Having spent an entire gig in South Carolina in a cage a few feet behind Jonathan Davis and co, watching in amazement as ten thousand rabid fans went utterly berserk as the band stormed through an hour and a half of brutal anthems, dotmusic can vouch for the punishing, emotive power of Korn at their best. But five years down the line, can the Bakersville fivesome still elicit total shock and awe with what is essentially the same bag of tricks?
The question of how to progress has been a troubling one for Korn. They were always the outsiders of the nu-metal pack, genuine innovators with a singer who displayed more sensitivity and intelligence than most of the meatheads who made a quick buck from rocking moshpits. Davis should have been the band's saviour, but Korn's last album "Untouchables", allowed the singer to indulge his Eighties goth obsession, taking them too close to Tears For Fears and Depeche Mode for comfort. As for bassist Fieldy's ill-advised rap solo album, well the less said about that the better.
So Korn find themselves at an impasse. They tried a grand leap forward with middling results, so now they've decided to go back to basics. "Take A Look In The Mirror" was developed in a mobile studio on Davis' bus during this summer's Ozzfest tour in America, presumably to capture a raw, live feel. In that respect at least, it works. There are riffs here to match the teeth-rattling brilliance of "Follow The Leader", gargantuan sludge-filled monsters that sound more like tectonic plates shifting than mere music.
But Davis has nothing new to bring to the party. He's filled with non-specific rage ("I can't control myself/I fucking hate you" - "Right Now"), trapped by his fractured emotions ("Feeling so lost and betrayed/why does this happen to me everytime"), and driven by defiance ("They think we're all the same/and always we're to blame" - "Y'all Want A Single"). All fine in principle, except we've heard it all a million times before. Either he hasn't matured one bit in five years or he's just retreading familiar themes to fit the music.
An likely comparison but a suitable one nonetheless would be Suede who got stuck in this trap, chasing familiar ideas in ever decreasing circles until they were finally forced to call it a day. The only difference here is that Korn probably sell enough to be able to carry on churning out so-so albums without having to worry about the future. And that's almost certainly the problem. This album is the sound of a band trying to recapture the fire of their youth without having to endure any of its hardships. They should try burning their millions and then seeing what kind of record they make then.
