See also:

*Our review of Korn at Hollywood Palladium, 12/6/11

*Porter Robinson: The Libertarian Dubstep Guy

*In Defense Of “Fratstep:” An Open Letter To James Blake

It's been a controversial week on the dubstep front. First, there's a libertarian dubstep guy, and then we had to deal with a spin-off called “fratstep.”

Now Korn is saying they invented dubstep?!

Kind of. “We were dubstep before there was dubstep,” the nu-metal act's frontman told Billboard recently. “Tempos at 140 with half-time drums, huge bassed-out riffs. We used to bring out 120 subwoofers and line them across the whole front of the stage, 60 subs per side. We were all about the bass.”


Korn perform tonight at Hollywood Palladium, and have a new album out today, The Path of Totality, which features folks like Grammy nominee and dubstep hero Skrillex. (Or, is he fratstep? Now we're just getting confused.)

As to Davis' claim that Korn's the forefather of dubstep, we suppose that depends on if you believe the essence of dubstep is bass and rapid-fire, thrashing repetition. By that logic, there's a case to be made for other nu-metal acts from the late '90s too.

Which means that plenty of Korn's peers could also attempt to appeal to today's dubstep fans, many of whom are probably too young to even have heard of nu-metal. (Ah, to be young.) So, here are our top five groups who could make dubstep comebacks; it's telling that many already have tons of dubstep remixes out there.

5. Static-X

Static-X frontman Wayne Static has gone solo, but the purveyor of industrial rock and futuristic disco is still into melting faces. He'd always had fun with big starts and stops, and robotic samples.

What's missing? A little funked out bounce. He could also use to fatten the synthy parts and flatten his hair.

4. Disturbed

Disturbed were always clean and precise, but they always had groove in their music, which was complemented by singer Dave Draiman's deep, scat-like delivery. One of the most rhythmic of the late '90s metal bands, their style could be easily adapted to the bass-bumping crowd.

What's missing? More dissonance. And a DJ.

Rammstein

3. The kings of German hardness are probably too well, German, to really work the dubstep angle fully. Still, as this remix shows, a little slapping up and synthing out is all it would take.

What's missing? What they really need to do is pioneer their own brand of dubstep by putting umlauts over the “u.”

2. System of A Down

Seri Tankian's theatrical vocals aside, System of A Down's song structures are as hypnotic as any dance floor freakout. The bass may play second fiddle to the riffs, but there's a hypnotic heft that could work with party hordes today.

What's missing? A Toxicity follow up called Technicity.

1. White Zombie

The whirling rhythms driving dance-rock ragers White Zombie stood out among the metal sludge, and distorted bass riffs and liquidy aural assaults continue to inform Rob Zombies' solo work. He's had the remix treatment many times with both outfits — including his own Skrillex remix — so re-animating the band with a scary monster flair should be easy.

What's missing? For starters, Rob's “Electric Head” could get a little smaller.

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