Jonathan Davis Writes Off Sepultura's 'Roots' as a "Blatant Korn Ripoff"

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Oct 7, 2016

If you didn't notice, Sepultura and Korn have both been on the promo train recently. The former recently returned with a new 7-inch while ex-members Max and Igor Cavalera take Sepultura's famed Roots on tour, and nü metal mainstays Korn are gearing up for their new album The Serenity of Suffering this month. Now, though, the two camps are clashing head-on thanks to some less than kind words from Korn frontman Jonathan Davis.

Speaking to Metal Hammer, Davis dedicated some time to bashing Sepultura's 1996 full-length Roots. He even went as far as saying it was a "blatant Korn ripoff."

"Slipknot were inspired by what we did, but they took it and did their own thing, which is fucking amazing," Davis said. "One that I thought was a big compliment, but I also thought was fucked up, was Sepultura's Roots album. That was just a blatant Korn ripoff, and I had it out with producer Ross Robinson about that, because he just took our sound and gave it to Sepultura. My young brain couldn't handle it."

That said, Davis wasn't totally dismissive of the Sepultura crew, saying, "But they were one of our biggest influences, so I guess they get a pass. And that's a classic album, so it's all good."

Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer also had this to say: "Here's the thing — that was us trying to imitate them! When Sepultura released Chaos A.D. in 1993, that was a huge influence on us, and it's still one of my favourite records. Now I'm older, I can appreciate art inspiring art."

As previously reported, Korn's The Serenity of Suffering is due out on October 12 via Roadrunner, while you can see all the "Return to Roots" dates here.

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