Korn released “Start the Healing” on November 11, 2021, as the first single from Requiem, their 14th studio album. It introduced a record made with more time to experiment and a closer working relationship between Jonathan Davis and his bandmates. The release also came with a music video directed by Tim Saccenti.
The guitar part gave that experimentation a concrete shape. James “Munky” Shaffer told Mixdown that he wanted the weight of Korn’s lower register without repeating the same approach. He moved the riff into C-sharp and let an open D string ring against it, taking a dissonant effect they often used higher up the guitar onto its lower strings. That choice also left the open A available for the bridge. Brian “Head” Welch traced the idea to a guitar sample Shaffer had heard in electronic music.
Those experiments developed during an unusual stretch of freedom. Korn reconvened in mid-2020 after the pandemic stopped touring. Welch told the same magazine that the sessions began without a label or a deadline, giving them room to take chances. He had initially welcomed the prospect of a break, but getting together to make music proved valuable in itself. Korn co-produced the album with Chris Collier.
Davis’s involvement changed the decisions being made in the room. In a February 2022 interview with The Ringer, he explained that personal circumstances had kept him apart from the band’s writing sessions for three records. Previously, they sent him songs and he recorded his parts separately. For Requiem, he could respond as ideas developed. “With this record, I was there from day one,” he said. His bandmates could hear immediately which ideas connected with him and move on when something wasn’t working.
The additional studio time extended to recording on analogue tape, a choice highlighted in Kerrang!’s original announcement. Davis also told The Ringer that some songs involved as many as 24 vocal tracks, with different microphones used along the way. Lyrics still came late in his process, after the music and vocal melody.
Davis described being happier during this period while continuing to work through difficult feelings. That combination gives the single’s title a useful context: the record made room for improvement without pretending the pain had disappeared.
Saccenti carried the song’s theme into its video through images of death and rebirth. Working with 3D artist Anthony Ciannamea, he combined the band’s performance with distorted creatures and bodies. In comments published by Kerrang!, the director described wanting the film to take viewers through an emotional journey that could connect with their own struggles. The performance footage kept Korn present within that imagined world.
Requiem followed through Loma Vista Recordings on February 4, 2022. Its nine-song sequence placed “Start the Healing” third, after “Forgotten” and “Let the Dark Do the Rest.”
