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I suppose the writing was on the wall leading up to the release of See You on
the Other Side. In February of 2005 longtime guitarist Brian “Head” Welch
departed the band to become a holy roller. His justification for that decision
continues to this day with mind-boggling quotes like “I hate religion. I love
God.” After deciding not to enlist a new guitarist and continue as a quartet,
the band brought in the Matrix to produce the album. Yes, friends, the Matrix’s
resume contains such crushing hard rock acts as Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff.
That the band is off their rockers goes without saying, but their desperate
attempt to separate themselves from the genre they created only comes off as an
embarrassment.
The success of “Word Up,” a cover of Cameo’s 1986 hit – available on Korn’s
Greatest Hits Vol. 1, has undoubtedly influenced the sound and approach to
See You on the Other Side. The album’s first track, “Twisted Transistor,”
verified my deepest fears regarding where this band was headed. Overproduced on
the scale of today’s worst pop acts, Korn is attempting the impossible task of
appealing to their longtime fans who have been on the train since 1994 and
clubbers who think they’re the ones who wrote “Another Brick in the Wall” after
listening to the aforementioned Greatest Hits album.
It only gets more confusing from here, as singer Jonathan Davis crassly spews
about politics and sex. Take the song “Politics,” for example. The main verse
runs "Don't give a shit about politics…Don't want to talk about politics."
Okay, so why write a song about it? Because it’s the trendy thing to do, that’s
why. Every band ranging from rock to bluegrass has an anti-government anthem
these days. Davis’ rants about sex are shockingly misogynistic and filthy. Song
titles such as “10 or a 2-Way” and “Getting Off” should give you a good idea of
what to expect, but you’ll likely feel like taking a shower after listening to
them.
Musically the band as a whole still sounds pretty good, but they are desperately
missing the back-and-forth antics of Welch and fellow guitarist James “Munky”
Shaffer. Munky is saddled with the entire load this time around, and his
down-tuned 7-string still packs a punch. His riffing on “Hypocrites” and
“Souvenir” is vintage Korn. Bassist Fieldy and drummer David Silveria can still
bring the goods, although they are simply overpowered at times by Davis and
Shaffer.
Times are changing and Korn knew it going into this record. Their brand of music
is fizzling out in favor of more traditional, aggressive, multiple guitar-laden
metal acts. See You on the Other Side is a last-ditch effort to stay
relevant, but it falls short. The best days of Korn are long over, but they will
nevertheless still be remembered, like them or not, as a landmark band who
brought an entirely new form of metal to the table back in 1994. Whether See
You on the Other Side is band’s farewell experiment I do not know, but one
thing is for certain: they will never be the same again, and they’d be better
off just hanging it up.
~Bill Clark
bclark@bullz-eye.com
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