by: John Widerhorn, Antonia Napoli (MTV.com)

Part 1

Many junior high teachers will tell you, "There are no dumb questions." Korn frontman Jonathan Davis begs to differ. Anyone who asks him why it has taken his band a full three years to release its fifth studio album, Untouchables, definitely deserves a bile-colored ribbon for asking the dumbest question in the book.

Unlike many nü-metal bands glutting the market, Korn have always been driven, not by the desire for fame or fortune, but by the inexplicable need to create something ugly, innovative and artistic. And true creation can take time.

When they emerged from Bakersfield, California, in 1992, such bands as Faith No More, Helmet and Prong had planted the seeds for nü-metal, but the genre was ripe for sonic exploration and demolition. Korn stepped in with lunging hip-hop beats, down-tuned guitar clamor, eerie effects and vulnerable, agonized vocals and created a haven for frustrated, angry listeners who ached for something heavy, but sneered at the conventions of traditional heavy metal. A decade down the jagged road, dozens of bands have copied the Korn blueprint, making original songwriting a daunting challenge for Davis, bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, guitarists James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch, and drummer David Silveria. Yet as difficult as it has been to birth pioneering new tunes, it's become all the more imperative for the group since Korn's music is the purest form of therapy for all involved — a way to confront nagging demons without committing grievous bodily harm.

On Untouchables, Davis once again shouts, growls and groans about betrayal, frustration, rage and self-doubt. On the first single, "Here to Stay," he sings, "I take my face and bash it into a mirror/ I won't have to see the pain. Bleed, bleed/ This state is elevating as the hurt turns into hating/ Anticipating all the f---ed up feelings again."

"I don't like painting flowers in my music," Davis said recently from a park in Los Angeles. "I like painting guts and pain. I am not afraid to explore myself and dig deep in my songs. I'm a human being and every human being has problems. I just chose to deal with the dark things in my life in music."

Part 2

And Korn have experienced quite a few dark things over the past couple of years that have inspired the cathartic rhythms and wrenching melodies of Untouchables, which comes out June 11. There were romantic woes and stints of drug and alcohol recovery, but first and foremost, drummer David Silveria had to overcome a severe wrist injury that left him out of commission in March 2000 while the band was on tour. Since Korn are a true and loyal gang, his bandmates were determined to wait out his recovery.

"That's the main reason the album took so long," Davis said. "They went through tons of different doctors, acupuncture — all kinds of different methods and they could not figure out what was going on with his body and why his arm was giving out. They finally figured out that he had an extra rib and it was pinching some nerves. So he had to go through some crazy surgery where they had to cut his arm open and remove his rib."

Following the surgery, Silveria underwent a period of grueling rehabilitation. During the downtime, Fieldy worked on his Fieldy's Dreams hip-hop album, Rock N Roll Gangster, and Davis started penning songs for the "Queen of the Damned" soundtrack, which indulged his theatrical muse and gave him new avenues to explore when Korn returned to the studio in January 2001.

"This new album took a little less than a year to finish," Davis said. "We had to wait because we wanted to do it all together. The five of us really put 100 percent of our heart into it, more than on any other album."

The effort shows clearly throughout the disc. Versions of songs from Untouchables that were leaked over the Internet are raw and dynamic, invoking the neo-metal sound the band helped conceive, while updating their music with a more dramatic and tuneful flair. Album opener "From Your Heart" rides a surging down-tuned guitar riff, then slides into a brooding rhythm and ominous, moody vocals. The first single, "Here to Stay," hisses and chugs like a greasy, possessed locomotive, and peaks with one of the band's most infectious choruses to date. And "All My Hate," which summons aspects of goth and new wave like a less depressed Marilyn Manson, trudges through a dense, groove-laden rhythm then extricates itself with a poppy vocal and background harmonies.

"We've raised the bar on this one," Davis said. "There are new elements that come from working on the movies and a lot of different flavor to Korn. It's a little bit mellower ..."

He cut himself off and changed his tune, as if sensing he may be accused of going soft by uttering such a statement. "It's heavy, but it isn't the [usual] Korn definition of heavy," he continued. "It is not heavy like Morbid Angel or some death metal. It is a different kind of heavy, but it is very, very heavy."

Davis also called Untouchables deeper and more thought-out than most modern metal discs. In part, that stems from Korn's ongoing effort to better themselves, in part it derives from a desire to carry on a rock legacy other groups seem not to care about.

"I think the record makes you think and takes you somewhere," he said. "It's an album that has a soul and substance. I think a lot of music out there now has no substance to it and no depth. It is just churned-out corporate rock. It seems like bands have stopped making timeless, great rock albums like they did back in the day. So we really took our time, but it was well worth it."

Part 3

Korn chose the name Untouchables not to invoke any sort of invincible mob image or to honor director Brian De Palma, whose 1987 film of the same name was infused with the kind of violence and intensity Korn thrive on. Ironically, they selected the moniker to reflect the idea of being an underdog with little hope for the future.

"The 'untouchables' are part of the caste system in India," Davis said. "They have three different ranks of people there — the rich, the middle rung and the lowest of low, which are the untouchables. People are not to look at them or talk to them and they get spit on. I think that America has its own untouchables, made up of all the kids that get tattoos and piercings. They just want to express themselves and do something different. But if they want to be rock stars or go into movies or do art their parents shun them and say that it is horrible and they shouldn't do that and they need to get a real job."

From day one, Korn have always identified with their audience, insisting that if they weren't up on the stage, they'd be just like those kids in the crowd. Even after critical acclaim and multiplatinum sales, they still see themselves as mavericks.

"We're untouchables, too," Davis said. "Some churches say we are Satanists. Anyone that is different and doesn't conform to the very conservative world we live in can fall into that untouchables category."

Two months before Untouchables was scheduled for release, versions of all 14 tracks were leaked over various Internet file-sharing services. First, the track "Here to Stay" wound up online around the same time Korn were preparing to debut the song on their Web site, and within hours, radio stations across the country were playing the churning, churlish tune. No one's exactly sure how it was leaked since no one in the press or at radio was sent the song, but hearing "Here to Stay" booming across the air prematurely was the least of Korn's problems. Within two weeks, the whole album was available on Web sites including Kazaa, Audio Galaxy and Morpheus.

Then in early April, syndicated New York radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony played four songs from the album on the air. Korn's record label immediately faxed the DJs a cease and desist letter, but the floodgates were already open: Other program directors across the country interpreted the pre-screening as an invitation to let Untouchables out of the chamber two months before its official release. Folks who worked with the band were more freaked than a freak on a leash, though Davis was a bit less concerned.

"The only thing that made me mad about it was that the album was unfinished," he said. "But I have no problem with the Internet. Our whole purpose is to get our music out to people and let them hear it, and if that is the way it is going [out there] then I have no problem with it. You can't fight technology, so you might as well join it."

Davis is so nonchalant partially because he's convinced fans that burned all 14 tracks are still going to line up at record stores when the LP hits stores.

"Kids want to download it now to hear it, but they are going to want to buy it later," he insisted. "I want to hold a CD I didn't burn. I hate burnt CDs. It's like having a tape cassette dub. I want to hold the artwork. I want all of the things that are involved in it. I want the CD-extra. And I like going to a record store and buying it. That is the best part. If you are a music lover, there's a whole thing about going and doing that."

Whether the album rises to the multiplatinum sales levels of their past efforts or not, Korn are not terribly worried about it.

"We always know we are going to have our spot and we are not afraid of anything," Davis asserted. "Let all those other metal bands come and go and do what they wanna do. We're just gonna kick back and do our thing. For us, success is not about going out and selling a billion albums. It's about going out and being able to play live for our fans. That is what we do. That's what gets us off."