They've already revolutionized the heavy genre with their bold,
unsettling music that defies categorization and presented it to their
fans with unprecedented multi-media events. Now they've taken their
music to astonishing new heights with SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE, their
debut album via a partnership with EMI/Virgin Records. It's a unique
alliance that will enable Korn to be even more innovative in the way
their music is presented to their fans, who constitute one of the most
fiercely loyal followings in all of rock 'n roll. Listening to such
daring new songs as "Twisted Transistor," "Politics" and "Love Song,"
among others, it's clear that Korn--JONATHAN DAVIS, JAMES "MUNKY"
SHAFFER, FIELDY and DAVID SILVERIA--have opened the doors to even more
creativity and disarray. And no one does "disarray" like Korn.
"We were sitting there with one less member, and we decided to check
out some other types of producers, experiment, and see what happens,"
says DAVIS, referring to the departure of former guitarist Brian "Head"
Welch (who left for spiritual reasons), and the band's ensuing decision
to switch things up in the studio following the self-produced release
of 2003's Take A Look In The Mirror. "It just came to the point where
we had to reinvent--here we are, the four of us, let's make some music
that's different, and music that people are going to flip the fuck out
over. We can go in so many different directions as a band, why be
closed-minded?"
Their decision was anything but closed-minded as Korn--who've already
sold over 25 million records worldwide and encapsulated their body of
work on 2004's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1--entered the studio with a team of
producers as different as night and day. The one constant is DAVIS. He
handled the majority of the production on the band's last album, and
remains a producer on SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE, joining forces with
The Matrix and Atticus Ross. "We knew we wanted to experiment and see
what would happen, but we had no clue it would end up like this,"
laughs DAVIS. "It really worked out-we may have lost a member, but we
gained another two with Atticus and Matrix."
The result is the most revolutionary Korn album since their debut, a
barb-wired, bastard son of blinding musical fury, dark and twisted
lyrical candor, and searing, sociopathic tendencies. It's the
culmination of everything Korn have come to represent musically,
morphed with an industrial-strength alter ego that's been
suppressed-until now. SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE is more than the
evolution of Korn, it's an evolution of heavy.
"There needs to be something more," says DAVIS. "A lot of people are
doing 'heavy,' and they're doing it great, but we've always been about
pushing the levels and coming up with some new shit. We ushered in a
genre of music, and now we're trying to stay ahead of that curve. This
isn't minimalist, old-school Korn--this is a natural progression for
us, and we're kicking it up a notch."
Kicking it up a notch, with pulverizing effect. A hybrid funk and
medicating, metallic shimmer radiates from opening track "Twisted
Transistor," steamrolling into the abrasive guitar attack of
"Politics," the industrial textures of "Throw Me," and the military
precision of the anthemic "Coming Undone." While "Eaten Up Inside" and
"Getting Off" don't stray far from the decimated path Korn have left in
their wake, the true gems are found in their more forward-thrusting
manipulations. While DAVIS notes that "Love Song" is a song sure to
impress "all my depressed, goth peeps out there," his delivery is more
in the style of David Bowie, than death metal Bauhaus.
"When we listen to what we're doing and look at each other with scared,
fucked up feelings in our guts, that's when we know we wrote something
special," says the singer. "That's how we know we're breaking down the
boundaries and doing some new s***, because we're scared about it."
Scary might be the best way to describe the epic "Seen It All," which
jumps from a sludgy, dark and droning intro, to purging,
soul-shattering depths. Korn have always spoken directly to their fans
through their music, and the new release is no exception. In fact,
DAVIS found his co-producers to be the perfect collaborators to free
even more of his inner demons.
"I've written seven albums worth of shit, and I have my style, but I
wanted something different, not the typical lyrics that I always write.
I want to come out and say things in a different way, so getting those
different people around me, with their different perspectives and
different talents, really helped me a lot. I've always had a problem
getting across what I'm trying to say, because I'm always limited to
what I can do within the phrasing and melody of the lyric, but they
helped me a lot with that, without losing our vibe."
For evidence, look to closing track "Tearjerker" where the arrangement
is ambient, spacey and soft, yet the emotional baggage is heavy.
"That's just inspired by some f***ing bad times, like when I'm on the
road and I get in a fight with my chick, and I feel like I can't go
anywhere or do anything, and I'm so alone that there aren't even ghosts
chilling with me. I know people can relate to that-maybe not in the
same way I do, because everybody's not out on the road, but everyone
has shit happen in relationships, or they lose a loved one, and they're
like, 'What the f*** am I going to do?'"
At a more global level, "For No One," rings of adolescent rebellion,
but isn't limited by boundaries of age. "It is very adolescent
rebellion, but I still feel that way now," says DAVIS. "People try to
label it as 'teen rebellion,' but I don't think anyone ever really gets
over feeling like that. There are times I just want to get in the car
and f*** s*** up
Then keep going and f*** more s*** up, just rebel.
That's more about America, in general--I'm having a real hard time with
how conservative the United States is. I love it here, but it drives me
f***ing nuts! A titty pops out, and the whole world stops--so what if a
child sees a breast, he's sucked on one, for f***'s sake!"
On a lighter note, though biologically similar, the frontman has other
words to describe the rhythmic vocals and effervescent, techno bounce
of "Open Up." "Fieldy gets really funky on his bass with that
one--that's a titty-bar song."
You think someone might have a problem with DAVIS' inspirations, and
off-the-cuff choice of words? If so, "Hypocrite" was written with them
in mind. "That was straight from my heart," he says, suppressing a
laugh. "That's my jab at organized religion, and the whole movement, in
general--those same fools that are taking our money for God? You see
them in titty bars all the time, they're f**ing hypocrites." And it's
all served with a side-order of irony--if you think the chorus to
"Hypocrite" sounds a bit like some twisted Broadway romp, you're not
wrong. "I'm telling a story, and it's very f***ing Broadway--I love
that s***, it's what I grew up on, and those influences have finally
come out. The reason I got into rock 'n' roll was because of the Jesus
Christ Superstar. Funny, huh? Of course, when that came out, because it
was a rock opera, they though that was blasphemous."
Blasphemous. The same has been said of Korn, but it hasn't slowed them
down one bit. The scariest part? They seem to only be getting stronger.
If Korn's first decade ushered in a new era in heavy music, brace
yourself, because the next decade has been launched with their most
unrelenting musical maelstrom to date.
Korn's cathartic alternative metal sound positioned the group among the
most popular and provocative to emerge during the post-grunge era. Korn
began their existence as the Bakersfield, CA-based metal band LAPD,
which included guitarists James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch,
bassist Reginald "Fieldy Snuts" Arvizu, and drummer David Silveria. After issuing an LP, the members of LAPD in 1993 crossed paths with Jonathan Davis, a mortuary science student moonlighting as the lead vocalist for the local group Sexart. They soon asked Davis to join the band, and upon his arrival the quintet rechristened itself Korn.
After signing to Epic's Immortal imprint, they issued their
debut album in late 1994; thanks to a relentless tour schedule that
included stints opening for Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Marilyn Manson, and 311, the record slowly but steadily rose the charts, eventually going gold. Its 1996 follow-up, Life Is Peachy,
was a more immediate smash, reaching the number three spot on the pop
album charts. The following summer, they headlined Lollapalooza, but
were forced to drop off the tour when Shaffer
was diagnosed with viral meningitis. While recording their best-selling
1998 LP Follow the Leader, Korn made national headlines when a student
in Zeeland, MI, was suspended for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the
group's logo (the school's principal later declared their music
"indecent, vulgar, and obscene," prompting the band to issue a
cease-and-desist order). Their annual Family Values tour also started
in 1998, featuring a lineup that consisted of Korn collaborators such
as Limp Bizkit and Ice Cube and likeminded artists such as Rammstein. The tour was an enormous success, so much so that it continued on with Korn overseeing the lineup for years after.
Issues
followed in 1999, and in typical Korn fashion they debuted their new
single in an episode of South Park. The band toured behind the album
into the next year, but their efforts were cut short by an injury that
took out drummer David Silveria. They hired former Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin to help them finish the remaining shows, and took a short rest before joining a summer tour with Metallica, Kid Rock, Powerman 5000, and System of a Down. (Silveria
later returned amid rumors of leaving the band for a fashion career,
but these stemmed from some modeling work he had done before his
injury.) In the meantime, Fieldy released a gangsta rap album and Davis
scored the film Queen of the Damned, but at the end of 2001 the band
reunited as a unit and entered the studio. A few shows with Static-X
helped iron the wrinkles out of the new material, and by the next
summer they had Untouchables
ready for release. Korn did a run of Ozzfest dates in support, and the
album was another smash hit. The self-produced Take a Look in the
Mirror arrived in 2003. Billed by the band as a reconsideration of
their sound, the album was accompanied by a tour of smaller venues
called "Back to Basics."
In 2005, Welch
left the band, evidently due to his newfound Christian faith. But Korn
continued, playing shows that summer as a quartet and signing an
expansive recording and development deal with Virgin. The following
December they released See You on the Other Side, a number three hit
that featured a batch of songs co-written with hitmaking production
team the Matrix. Live & Rare,
an aptly titled disc of live recordings and rarities, was released in
May 2006 with the live acoustic recording MTV Unplugged following in
March 2007. Later that year, after returning to the studio, this time
without drummer David Silveria, the band resurfaced with an underwhelming album appropriately named Untitled. Jason Ankeny & Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:30 pm by N I G H T W I S H
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