Once there was an amazing band. The music they played was different to everything we ever heard. It was hard and heavy. It was loud, but still had its intense melancholic and captivating moments. The voice of the vocalist was magic. He used it in a way we've never heard any singer doing it before. What I remember when I saw them live in 2006 was that the bass was flowing through my veins, freezing my blood and electrifying my whole body. I shaked. The moment the band got unto the stage I wasn't standing on the floor anymore. The people were jumping around and pushing each others so hard, that all of a sudden I was lifted and the only thing I was able to do was to pull the arms of my friends, so that I wouldn't get hurt. It was magical and it was intense. For anyone who doesn't know who I am talking about (which would be silly, because you can already see the picture above), I am talking about the amazing metal band Korn.
Their first selftitled album "Korn" came out in 1994 with one of my favourite songs of them "Blind" showing exactly what I was saying in the beginning - something new. Something different to the Grunge-stuff that was occurring in the 90's. It was even harder that Nirvana. And we all know that Nirvana made some big polemics in that time... oh yeah... they were THE shock! But now it's 2010 and in fact after eight albums I think that we had enough of the same riffs, of the same vocals and of that same angry and mad lyrics. I don't even want to make this a song per song review, because I don't think that it is necessary. Imho this might be the worst album they ever made and I am so sad, that they are not making something that blows me away. Surely this might be great for anyone that loves to bang their head till it falls off, but I must say, that we have enough of music to kill ourselves drinking and moshing around.
In fact when some of the songs started I really thought "oh well... this sounds amazing", but after a couple of seconds it just went back to the same we had on all the previous albums.
The album kicks of with "Uber-time". When I listened to this intro I really was hoping for an amazing album with songs such as "Tearjerker" (my all-time favourite Korn track), but unfortunately my expectations were destroyed by the follow ups. I'm not saying that the songs are bad, they are just nothing special, because they sound just the same as all the songs we got on other albums. I just don't see any progression in their sound. Jonathan (vocalist) sounds just the same and the riffs and beats are like they were ten years ago.
Everyone that loves mucis (specially this type of music) knows that Korn is an amazing band and that those guys know how to write music... I mean we had "Freak On A Leash", we had "Alone I Break" and all the other AMAZING tracks. So tell me... why are they making us listen to something that sounds like an attempt to their old work?
Sometimes it's better to change than to repeat it all over again...
they sometimes change, but listening to untitled album proves that non-changing is better for them..so i wouldn't say that they repeat all over again. but i partially agree with you. however, i seem to quite like new shit, though it seems kinda boring after 2 listens. we'll see.
ReplyDeleteand the singer's name is jonathan, not jordan ;)
Great review. There are some very good riffs and choruses on this album, but the overall quality is low. Anyway, it's hard to fulfill your expectations when you've got discs like "Korn", "Untouchables" or "Take A Look In The Mirror" behind.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there's no need for me to underline the overwhelming importance that Head and Silveria had in the band. It's just obvious.