KoRn
See You on the Other Side
Label: Virgin Records

Korn kicked off their 2005 PR push with a weird SNL appearance featuring their new single, “Twisted Transistor,” and strangely, “Freak on a Leash” (download tracks here). I know I wasn’t the only one confused. Head was gone, but I could hear his guitar sampled. Why were they playing an old song when the greatest hits album was last year? I found myself staring at the Jonathan’s custom HR Giger mic stand and wondering what the hell was going on…

My high school friends and I started following Korn immediately after their self-titled debut, but it was Life is Peachy that sealed the deal and had us driving the hours out of desolate Iowa to catch shows in Minneapolis, Moline, St. Louis and Kansas City for years to come.

The Follow the Leader tour was groundbreaking, and we saw all the Family Values Tours kicking off with Korn/Rob Zombie in Moline. About this time Top Rock radio started plucking up singles on a bi-weekly pattern and the KoRn Kids were born. Issues touring featured four album covers with artwork drawn by fans and a huge, inflatable, one-eyed doll on stage with Staind and Mindless Self-Indulgence opening. Untouchables and Take a Look in the Mirror came at the decline of nu-metal, of which Korn pioneered, mastered and inspired. They weren’t well received by most of the old-school fans and singles weren’t picked up stations whose nu-metal lineups were now saturated by Korn-influenced bands like Disturbed, Linkin Park, Mudvayne and more.

Enter 2004 and Korn’s seven string guitar duo is cut in half as Brian “Head” Welch left the group for religious reasons, leaving huge-handed James “Munky” Shaffer as the band’s sole guitarist. This is actually much more dire than it sounds, for as Korn fans know, Fieldy’s bass work is more or less rhythm slaps, so Munky had his work cut out for him to fill half the amplifiers once pushed near breaking with the distortion heavy trio. Meanwhile, nu-metal is dead and dumbass rock (The Darkness), indie rock and the “safe classics” like Zeppelin and AC/DC occupy modern rock stations in our current Clear Channel-monopolized culture. It’s no wonder Davis sold off most of his vast collection of serial killer memorabilia.

So back to SNL, it’s still a puzzle why “Freak” was the chosen as the second song, when the new album is such a large departure.

Missing is the angry, bare-bones metal assault from the group’s first albums, but also missing are the radio-ready, three minute singles.

What remains is a HEAVILY produced, industrial collaboration between Korn and the songwriting team of the Matrix and producer Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails). From dance soundtracks to slow/mid-tempo to the unsettling “Twisted Transitor,” Korn is proving once again that they are their own evolving animal.

Noticably absent, however, is Head’s metal crunch that shaped and defined Korn’s sound for 13 years. When performing live, Fieldy’s rhythmic bass doesn’t do the “Korn sound” justice when partnered only with Munky’s fretwork. The amps are aching for another axe, and time will tell if the overly-produced album will fare well live.

In the meantime, longtime fans like me will rejoice with best-attempt-tracks like “Liar” and “For No One,” while those nu-metalheads who can tolerate anything below 120 bps may find solace in Davis’ melodic “Tearjerker.”

Regardless of what fans think about the group’s musical journey since their acclaimed debut, now on the “other side,” Korn continues to cultivate an original sound, foster discussion and breed new fans - something not every 13 year-old metal group can claim.