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After 12 years on the music scene Korn has released their 7th studio album, See You On The Other Side. With “Twisted Transistor” leading the album, SYOTOS marks Korns’ greatest change and challenge. Missing guitarist Brian “Head” Welsh, the boys have set out to make a new kind of sound, keeping the rock and infusing it with industrial sounds (think Nine in Nails and early Marilyn Manson).

For anyone that doesn’t know, I’m a serious Korn fan. The only band that I own all of the albums to and have seen them the most times live. So whenever a new Korn album comes out, I’m ready and waiting for it. Simply put, See You is going to split the Korn fan base right in half, those that love it and those that hate it. I’m on the love side. While I don’t like every song, SYOTOS is a solid album that pushes Korn into new territory.

Losing a group member is devastating to any band. For 6 albums, Head and Munky had been bending and wailing guitar notes together. Head and Munk would often bounce beats, riffs and even simple noises back and forth to help craft songs. Fusing themselves musically like only the best can do. So from the start of this album, the way the band operates was very different. Part of Korns trademark sound is Head and Munkys’ riffs, backed and supported by Daves’ drumming, Fieldys’ one of a kind slap bass thump and Jonathan Davis unique voice and lyrics. With Head gone, it leaves Munky to take over the guitar parts entirely and expand his talents. Bringing in new producers (Aticus and The Matrix) has greatly changed the sound as well. New ideas, new methods and of course new sounds make up SYOTOS. The best way to describe this album is to look back at their first real experimental album, Issues. A bit melodic, more sound effects, some slower songs and an interlude or two mixed in.

So the biggest changes are the loss of a guitar, more electronic/sound effects than before and Fieldys’ bass playing is quite a bit different. It’s more integrated into the song as you don’t hear the twang and WUMP of his usually low strung and tuned bass. Also, Munkys’ guitar seems to be tuned the same across the whole album. That to me makes the differences more striking, with the complexity of another guitar player gone and a similar guitar sound in each track. That said, the best way to do this is just to break down each song.

1) Twisted Transistor- The first single that is all over the radio. It’s catchy and gives an idea of the sound of the album. It’s a bit different from the typical Korn song but serves its purpose as a single. More of the bouncy, catchy song from Follow the Leader.

2) Politics- A strong song that just doesn’t sit perfectly well with me. Great lead in, drums and chorus. Harder than Twisted Transistor but equally catchy.

3) Hypocrites- A slow build up leads to Jon yelling “Hypocrites!” followed by a electrical distortion sound. From there it’s balls out. Awesome, awesome song. Feels like an old school Korn track, loud, lots of energy, just completely solid. Great drumming, awesome chorus, hard/funky beat, a great song to sing along with.

4) Souvenir- A slower track that’s pretty good. Defiantly not one of my favorites, but it’s a good song. A slower, thumping beat with a chorus/bridge that picks up the pace a bit. Which is why I like it. Good lyrics over all, just not a stand out track for me.

5) 10 Or a 2-Way- Best description for this is to think of Marilyn Manson. In particular, something from Antichrist Superstar (I swear the “er er er” sound effect is right off that album). Starts slow and grooving which builds to the chorus. I absolutely love the chorus. It just rocks. I often find myself screaming along with it. One of the leading tracks that’s a big departure for the band (a big electronic/industrial tone). I really the “break down” in this one, which has some good old fashioned Davis growls following it closely. The last portion of the song is more straight music than lyrics. I’d love to see this one live.

6) Throw Me Away- Think “Untouchables” for this one. Total electronic sound to start with a real brooding sound. Davis sings it with some real pain in his voice (he kinda croons like.“Throw me awaaaaaay”) and again, another chorus that I really like. One of the slowest songs, but I like the emotions.

7) Love Song- One of my favorites. Easily. Another Manson sound to start with, great build up and I fucking adore the first verse with the emphasis on some of the words “Ma (?), your holding my heart, screaming. MOTHER FUCKER. They left me broken, bleeding. SON OF! The man you loved and left for. THE SON OF A BITCH! Who tried to show me their scar.” It’s got a real thumping rhythm, one of the most powerful songs, lots of layers. 2:42 marks a great break down that just grinds and pumps along. I will say it’s marred by some stupid lyrics (“Don’t bring me daffodils, bring a bouquet of pills. See some drainum, cracked to the cranium) but it’s still awesome. There’s also a kind of balled part too, this one shifts around a lot.

8) Open Up- There is some serious funk in this one; I can tell Fieldy has fun on this. Great song, sounds like an Untouchables track. It’s a foot stomping track. A real strip down in this one with strings(!), humming and clapping. Another big departure song but I think if they can play it well live, it’ll be a great song for the road.

9) Coming Undone- Rocks. Just rocks. A clapping, thumping anthem. Some awesome work by Munky and shock! a great chorus.

10) Getting Off- I really love the beginning, but the whole song doesn’t work with me. I really like the drumming, but I find myself skipping this one to get to the better songs. Nothing terrible really (I don’t like the chorus) it just doesn’t stick with me.

11) Liar- Holy animal. Bad ass song. It all comes together on this one. I love the shit out of this song. It rocks, it rolls, awesome performance by everyone. My only complaint is the over use of distortion in the beginning. Like it jams right of the gate, Munky hits some fucking great lines but they make him “chop up” a bit before the lyrics come in. I always listen to this track, one of my favorite Korn songs ever. It will be a crime if they don’t play this song live. This is one of the tracks that has an interlude at the end of it. It’s weird but I like it (bag pipes!) Parts like this show the wild Protools production of the album.

12) For No One- Lots of funk to be found here. Feels a bit old school, simply a fun track with an awesome chorus to sing along with. Awesome drumming by Dave and the end of the track is pretty effects heavy, which I think works really well. Ends super strong.

13) Seen It All- One of the darker songs, slow and strong. I like it mostly because of the lyrics and Jon’s delivery. Could probably be really good live.

14) Tearjerker- Alright, what the fuck happened here? This sounds like something Jon should have kept for a solo album. Most of it sounds nothing like a Korn song. It’s really slow and tries to be a “Daddy” or “Kill You” track, but it’s no where near those too. It’s a pretty weak song with a lot of effects and shit that just isn’t the band. Near the end the band shows and they start bringing it home, but it’s just not Korn. Wrong song for this album.

The deluxe edition comes with a cd that has 2 videos, 2 Twisted Transistor remixes (both ass. I’ve never heard a good Korn remix) and 3 songs that didn’t make the cut.

1) It’s Me Again- This song is ridiculous! I mean holy shit, Korn in perfect form. Fieldys’ classic sound is much more apparent. A mesh of old school and new school. If the whole album was in the same vibe as this, everyone would be going bat shit insane. This song is just hard and fucking rocks. No other way to put it. For the love of God they have to play this live.

2) Eaten Up Inside- Another awesome song. A perfect buddy to It’s Me Again. Driving, thumping, emotional. Terrific Korn, another one I want to hear live.

3) Last Legal Drug (Le Petit Mort)- It has an Untouchables vibe. And that’s a good thing. I really like this one, a bit slower than the last two but it’s all good.

All in all, I really like See You On The Other Side. I even love the Deluxe album package. See You is a different take and I respect that. They needed to rework they’re sound at this point and they’re creative environment has changed. There are some excellent songs here; it’s just not what a lot of people think of when they hear Korn. While I’m sure there will be some backlash with this, I’m still along for the ride. I would defiantly like to see a more raw approach for the next album. While I don’t find the electronic, super production Protools sound (it does sound like an expensive album) to be offensive, I do miss the older sound. I see it as not Korn changing their sound, but adding to it. They can do the old classics spread through 5-6 albums and still have this work. It still rocks, it’s still Korn.

I was planning on writing a review of See You on the Other Side, but it’s going to take more time than I thought. I want to really listen to it and then take the time to do a big write up. Some first thoughts: it’s a very different album and it’s going to split the fan base right in half. It’s a experimentation album much like Issues was. With Head gone, there was no way it was going to sound like the same old Korn. I hear a lot of cinematic touches that Davis has grown real fond to. The whole album sounds expensive, the production is really through the roof. I think that helps and hurts though as it doesn’t sound like raw old school Korn, and this one has an even greater electronica feel than Issues ever did. In fact there are a few instances where it doesn’t sound like Korn at all aside from Jon’s tradmark vocals (I actually hate the last track “Tearjerker” because it sounds nothing like Korn, it seems like it would have been better suited for a solo album from Jon). There are more than a few songs that I can’t get out of my head though.

I like every album they’ve put out and this one is no exception…it’s just a really different style. They still rock (s’up “Liar”, “Hypocrites”!) but metal, they are not. Then again they really haven’t been metal since the first album so that’s really not suprising.

I’m shooting for Sunday to have my review done.