KoRn have returned with ‘Reward the Scars’, their first new single in four years. Listen below.
The US nu-metal band recorded the track for the Diablo IV video game expansion ‘Lord Of Hatred’, which launches next Tuesday (April 28).
It marks their first material since their 14th and latest studio album, 2022’s ‘Requiem’, and comes ahead of KoRn’s 2026 UK and European tour – their first in over a decade – kicking off this autumn.
‘Reward The Scars’ features production from Nick Raskulinecz, who started working with the group on their 12th full-length effort, ‘The Serenity Of Suffering’ (2016). The ferocious track kicks off with an instruction to “Go!“, after KoRn unleash a pummelling instrumental.
“Hey you, won’t you come around, I drop down/ Hey you, looking underground, I confound,” the first verse goes. “I’ve had enough of you/ There’s nothing you can do/ Hey you, don’t you come at me suddenly.”
The song then heads in a more anthemic direction in the chorus, albeit with some brutal guitar work: “Help me free the ones I saved/ And I can walk the path that’s laid/ Break me, take me all the way soul betrayed (Go!).”
In February, KoRn’s Brian ‘Head’ Welch gave Loudwire an update on where the band was at in terms of new music.
“We’re focusing right now on our live show,” he explained. “It feels like we don’t even need a new album. Everything’s just going so well, but that’s not to say we’re not going to find some time to go in again. I feel like it’s not [a] priority right now.”
However, he said the group were “going to meet together and see where we’re at”. Welch then teased: “There could be a couple of surprises this year. We’re going to have some cool announcements for dates around the world and stuff coming this year.”
The musician said in late 2024 that KoRn were “still working” on their next full-length effort, and had “got a lot of it [written]”, but warned fans that it wouldn’t be arriving anytime soon.
“And we’re very happy with what we got, but it’s just gonna take a while,” he went on. “And I don’t know how long – maybe next summer, maybe next year, the next winter, I don’t know, but it’s not gonna be soon.”
KoRn will play their first show of 2026 at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, tomorrow (Saturday April 25). They’ll then play a run of gigs in South America next month, ahead of some European dates in October.
Their 2026 UK and Ireland tour is scheduled to kick off in Leeds on October 26. Further dates are lined up in Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Dublin, before a headline performance at The O2 in London on November 4.
Support will come from Architects and Youth Code at the UK and Ireland gigs. Find any remaining tickets here.
Last summer saw KoRn deliver a huge headline slot at the 2025 edition of Download Festival.
Meanwhile, KoRn’s hit song ‘Freak On A Leash’ recently went viral on TikTok thanks to a new dance trend involving Zara Larsson.
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