Korn: The Path Of Totality - Album Review

Korn
The Path Of Totality
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

With the nu-metal craze from the late 1990s and early 2000s having long since waned, most artists of that genre have either quit altogether, continued in the same vein (Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Staind), or branched out to a more pop-rock sound (Linkin Park). Few if any of these bands have made the effort to evolve their sound or even strike out in a different area. Korn could have been lumped into the group of bands that were continuing in the same vein, until the release of The Path of Totality, which finds them enlisting hotshot dubstep producers Skrillex, Datsik, Feed Me, Excision, 12th Planet, Downlink, Kill the Noise, and Noisia. While on paper, this merely sounds like a group of Korn tracks remixed by these guys, instead, the album actually finds them working alongside them to come up with Korn's version of a dubstep album. Honestly, there is really not much divide between nu-metal and arena-ready dubstep, both finding fans in heavy beats and crushing basslines, so it is really not surprising that Korn has chosen this route to take. But is it any good, you ask? Putting it this way, if this was a Korn album without the dubstep sounds, it would be a fairly mediocre album, but with the dubstep sounds, it is a definite guilty pleasure, and an interesting almost-success.

The album works best when Korn lets dubstep take control of the track. The best tracks are with Skrillex, who adds his trademark wubz to bangers like "Get Up!," which works well alongside the air raid siren guitars.



The stuttering basslines of "Narcissistic Cannibal" propel and maneuver the track forward.



Tracks with Noisia work even better, with the producers adding some sleazy grime and grind to "Kill Mercy Within,"



ratcheting up the drama in "Burn the Obedient."



The album also works well when it adds more texture, and not just pummeling riffs and beats. The most surprising track is Feed Me's production work on "Bleeding Out," adding atmospheric pianos, and even some bagpipes, to create the best track on the album.



Where the album fails is when it merely makes the dubstep sounds wallpaper to the track and not the influence. "My Wall," produced by Excision and Downlink, is all coiled grind and no release.



"Illuminati," also produced by Excision and Downlink, fails more to a lazy delivery from Jonathan Davis than their production work.



And "Way Too Far," produced by 12th Planet is sludgy and too much like the Korn of old.



The Path of Totality could have been a disaster of epic proportions; a last ditch effort for a band to remain in the spotlight by appropriating what is new and popular. Instead, by choosing a tonally similar genre, which you can tell they obviously follow and enjoy, they have made some pretty good music. It is not the best dubstep out there by any stretch of the imagination, but there is enough here to recommend. I am very curious to see whether they continue this approach, or if they will be off to another genre should this not be popular.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.