It's safe to say that by the time Korn knuckled down to record their seventh studio album in mid-2005, the band was in a serious state of flux. Not only had they changed labels after over a decade with Sony - signing a unique, megabucks deal with EMI and Virgin Records that saw them get a smooth $25 million advance in exchange for a piece of the band's merch and tour revenues - but they were about to embark on their first chapter without guitarist and founding member, Brian 'Head' Welch.
Head had jumped ship earlier in the year, citing years of addiction battles and becoming a born again Christian as his chief reasons for leaving (he'd triumphantly return eight years later). It was a hammer blow to a band that had become one of the biggest things in contemporary metal, but the show had to go on, and go on it did.
