Korn III: Remember who you are --- Korn --- 2010 (Roadrunner)
Nu-metal eh? The very name conjures up images of derision and disappointment. Isn't this the sub genre that mixes rap in with metal? How can those two go together? Or am I getting it wrong? Korn seem to be somewhat revered or at least acknowledged by proper metal fans, but are they a metal band or just playing off the tag, trying to reel metal fans in? I've never heard a single Korn song before, never mind an album, so this will all be new to me.
There's a slow and gradual intro to "Uber time", with sound effects, spoken words and what sounds almost like a tuneup but I'm expecting it to explode any time soon. It's getting louder and more powerful and there it goes. Growling guitar and bouncy drumbeat but the vocal when it comes in is --- wow! Clean! --- somehow I expected a growler or a screamer. So who's their singer? Jonathan Davis. Okay, quick check: was he there all the time? Yep. Founder member. So it's fist-pumping, energetic but a little restrained and I don't hate it. Interesting. Oh wait, my mistake. I'm now listening to "Oildale (Leave me alone)", the other was just an instrumental introduction.
"Pop a pill" has an almost heavy Waits vibe to it, sort of reminiscent of some of the darker stuff off "Bone machine" or "Blood money", with a punchy rhythm and a vocal that drips with desperation. Davis channels Bowie then in the final minutes of the song before Jams "Munky" Shaffer lets loose on the guitar. There's more of a dancy beat to "Fear is a place to live", not too much heavy about this at all. Almost new-wave or maybe semi-industrial. Veering rather close to rap in the vocal. There is some growling in it, but it seems silly and out of place. "Move on" then returns to the heavy rhythms with thick guitar and solid drumming and quite a progressive feel to it, then "Lead the parade" is just a complete mess. Awful.
When I say "Let the guilt go" is better, well, anything would be better than the previous track, but it's all right, nothing to write home about really. "The past" is better, with some really hard grinding guitar alternating with some quiet, introspective fretwork, again quite progressive then that sort of style persists for "Never around", and "Are you ready to live" has a certain frenetic energy and enthusiasm about it with a decent hook in there too. The album then ends on "Holding all these lies", a big heavy guitar ender with Davis returning to the Bowiesque style of singing. A pretty cool guitar solo to take us out.
TRACKLISTING
1. Uber-time
2. Oildale (Leave me alone)
3. Pop a pill
4. Fear is a place to live
5. Move on
6. Lead the parade
7. Let the guilt go
8. The past
9. Never around
10. Are you ready to live?
11. Holding all these lies
Having listened to this album I'm not quite sure what to make of Korn. In places it's certainly metal, or close to it, in others it verges towards grunge and in others, gothic or even electronica. Very strange. I'd say there's probably more decent tracks here than terrible ones, but it's not an album that would make me an instant fan of Korn. Then again, it wouldn't turn me off them completely either. Sort of jury still out, to some degree I think.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korn