KoRn is a band that has been around for twenty years. They are also one of the most polarizing bands of the last twenty years. Although their songs are often heavy and frequently incorporates metal style growls courtesy of frontman Jonathan Davis, KoRn’s style is too erratic and too nontraditional for many fans of heavy metal. On the flip side KoRn’s music is way too heavy and occasionally vulgar for many mainstream rock fans. Forging their own musical style inspired by heavy metal and influenced by hip-hop they were credited in the late 90’s as creating a whole new genre of music that would inspire a long list of copycats and would later become known as nu-metal, which is a stigmatic title even the members of KoRn resent as many people use it as an implication of musical ineptitude. Still its not often a band comes along that is so different it comes to define a whole new genre of music.
KoRn is going strong well over a decade after the nu-metal scene has all but disappeared. A few bands from that era still exist but none have reached the level of success that KoRn has achieved. Despite the polarizing nature of KoRn’s music since their self-titled album debuted in 1994 the band has sold over 35 million records worldwide with 11 of their official releases peaking in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Eight of their official releases are certified Platinum or Multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and one album is certified Gold, 28 of their 41 singles have charted and they have even won 2 Grammy Awards.
In 2005 founding member Brian “Head” Welsh, guitarist as well as backup vocalist for KoRn announced his departure from the band. This was big news as KoRn developed their unique sound around a 2 guitarist dynamic and many were left to wonder how the band would carry on without him. “Take a Look In the Mirror” was KoRn’s last studio release with “Head” and was KoRn’s heaviest album overall at that time. The first album without “Head” was “See You On the Other Side.” It was sort of like KoRn meets Alice in Wonderland. It wasn’t quite as heavy as “Take a Look in the Mirror” but “See You on the Other Side” was a very interesting follow up full of bizarre themes and creativity. I actually caught KoRn on tour for this album at the Continental Arena in the Meadowlands and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. The stage show was just crazy and the band sounded great. They had a second drum kit stage left with one guy playing the drum kit sitting down in a full suit wearing a pig mask and another guy in a full suit wearing a rabbit mask leaning over the drum kit from the outside of it and both guys in suits were playing simultaneously with each other and the drummer from KoRn. They also had a giant brain walk across the stage on its own brain stem and all of the wrinkles in the brain looked like people intertwined. While that happened KoRn played over 5 different songs of theirs from different albums into each other ultimately finishing with the song they had started with. The show was amazing.
After the “See You On the Other Side” tour ended founding drummer David Silveria went on an indefinite hiatus and the rest of KoRn followed up the success of that album with an “MTV Unplugged” album recorded live at MTV studios in NYC. To be generous it was awful. KoRn’s influences and styles just don’t lend themselves well to the unplugged sound. Listening to KoRn unplugged is like having someone like Skrillex do an acoustic set, while mildly entertaining at first for the sheer novelty it presents the whole thing quickly overstays its welcome and you start begging for the love of god pick up an electric instrument and plug it in!
The same year as the unplugged album KoRn released their “Untitled” album. There is little doubt that losing two founding members of the band had put the remaining band mates in a bit of a strange place. Drummer Terry Bozzio of Frank Zappa fame was hired to record on the album with a ridiculously huge drum kit. This album showcased a wide variety of instruments experimenting with different sounds. The lyrics explore the feelings of a band struggling with the emotions of losing two major members and while there is definitely some unmistakable hostility on this album it is undercut with an overwhelming reality of a band that realizes it must go on into the unknown with or without those who helped to start it. Ultimately even without “Head” and the recent departure of David the band’s efforts still yielded some great songs. The lyrical writing showed more growth and the end result of “Untitled’s” over all sound is still without a doubt a KoRn album.
“KoRn III: Remember Who You Are” is a raw album. Stripped any effects from previous entries in the KoRn library this album was recorded on analog tapes to give it a sound familiar to the early days of KoRn when they were just starting out and to help the band tap into their roots. Sort of a, “to go forward we need to remember where we came from” kind of thing. The album features the drum styling of Ray Luzier who drummed for David Lee Roth for many years. “KoRn III” is an album just dripping with hostility. The songs still don’t showcase that heavy bass that was heard back on “Take a Look in the Mirror” but the frantic guitars paired with Jonathan Davis’s hostile vocals is palpable. The album is dripping with manic anger. For some reason, whether or not its the analog recording I am unsure, the songs on this album can occasionally sound a bit flat as if the full depth of the instruments were not captured properly and muffled just a bit. This album showcases some of KoRn’s best lyrics with lines like, “love without affection is hate without the pain, life is a connection separate from the brain.” Its a good album but it just lacks that old-school flavor of the original KoRn albums for it to be a true return to the classic style of KoRn partially due to the analog recording style but also in part because for long time fans of KoRn to truly return to its roots they would need to recapture that 2 guitar dynamic that defined KoRn’s sound.
The follow up to “KoRn III” was “The Path of Totality” a dubstep infused KoRn album. An idea that many longtime fans myself included were fairly skeptical about. I mean it kind of made sense for KoRn to go this route as a reaction to recording their last album with such a minimalist approach to go full out into big effects, electric sounds and whatnot but still dubstep. I get a lot of the concerns with this album having all the instruments going through processors that were manipulated by various dubstep artists and how easy it would be for the instrument to get lost in the mix. To be honest that does happen on this album. It took me a while to really give this album a shot. Once I gave it a fair shot and listened to it all the way through I realized that they actually pulled it off. Somehow KoRn had taken dubstep and made it work. Not only did they make it work in many regards it was the best album KoRn had done in years. In regards to “The Path of Totality,” KoRn had created their first album in years that didn’t sound like them experimenting with instruments or trying to recapture something that was long gone and instead whole heartedly trying something new. This was the first album since “See You On the Other Side” to feel like a full fledged KoRn album again.
Early this year a photo surfaced of lead singer Jonathan Davis hugging estranged guitarist Brian “Head” Welch on stage and the rumors began. Would “Head” join the band again? Would he record on a new album? We soon learned the answer to both questions were yes and all we could do was wait and see what would happen. Enter “The Paradigm Shift.” This is the best thing to come from Korn in over a decade. My first instinct with this album is to tell anyone who is even remotely into KoRn or ever thought about listening to them to put this album into their music player crank the sound to 11 and break the fucking knob off. While the dubstep album strangely worked for KoRn this album is the one KoRn fans have been hoping to get for years. It takes all the different musical experiences from KoRn’s past and distills them into a pure and potent cocktail. The songs feature some of the strongest structure and writing ever from KoRn. The soundscapes combine with Jonathan Davis’s vocals to create songs that are truly haunting. For instance on the song “Punishment Time” which features one of KoRn’s best riffs ever as well as choruses the song breaks its high tempo and falls into a soft verse out of nowhere before it crescendo’s back into its vicious riff. The experience is surreal. Its schizophrenic its reminiscent of the early albums from KoRn and at times genuinely feels like your listening to the inner workings of a poetic psychotic but its a refined insanity that takes the listening experience to the next level.
The overall sound is sort of like a bionic evolution of KoRn. The sound is familiar enough to remind you of the early days but its like the protagonist at the end of a good action movie. The fight to the end was arduous and the protagonist needed to grow to overcome their obstacles to search within themselves and remember why they joined the fight in the first place and why they must still fight. This album is that scene at the end of that action movie, after the protagonist has defeated the final boss and he emerges from the burning rubble of his enemies lair, beaten, burnt, and smoking but they still stand, tougher and wiser for the experience. The years during “Head” and David’s departure from KoRn had left the band in a bit of an identity crisis but it also inspired some of the bands most creative works. After losing 2 core members of the band, KoRn had found a way to carry on and develop musically. “The Pardigm Shift” is not just a triumphant return for “Head” to the band it is the band’s triumphant return to form.
David Silveria may never return as drummer but Ray Luzier is also a great drummer who’s style suits KoRn very well. KoRn is not metal and they aren’t rock n’ roll they are just KoRn. They are heavy, often angry with psychotic tendencies, at times schizophrenic and they just wouldn’t be the same any other way. Every song on “The Paradigm Shift” could be an anthem in its own right but personal favorites would be “Love and Meth,” “What We Do,” “Mass Hysteria,” “Punishment Time,” “Lullaby for a Sadist,” “It’s All Wrong,” and “Tell Me What You Want.” I am not saying this is the be-all, end-all KoRn album but it is a lean album that proves KoRn is still very much a relevant band in the music world with plenty of good new and interesting music to offer. “Head’s” return seems to have really energized the band and it will be interesting to see where KoRn goes from here.
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