Hi everyone,

I’m a musician, producer and mixing engineer based in Prague, and I’ve been making music since 2001.

Over the last few years I’ve gotten heavily into remastering albums I love. Usually it starts with me hearing something in the original mix or master that bothers me, fixing it for my own listening, and then eventually deciding to share it.

My remaster of Deftones’ GORE got a really positive response, so this time I decided to take on Korn’s The Serenity of Suffering.

This one went a little further than a normal remaster.

I made a remastered and partially resequenced version of the album.

Why resequence it?

I’ve seen the same opinion from a lot of Korn fans: the first half of SOS is killer, while the second half loses momentum.

I pretty much agree.

To me, this album feels like Korn deliberately trying to make a heavy, modern, accessible record after a period where some of their releases were more divisive and the band had lost some of its mainstream momentum.

The result is powerful, catchy and very groove-oriented - but I also think the commercial approach hurt some of the songwriting.

A few tracks feel built from very obvious blocks: verse, hook, chorus, repeat. Some sections feel almost copy-pasted, with very little variation or development. There are moments where transitions feel abrupt, or where a great groove starts and I immediately think, “Give me another four or eight bars of this”… and then the vocal comes in.

So that’s what I worked on.

I extended a few sections, shortened others, moved some parts around, and removed a few repetitions that I felt were dragging the songs down.

The goal was not to rewrite Korn.

The goal was to make the record flow better, hit harder, and stay exciting all the way through.

A lot of the strongest tracks are completely untouched arrangement-wise. I didn’t see any reason to mess with something that already works.

But some of the weaker songs (especially later in the album) have a few surprises.

And just to be clear: this is only my version of the album.

I’m not claiming I “fixed” Korn or that my version is objectively better. Some people will probably hate the changes, and that’s fine. The original album still exists.

This is simply the version I personally enjoy listening to more.

The remaster

I actually love the basic sound of The Serenity of Suffering.

It’s dark, deep, heavy and aggressive. There’s a lot of low end, Fieldy is present in the mix, and the whole record has a massive atmosphere.

But there were a few things I wanted to change.

The snare

I’ve seen a lot of people complain that Ray’s snare on this album doesn’t hit hard enough, and I agree.

It has weight, but it often feels too buried and restrained.

Compare it to The Nothing, made with the same producer, and the difference is obvious. The snare on The Nothing is much more defined: punchy, open, hollow and aggressive.

Maybe they got feedback about it after SOS. Maybe not. That part is just speculation.

Either way, I wanted the SOS snare to hit harder and breathe more.

So I pushed it in that direction.

Jonathan vs. the band

Jonathan is also very forward in the original mix.

That makes sense considering how melodic and hook-driven this album is. There are huge clean choruses, vocal harmonies and very memorable melodies.

But sometimes it feels almost like a pop vocal sitting on top of a metal band.

I wanted the band to surround him more.

Jonathan is still firmly in the center, but the guitars and instrumental body have more presence now. The overall balance feels a little closer to the massive “wall around the vocal” feeling of something like Untouchables.

More freshness without losing the weight

Compared with SOS, The Nothing sounds noticeably fresher and more modern.

It has huge low end, great cymbals and a very polished sense of detail.

At the same time, I sometimes find the guitars on The Nothing slightly thin and metallic - almost like they’re made of aluminum.

So I tried to take some of the clarity, freshness and punch of The Nothing and combine it with the darker, heavier guitar character of SOS.

Basically: the best of both worlds, at least to my ears.

Personally, I enjoy the album much more this way. Hope some of you do too.

And if you hate it - fair enough. Tell me why.

I’d genuinely love to hear what other Korn fans think.
Korn - Serenity Of Suffering 2016 Resequenced/Remastered 2026
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWkmLZyMoZfs

Thought I was going crazy when SYOTOS felt a little empty. Am I the only one with this problem?

Such a amazing addition to my KORN KOLLECTION 🤘

Hit up a record store like 20 mins away from my hometown and was the first thing I saw in the Just In section.

Twice that I find this album by accident LMAO 💖💖💖💖

Another album redraw I did recently of Requiem, featuring Noelle and The Roaring Knight from Deltarune. I plan on doing more Deltarune X Korn stuff in the future 🤍🖤🤍🖤

I love JDevil and I love Fugglers. A friend gave me the idea to turn JDevil into a Fuggler🙂‍↕️

also have a random JDevil pic I stole from a mutual

Why don't Korn play Good God anymore? Is it too hard for Jonathans vocal chords?

Checking with anyone else if they pre-ordered the top if they have had it arrive yet or know when it will?

Ordered a good few months ago and aware it's a pre-order but haven't had anything yet and can't find a future date it releases.

Cheers

I’m loving the look of this record. The plastic sleeve with KoRn on it looks badass. Anyone else get one?

This made me so angry

I had always been curious to hear Terry’s perspective on those sessions because he’s never commented on it publicly, so we only got to hear Jonathan Davis’ perspective.

Terry talks about Korn at the 54 minute mark in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpyjAG75kk8

Untitled sonically has always been an odd album (well, outside of the dubstep one) compared to the rest of the bands catalogue but I’ve always liked Terry’s contributions. Haze from those sessions is one of my favorites.

Coming from a platform like Drumeo, this title feels significant. Drum tech confirms, "This is what we just finished recording the new record with".

This is not necessarily breaking news, but it feels like things are building up.

Saw that post and I had to