounded generic in the nu metal universe.    … Expand
  2. AndrewW.
    Dec 29, 2003
    5
    not their best album...but it's alright...their best will always be the fisrt album they made:Korn and to you "agg agg" no korn does not suck and neither does this record ... you should consider listening to the album you're rating before submitting ill-conceived asinine coments about a band you've never heard, ass clown.
  3. HexG.
    Nov 17, 2007
    5
    Pretty poor album from Korn, doesnt get anywhere near the darkness of Issues or the groove of Follow The Leader
  4. SteppedAcrossThatLine
    Jun 11, 2005
    6
    hmm this album it's..alright. some of you say its their 'best album yet' which somewhat concerns me because if this is their 'best album' then god, the others before must be shit. but their other albums are awesome so yeah. see, im not dissing KoRn 'cause im a fan. i just think that 'Take a Look In the Mirror' could have been better then it was. hmm this album it's..alright. some of you say its their 'best album yet' which somewhat concerns me because if this is their 'best album' then god, the others before must be shit. but their other albums are awesome so yeah. see, im not dissing KoRn 'cause im a fan. i just think that 'Take a Look In the Mirror' could have been better then it was. Also they DO have good songs on this album but besides that, a lot of the songs sound pretty much the same. & "m4gg0t for life" i dont see what being a fan of Slipknot would taint your view on KoRn. cause im also a Slipknot fan and i still think KoRn's awesome… Collapse
  5. Mellowry
    Aug 20, 2021
    6
    So, "Take A Look In The Mirror" was originally released with the style it had, because the band thought that the year of the release [2003] had not much good rock on the radio neither any good records at all, they gave credit to outkast but that was it. Today J. Davis thinks this is the worst album of the entire Korn discography, so i can say that the statement back then was probably justSo, "Take A Look In The Mirror" was originally released with the style it had, because the band thought that the year of the release [2003] had not much good rock on the radio neither any good records at all, they gave credit to outkast but that was it. Today J. Davis thinks this is the worst album of the entire Korn discography, so i can say that the statement back then was probably just to promote the album. I must say, even though Davis, Head and Critics as well didn't quite like it, it is probably not their worst album, i find "Korn III" definitely worse. Songs on here like "Y'all want a Single" definitely hit it hard, such as "Right Now", which has a very disturbing video, but it's still a good song. A problem i had on every Korn album so far, is that they tease the songs too long, it's too much introduction for my taste, which i find here as well. Especially on this record, the sound opens up great, while it gets boring being the same sound on almost all of the 13 tracks, starting out with a low A String. Overall the Record is fine, i personally would even put this over "Untitled", but probably nothing more. It is okay, you can buy this without having a bad feeling.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Most Discussed Album of 2003
91
#91 Most Shared Album of 2003

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
49

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 9
  3. Negative: 2 out of 9
  1. New Musical Express (NME)
    30
    ‘Take A Look In The Mirror’ doesn’t just sound like a bad album, it sounds like a broken record.
    Read full review
  2. Dot Music
    60
    All fine in principle, except we've heard it all a million times before.
    Read full review
  3. Blender
    40
    Korn are ultra-confident, forgoing the blandishments of heavy-rock virtuoso conceptualist Michael Beinhorn, who produced their last album. [Mar 2004, p.121]
See all critic reviews »