Korn have released their 12th studio album on October 21, 2016 titled ‘The Serenity of Suffering’. Jonathan Davis, Munky, Head, Fieldy and Ray Luzier sought out to make a heavy ass album and they have succeeded. Korn is back and it’s the Korn we all love and grew up with in highschool, bitches.
I’m in the minority but I think Korn’s ‘Take a Look in The Mirror’ is one of the band’s strongest efforts. That is because it is heavy as shit and brutal vocally with singer Jonathan Davis belting out his darkest growls since the band’s self-titled debut. I adore that record and all these years later I think Korn has finally managed to capture that ferocity in Davis’ vocals and combine it with the tone and musical arrangements of ‘Untouchables’. The end result is one of Korn’s strongest albums – ever.
Take a song like ‘The Hating’ – there are both beautiful and horrifying elements here that would make the heaviest Slipknot songs (if they could speak) go “Oh shit – the boys are back in town and they are here to destroy us all”. Something along those lines anyway. Speaking of which – Corey Taylor makes a memorable guest spot on the record during ‘A Different World’ and it’s magical to see two bands who defined metal in the late 90’s teaming up to rip our faces off.
This is also the second studio album featuring the return of Brian ‘Head’ Welch on guitars. I think Korn’s previous record ‘The Paradigm Shift’ was nice and everything, but it was the warm-up for ‘The Serenity of Suffering’. Korn sounds like a band re-energized. They are now 23 years deep into their career so I can’t imagine it’s easy to produce another angst-fuelled effort and make it sound genuine.
This album sounds real to me – both an evolution in sound while keeping all of the elements that fans have grown to love from Korn. Electronics are there, but not to the level the guys have went in the past and melodic moments are ever-present but they have a nice contrast to Davis’ screams and the band’s nasty ass breakdowns – cause wait for it – that breakdown is coming – HARD. When they combine together I get goosebumps and remember the good ol’ days when I used to listen to Korn’s CD’s on my stereo in my bedroom after having a shit day at school. Both the oldschool and new fans will find something to love and appreciate in ‘The Serenity of Suffering’.
Rating: [star rating=”4.5″]