Monthly Archives: October 2013

Korn The Paradigm Shift

Music


The 11th Korn album signals the return of guitarist Brian “Head” Welch to the band after leaving in 2004. They made 4 albums without him and while Munky held down the fort, his presence and musical spark has helped the band make one of the best albums of their career.

The Paradigm Shift is a sound fusion of every album in Korn’s career. It’s a remarkable achievement as they’ve altered their direction so much, but still remain unmistakably Korn. No one sounds like them even after 20 years on the scene,

The big move is with the electronic elements. The last album, The Path of Totatality was an experimental fusion of rock/metal and Electronic Dance Music (drum/bass/dub and the like) that I think worked pretty well. It brought in new fans and lost old fans with it’s heavy programming sound. For The Paradigm Shift, the programming has been reigned in and weaved more into the fabric of Korn’s sound. It’s closer to the sounds heard on Issues, Untouchables and Untitled.

With that out of the way, the focus and creativity from everyone in the band is amazing. Head and Munky shred like absolute maniacs! The dual attack is back with stunning results. The riffs are absolutely monstrous and rival the best songs they’ve ever written. It’s spooky, intense, manic and other worldly. Fieldy is now happily back in his element playing between them. He picks his openings bouncing and throwing down that groove that only he can. His sound is for the most part more traditional bass over his trademark ‘clicks’, but he really does it all. That cool slide thing he does, plucking, slapping, it’s all buttery smooth. Ray is right there with him too. An amazing drummer he is just phenomenal on this album. He crushed it on 2010’s Remember Who You Are and was restrained on 2011’s Path so I’m so happy he was completely free to create and innovate on this album. He plays so well with Fieldy it’s a small miracle that they were able to find him to take over for David. He fits the original mind set of Korn really well. Powerful, snappy, original and ferocious all at once. That leaves Jonathan Davis who continues to be one of my favorite singers. He has a huge range on every track, the lyrics are great and he was able to balance what Head wanted (METAL) with what he wanted (crazy electronics) with amazing grace and creativity. The melodies and chorus’ are the strongest they’ve ever been in 10 years. I’d love to hear this album played in its entirety live. The sing-alongs would be epic.

A big part of my enjoyment of Paradigm is the variety. There’s bone crushing riffs and percussion (Prey For Me), sweeping anthems (Mass Hysteria) and everything in between. Awesome, signature neck snapping Korn drops and wild, gorgeous tempo changes (Punishment Time, Victimized) make Paradigm sound like it is a living, breathing entity. Never Never is the most “dance” track which is put perfectly at #7 which is a great palate cleanser for the album. It’s kinda like the half way point of a rollercoaster ride that lets you reorient yourself before diving back into the full on Korn insanity. A lot of thought went in placing the songs to make it flow as well as it does. The biggest complement I can think of is that my head never stops moving from the instant I hit play. I may not love every song, but I like them all. That hasn’t happened since 1998’s Issues (which is my favorite album. I might even go as far to say that Paradigm is Issues spiritual successor). I can listen to Paradigm cover to cover without wanting to skip a song. For me there are about 9 classic new songs which is insane. The mix is really outstanding as well; it’s a massive sounding album with every element clearly audible. Korn is really the sum of it’s parts. When all 5 members are firing on all cylinders and are given equal chance to shine, nothing but brilliance comes through. The Paradigm Shift blows me away, I absolutely love it.

The deluxe album gives 2 bonus songs (Wish I Wasn’t Born Today and Tell Me What You Want) which are both great and a DVD titled Reconciliation. The hour long documentary tells of Brian’s departure, his return and the creation of The Paradigm Shift with producer Don Gilmore. It’s the perfect addition for any Korn fan. Tons of studio footage that is a real treat to see and you even get to hear chunks of songs that didn’t get finished (Kage has to be released, it sounds amazing).

The Paradigm Shift is a culmination of the past 8 years. Head leaving and getting back to himself, writing solo material. David leaving and Ray joining the fold, giving a new positive backbone to the band. Munky stepping up and writing all the guitars, further growing as a musician. The experiment that is The Path of Totality augmenting and evolving their sound, production and communication. The Paradigm Shift is a huge step for Korn and it opens the doors to what’s next. There is nothing like a bad ass album from your favorite band, but that does leave me with huge expectations for their next album!

My Review: Gravity

Movies

It’s taken director Alfonso Cuaron and his crew close to 5 years to make Gravity and the time and effort was well worth it. It’s a stunning movie from start to finish. An exhilarating movie with mind bending visuals, raptureous audio and genre leading acting from Sandra Bullock.

While on a space walk to fix the Hubble Telescope, Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) get caught in a chain reaction disaster that leaves them alone in a exhausting fight for their lives. They must depend on each other to survive the most inhospitable environment imaginable.

The visionary work in direction and technical effects make Gravity one of the most visually stunning movies ever made. To the point, it looks like the movie was actually filmed in space. The 3D is done just right, it often achieves the “window effect” where it looks like the movie screen is actually a window you are looking through with the action happening beyond it. There’s depth to what you are looking at. From the shots of tools floating in front of Ryan while Matt buzzes around her with his jet pack as she works to the absolutely unbelievable of Ryan spinning alone through space are just amazing. The latter scene of Ryan alone in particular is really arresting as there is nothing but space around her. With the 3D it looks like she is actually getting further and further away from you sitting in the theatre. Each time she spins around you can see her face lit up by the lights in her helmet, but with each rotation she gets smaller, her face harder to make out with the endless void of deep space and stars stoically shimmering all around her. It looks like she’s just seconds away from being swallowed into oblivion. It’s a frightening scene of complete isolation that is absolutely convincing. The phenomenal sound work completes the illusion of bringing you into space, watching these two trying to survive. The music (and lack of music) is just perfect, the sound effects are immensely engrossing.

While the movie stars Bullock and Clooney, this really rides on Bullock’s shoulders and she does a damn good job. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of hers prior to this, but I think this is the best work of her career. Once the movie started, I only saw her as Ryan Stone. You get to know her as things go from bad to worse which makes you empathize with her. Clooney as Matt holds the senior position (this mission is his last one) and offers a cool, confident and funny relief to the crushing intensity that surrounds the movie. It’s a great balance that works very well with these two actors.

I really loved seeing this, Cuaron is one of my favorite directors and his work is simply stunning here. He devoted a big part of his life to this project and it really shows. The long, single takes are mindboggling. The camera moves beautifully and with clear purpose at every moment, the man is simply one of the best in the world. Gravity is a front runner for movie of the year, let alone action movie of the year. I hesitate to call this sci-fi as it is pretty grounded in today’s tech and science knowledge. It’s easier to call an action-suspense thriller than anything else. I highly recommend going to an IMAX 3D showing if possible as it greatly uses all that wacky tech to its fullest.. At the very least you need to go to a theatre with a fantastic sound system. Strap in and enjoy the ride.