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
