Often dubbed the god fathers of nu-metal, Korn return with their seventh album. In 2005 Korn lost guitarist Brian Welch to Christianity, signed a new record deal with Virgin and set about re-defining their sound as a four piece. This album has a completely different sound from albums like ‘Follow The Leader’ and ‘Life Is Peachy’ so don’t buy it if you’re after more of the same. The Korn sound has definitely evolved; no more flippant lyrics about dreaming bout sex or debuting their latest single on South Park. There are co-writer credits from The Matrix, who have previously worked with the likes of Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff, and also Atticus, the drummer/programmer who has collaborated with Nine Inch Nails.
There is a clear distinction between the songs co-written by The Matrix with their catchy choruses and the industrial rock sound of the ones co-written by Atticus. The album opens with the first single off the album, ‘Twisted Transistor’ and once you get over the unexpected sound coming from a Korn CD, the new sound is clean, polished and highly produced. Tracks like ‘Politics’, ‘Hypocrites’ and ‘Souvenir’ have really great, catchy choruses and ‘Open Up’ and ‘Love Song’ are darkly epic.
It’s not all nu-Korn there is twisted artwork, bagpipes make an appearance and songs like ‘Getting Off’ and ‘Liar’ are fast paced and old school. Jonathan’s vocals have improved over the years but you still get to hear his trademark freaky rasp. ‘Coming Undone’ and ‘Seen It All’ are a bit dull but slow builder ‘Tearjerker’, is a surprisingly pretty for a Korn song and a good ending to the album.
This experimental album marks a bold change of direction from a band that could have just spent 12 years churning out re-titled versions of ‘Follow The Leader’.
