Issues

Korn have always gone out of their way to inject ugly themes into their brutal rap-metal. The Bakersfield, Calif., quintet has sung about incest, child abuse, murder -- all in one song. Their predilection for grim subjects continues on Issues. Their fourth CD is said to be inspired by singer Jonathan Davis' battle with alcoholism -- which seems apt, as Korn's songs feel like nothing so much as delirium tremens set to music.

Rock has given us some great, mostly humorous dipsomaniac ditties: the Kinks' ''Alcohol,'' the Who's ''Whiskey Man.'' But an entire alcoholism concept album, one that doesn't sidestep the disease's deadly human toll, is a rarity. ''Issues'' is as serious as cirrhosis -- and about as much fun.

This time out, Korn have traded in their rap tendencies for prog-rock pretense, the better to offset their trademark bludgeoning riffs. Imagine Queen covering the Melvins. On the opening track, ''Dead,'' as Davis whispers, ''All I want in life is to be happy,'' a choir chants, ''It seems funny to me/How f---ed things can be.'' It's the disc's one moment of questionable levity.

Most songs veer between gothic dirges and rumbling assaults tailor-made for moshing. Davis screams, whines, pleads, whimpers, and bellows his pain throughout. But the formula wears as thin as the self-parodying lyrics (''I'm about to break/This is my fate/Am I still damned to a life/Of misery and hate?'').

For all its raw power, Korn's music isn't terribly cathartic. Its industrial-strength kick quickly subsides, leaving little in its wake save ringing ears. A session with ''Issues'' is likely to leave you feeling as if you've just come out of a blackout following a three-day bender, greeted by the certainty that whatever just transpired was horrendous. Maybe that's the point. Still, I'd rather hear the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's ''Drunk Again.''

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