Dogmatic

I know it is pretty fashionable to diss them, but I am unashamedly a big fan of Korn. They burst onto the scene as the Grunge move was dying a slow, flannel-wearing death and practically created what became known as Nu-Metal. Tho for the most part, this dire musical mismatch of Metal & Rap inspired some woeful and pretty forgettable acts. (Anyone remember Limp Bizkit?) But to simply label Korn as Nu-Metal is totally unfair. They are far better than that and have spawned some amazing records over the past decade. It is always with great anticipation I await a new Korn release and quickly snapped up their 8th studio album - ‘Untitled’ on its day of release. Produced by Nine Inch Nails stalwart Atticus Ross - this is a damn fine sounding album. You can hear Ross’ influence drip off each and every track. With the band’s ranks weirdly diminishing, (Head found God, Dave is on temporary hiatus) - the band recruited the amazing Terry Bozzio to drum on Untitled. As brilliant as Bozzio is, I found the drumming a little on the annoying side. I missed the ole Korn BOOM-CHUCK as Bozzio is just far too busy on some of these tracks and sonically, the groove is all over the place. Still, there’s plenty of Korn downtuned guitar and bass chunkiness to steady the ship and Davis even injects some grindcore vocals here and there. ‘Bitch We Got A Problem’ features a sickly Trent Reznor-esque keyboard melody intertwining with a malevolent bass riff that sounds positively freaky. Whilst the track ‘Hold On’ could have come off any earlier Korn album as it features all the vintage, trademark Kornisms that make this band so unique and special. The eerie ‘Do What They Say’ is such a bitching, moody fuck as it bumps and grinds from start to finish with rich musical landscapes and really nice guitar undertones. Repeated listens of Untitled continues to reveal fresh, intriguing moments and surprises throughout. Do give this one a go! It is more than worth it.