Korned for life

Artist: KornAlbum: The Serenity of Suffering

Korn album: The Serenity of Suffering

What’s left to say about Korn that you don’t know? Once at the front of the nu-metal movement that became loved, hated and fondly remembered (in that order) when their ilk began taking over the album sales charts across the world about 15 years ago, Korn don’t really have much left to prove to anyone.

You have to remember, this is the band that did a dubstep album, collaborating with the likes of Noisia and Skrillex for a very mixed bag of songs with 2011’s The Path of Totality . Their 2013 album, The Paradigm Shift , was nowhere close to the expectations the title might have evoked, even though it was hyped to the high heavens as being guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch’s return to the band after a decade.

It feels like Welch may not have had a lot of say in

The Paradigm Shift , because their latest album,

The Serenity of Suffering , is heavier than a bag of spanners. Plus, they knock you across the face with a nearly similar impact. Opening songs like ‘Insane’ and ‘Rotting in Vain’ are the perfect setup to prove just how much Korn love their face-smashing breakdowns. They enlist Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor to rage on ‘A Different World’, on which those classic guitar squeals abound, courtesy of Welch and James ‘Munky’ Shaffer. Their own frontman, the mess of a being that’s Jonathan Davis, takes his time building up the rage, bringing out the growls like he’s never done before on songs like ‘Take Me’ and ‘Everything Falls Apart’.

But Davis’ attempts at sounding needy and lonely – as real as they may be, considering he’s been channelling those themes for decades now – are a little too tiring with the same predictable delivery on songs like ‘When You’re Not There’. There’s a bit of DJ scratching that shows up on ‘Next In Line’, but it’s not enough to distract us from Davis’ predictable vocals.

The Serenity of Suffering is a refreshing listen, but only about a couple of times in its entirety. Drummer Ray Luzier and bassist Reginald ‘Fieldy’ Arvizu bring the low-end on ‘Please Come for Me’, but it doesn’t take the lead for as long as you want it to. Perhaps there’s still more for Korn to achieve, in terms of consistency, at least.