Riding a Dying Star Across a Burning Sea: The Paradigm Shift review

   Korn is like moonshine to me, a remedy when nothing else commercially available will suffice. Their eleventh album The Paradigm Shift ranks among their most potent and volatile concoctions yet. That's saying something when you consider the Grammy award-winning band is approaching twenty years in the industry. It's all because of the return of their beloved co-founding guitarist Brian "Head" Welch, whose unique method of creating a hybrid guitar presence with his band mate Munky has long ago passed the point of legend. Yet it also has a lot to do with the renewed vigor and friendly professional disposition of Ray Luzier, their drummer now since their ninth album Korn III: Remember Who You Are.

   The results are a regained focus and passion fans have been craving for some time now, ten years in fact if you measure from the last album featuring Head, 2003's Take A Look In The Mirror. The first track, "Prey For Me", I must ask, how is it this lead-in track manages to leap out of the proverbial box recycling a few familiar old riffs before reaching for transcendence in the counterpoint chorus and final half? I don't know, but that's exactly what it manages to do, with the resounding finality they built their foundation upon. Fieldy's click bass is back in place and everyone just coheres together for an astounding opening track.

   "Goodbye, so long, wish I could stay but everything is all wrong," sings Jonathan during a brief interlude which manages to nail the psycho-emotional tone of not merely the whole album, but the entire band's legacy itself. "Passion is sometimes a phukt up thing for me," Jon sings straight up, cutting through the usual sort of dressy lyrics most bands opt for. You know what you can all do with that sort of predictable poetry.

   Throughout the album, Jon packs in a ton of emotional detail into his bared raw lyrics, really connecting him again with that dark muse that helped the band shake the music world twenty years ago. I both LOL'd and kinda cried a little bit at two different points during "Prey For Me"--then found myself doing so simultaneously as the realization swept over me, towards the end of the song, that our boys from Bakersfield had actually pulled their original groundbreaking sound back out of their magical bag of tricks.

   Obviously reinvigorated by the band's reunion with their long lost brother Head, Jon's unique brand of sardonic honesty has regained full confidence, and the chemistry between all members of the band reignites that sense of urgency which had, in recent years, given way to other sorts of experimentation. It turns out all the excitement about The Paradigm Shift is not hype.

   Track two "Love and Meth" (alluding to both Head's other band "Love and Death" as well as a nod to the guitarist's former methamphetamine abuse) notches up the intensity with Jonathan sounding as if he's pushing his vocals past their limit when he roars out "Where do I run, where do I hide, give me a reason to end my life / Where do I run, where do I hide, give me a reason to get out alive," and Ray Luzier's excellent drumming skills are finally allowed to reach their full potential; his drum fills are whip-smart perfect. This song was the second single released online, the antidote to Never Never, and its uncanny resemblance to a Love and Death song should be considered as ample evidence enough that Brian's ideas have been welcomed back into the fold.

   By the time the 3rd track hits, "What We Do", a wide smile has plastered itself across my face. The song features a fast tempo and driving beat and a new vocal style from Jon which I really enjoy listening to. It is precisely where the album shifts into higher gear, you can hear the elevation during the intro. It builds into something pretty special for the band's legion of fans, speaking for myself as a lifelong appreciator of the usual "thinking man's" bands (from the original Pink Floyd on through Bowie, Eno, Jethro Tull, Rush, King Crimson, to name a few), now I can honestly add Korn without flinching to this list, so it's a good thing the song segues nicely into track four, "Spike in My Veins." This track is unbelievably good, the thing you could only dream of when considering possibilities of another song having as much appeal as A.D.I.D.A.S. or Good God, for instance. Therefore it was this track at which I once again became a tad verklempt while hearing it for the first time, feeling my emotions surge up into my chest, for us fans and the guys in the band. It is definitely one of the album's high points, signaling the band's evolved sound. I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing.

   Then "Mass Hysteria" begins. What can I say? Never once looking back, Jon sings "We ride a dying star / across a burning sea / we're like a supernova now / MASS HYSTERIA!" while Head and Munky's creeped-out, wavery guitar tones help push the envelope even further than before: a bonafide futurist epic anthem unlike anything the band's done, and partly inspired by Dio, as Jonathan recently admitted in an interview. How cool is that. By this point in the album's narrative, it has become abundantly clear that the real Korn are back in the saddle and making no compromises.

   Track six "Paranoid and Aroused" starts with some heavy pounding riffs courtesy of the 2-Headed Monster, and Jon sings about demons creeping around, angels pulling him into the ground, and generally belts out more classic Korn angst for the masses of disenfranchised teenagers out there. Like all the songs on The Paradigm Shift, it boasts its own unique style, while retaining that classic signature Korn sound.

   Throughout the album the lyrics are diverse and interesting enough to yield different meanings for those listening intently trying to interpret what Jon is singing. As a die hard myself I've always appreciated Jon's decision not to ever print the lyrics in the liner notes, because he doesn't want us distracted from paying attention to the music itself. Eventually most of the lyrics are figured out by a consensus of fans. Jon stated anyhow that if we can't understand what he's saying, he's probably not saying anything at all. To this day I consider that a true ethic, and I gotta give a Shout Out of gratitude to my brother Jon for keeping it real and not printing the lyrics.

   This is music to drive sane people insane and insane people back to sanity--either way, it's a win-win. Another thing: this album is the most metal sounding Korn has ever made. Die hards will take note that the main album features eleven tracks, while the Special Edition's two bonus songs add up to a grand total of thirteen; all killer and no filler. Also duly noted are the relatively short lengths of all the songs, with the longest not breaking past the five minute mark. (It turns out fans may rest easy knowing the Special Edition trumps the regular edition due to the fact that not only are the two bonus songs excellent, but in particular, the final track "Tell Me What You Want" serves just as well as "It's All Wrong" does for an album closer.)

   Track seven, "Never Never," is the eye around which the rest of the album furiously storms. As the first single off The Paradigm Shift, it serves as the perfect commercial break from the rest of the album's hard-hitting tracks. I love that it's an anti-love song on the radio airwaves. We could use more alternative, unsentimental perspectives such as this bittersweet offering for the radio.

   Then the eighth song, "Punishment Time," begins; one of my favorites. Jon's lyrics and voice once again reach for a higher level of melody with lines sung sweetly as "I'm walking on a razor blade, careful not to cross the line, every little step I take, it's punishment time now" and "I'm hanging like a bat today, crucified by design, every little move I make, it's punishment time now" while the rest of the band pummels the listener with relentless precision. It's the way that Jon sings these lines, extremely melodic and sweet sounding (a great counterpoint to what the lines are saying) which is part of this band's raison d'être; that the vocals and lyrics are as much an organic part of the whole as any other instrument. This is another reason the lyrics aren't printed; it would distract fans from actually listening for what the singer is trying to say.

   Then comes the moment we were waiting for, "Lullaby for a Sadist". Oh my, what have we here, a real bonafide Korn anthem? Well wump, here it is. A brooding and haunting song which transmogrifies into a truly disturbed exercise in masochistic mind play, "Lullaby For A Sadist" is a prime example of the sort of song only Jonathan Davis and Korn could come up with. "This isn't a game, your life I'll swallow" croons Jonathan as dark undertones burgeon with implications tracing back to Life Is Peachy era. With its nursery rhyme counting and wholly inappropriate for the mainstream sentiments, "Lullaby for a Sadist" delivers on all counts, rendering another signature tune for the band to scare away yet another generation of concerned parents with. Bravo, and well-played, Sirs.

   Which brings us to the tenth track, "Victimized." Here is more surprising ear candy which really merges the electronic elements with the driving force of the band's double-guitar, bass and drum attack. I was riveted to the speakers listening to it for the first time; but on repeat listens, it has eased down a notch for me as a song. There are nihilistic lyrics throughout the album, and this song is no exception; certain lines are too dark, even for me. For example, when Jon sings "This life means nothing to me," I just can't get on board. The song is a depressive work of nihilism that certain teenage mindsets will lap up.

   "It's All Wrong", the eleventh and final track for the regular edition, succeeds in pounding its way to our ears as an appropriate ending to a short, sharp, shock of an album. It's the bookend companion to the first song. "It's all wrong, knowing that my demon won, I'm done!" croons our front man leaving us all wondering whether he exorcised his devils or not. There are a lot of textures and sounds here, with a core melody reminiscent of their old single "Somebody, Someone" from their senior effort iSsuEs. I appreciate the old borrowed riffs and nods to songs of yore that appear here and there throughout the album, because they do so all too briefly, and serve as more braided rope with which to tie together all the revisited themes interwoven throughout their whole discography.

   After hearing The Paradigm Shift seven times, once on vinyl and the last few times on headphones from the CD ripped to my nano, I can cite six of their past albums which most crop up in the new album, and they would be their debut, FTL, iSsuEs, Untouchables, TALITM, and TPOT. I'll probably uncover more such Easter eggs as I listen further, another indication we are talking about a modern masterpiece.

   The first of the two bonus tracks, "Wish I Wasn't Born Today" brings the band forward to a fresher approach, delivering an excellent extra track for fans who reached into their pockets a bit deeper for the Special Edition. I think Jon's singing on the chorus here is exceptional, there's a lot of nuance to his enunciation and delivery. It has a fresh feel which makes it perfect for the penultimate track.

   The album closes with the second bonus song "Tell Me What You Want," what I took to be a subtle allusion to another old single of theirs, "Y'all Want A Single," from the very album Head was last heard upon, Take A Look In The Mirror. This song satisfies on a variety of levels, at once rollicking and insistent yet also a clever pronouncement which seems to purge the band's penchant since Brian's departure to cater to the fan's every wish and desire; the force and finality with which the words "Tell me what you want, tell me what you want / phuk You, Go Away / And Never Come Back!" are sung exemplifies what most of the old school fans have for so long secretly desired, which is for the band to give the polite middle-finger to the seething masses of clamoring fans insofar as what sort of albums they are supposed to create. Finally, after a decade of trying to please everybody, it comes with a sense of blessed relief that they have apparently chosen to put together an album they made to please themselves. And that is the way it should be, if you consider the fact nobody even knew of their existence prior to the release of their debut album. That is an underlying reason why I think this album is so exceptional, and may quickly advance to the coveted position of their greatest achievement.

   In conclusion, and for all the reasons I've covered in this review, Korn is back with a vengeance on their eleventh studio album The Paradigm Shift. With the renewed vitality in both their guitarists as well as their revamped rhythm section, it's a no brainer that Korn are here to stay for another decade of experimental albums, at least. And that, as Martha Stewart would say, is a very good thing.

Special Edition: Extra Bonus Notes

   Hearing it on an iPod with headphones brings out the densely layered textures, not merely of the decent production values and mostly well-placed electronic effects, but also the intricacy of Head and Munky's guitar riffs.

   For anyone paying attention, it's more than obvious that there are few moments in which either Head or Munky really shine separately; this is for all purposes and values a true hybrid guitar presence comprised of two guitarists whose efforts, through various methods, merge into a greater whole. They don't just always take turns; they literally craft a kind of stereo-opticon sound which can be described more accurately perhaps as the band having one guitarist, the 2-Headed Monster.

   Let's not forget Ray Luzier's stunning contribution. He is a drummer whose proficiency at hard rock percussion has finally been given free reign on this album, as all the fans have been hoping for. Ray truly delivers a furious hard hitting style of drumming that has adapted perfectly to keep the Korn ship floating along breaking rapid white waters. All the fans are stoked to have him on board, and by this, his third album with Korn, it really feels as if he's come home to roost for good.

   This album's thirteen tracks are chock full of that old 2-Headed monster chuggariffic sound which is the closest to metal they ever really got. Not that it matters; what Korn do is their own thing, and that's where they shine best. Fieldy's bass has significantly rediscovered its focus on this album. Everything he does is balanced just right, nothing is overdone. I've got to give him kudos for that, he really delivers throughout the whole album.

   If one were to fairly judge the metallic resonance of what Korn has achieved in relation to the world of rock'n'roll and metal music, I would suggest their eleventh studio effort is the very spot in their catalog where they've managed to successfully reconstruct that bridge of pioneering sound they can honestly call their own.

   If this is what is meant by the dreadful label numetal, then so be it; for it is truly a form of new metal, after all, and worthy of headbanging to. Yet it remains most unfortunate for die hards world wide that instead, the dread numetal tag refers to the host of copycats spawned by this Bakersfield band, and whose ringing sound is better captured by the clarion call of someone like Disturbed, and perhaps crowned by the leaders of that charge, Slipknot. This is not meant to suggest these bands are bad; there are a lot of exceptional numetal bands, and it all boils down to a matter of individual taste. Everyone from Limp Bizkit to System Of A Down jumped on the numetal bandwagon, but it's important to note that the California band which kick-started this movement has remained exclusively outside of it, focusing their efforts on carving out their own particular niche in the hard rock sounds-cape.

   So here they are, nineteen years later, with the proof in the pudding on their eleventh album. So let me take this moment to thank Brian "Head" Welch for looking into his heart and seeing that his brothers and family in Korn were worth returning to. Thanks Jon and Munky and Fieldy and Ray for accepting Head back into the fold. And thanks to all the "fans uv korn" for supporting this legendary band. Once again it's time to rock. 

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