The Paradigm Shift

KOЯN | CHAPTER ELEVEN

Despite the first listen being less than stellar, and me at the beginning thinking this was a poor rehash of the other 10 records, subsequent listens revealed that this is the closest they’ve ever come to that original Follow The Leader/Issues/Untouchables sound, maybe due in part to previous guitarist Head rejoining after quitting 9 years prior. I just feel a new freshness in the band that spreads across all these tracks, regardless of whether I even like all of them. I do feel like this is a mashup of the sounds of their other 10 albums and I think in its own right it leads to a new sound for the band. It recaptures what made people love them so many years ago and is their first great record since 2005’s SYOTOS, 8 years ago.

I think much like some of their best albums (Korn, Issues, Untouchables, SYOTOS) this is a very dynamic album and I think it succeeds in keeping me entertained for the entire run time, which honestly feels brisk and leads to a lot more replayability. They add a lot of electronics into the mix too and showcase more of an ambition here that felt lacking in the last couple albums. The soft parts, being my favorite parts from Korn usually, are as great as ever here and songs like Punishment Time have one of my favorite Korn Bridges because of that. Jonathan as well sounds great on here, sounding incredibly versatile and not sounding very aged at all despite being in his early 40’s at this point. The lyrics are pretty great on here, having a lot more varied and interesting song topics, way moreso than the last two albums. The production is just consistently great with everyone sounding almost prime material here, though Fieldy’s playing has gotten progressively less interesting the less and less he does the signature low slapping percussive bass he’s known for. And finally the hooks on here are great, and catchy 90% of the time. Just irresistibly catchy.

My least favorite part of this record is probably the ending as It’s All Wrong is a fairly uninteresting closer that seems to just end abruptly. Paranoid and Aroused is another rather uninteresting cut that doesn’t have much diversity and kinda sounds like an Untouchables song that was left on the drawing room floor. Besides that though I find this album consistently enjoyable and as a great return to form and a breath of fresh air after Korn had released 1 mediocre album, 1 terrible album, and a fairly good album that didn’t impress me but surprised me because I thought it’d be pure trash. I can only hope the next two are as good and they both seem to have the band’s highest scores since Untouchables, so in this final chapter today we’ll see if Korn has a good middle of the decade and closes out the decade with a bang.

Favorite Tracks: Prey For Me, Love & Meth, What We Do, Spike In My Veins, Mass Hysteria, Never Never, Punishment Time, Lullaby For A Sadist, Victimized

Okay Tracks: None

Least Favorite Tracks: Paranoid And Aroused, It’s All Wrong

(82 - 69

It does what it has to, but the production feels sorta plastic and it seems like it was made just to be a quick people pleaser. Some great highlights but 2010-2013 is a bit of a low point for korn).