In happy news, here’s some more Joey Korn Practice.

With David on hiatus Korn asked Joey Jordison (Slipknot) to fill in for him and he said yes. Oh it’s good.

11 tracks and it’s an excellent album. Breaths new life into many of their classics and the collaborations with Amy Lee from Evenesance and The Cure are fantastic. It’s really different and there is some brilliant music making all over the album. 3 songs were cut from the live performance, all of which you can find online at korn-locker.net. Thoughtless and No One’s There are both really good while Dirty was left off with good reason. It’s just not good, I’m convinced it’s just a studio song. I really like it on Issues, but all the times I’ve heard it live it doesn’t sound right and saps the energy from the show. The new unplugged version doesn’t improve it all.

I’m really psyched at how well this came out, I think it’ll hit the top 3 in sales for debut week.

LiveLeak.com – Paula Abdul Seattle Interview – – – Stoned? Drunk?
Paula, Paula, Paula!

Korn has been on their world tour for See You On The Other Side since the end of February and the boys finally made it to New Jersey on March 28th. Bringing 10 Years and Mudvayne along, Korn put on a (suprise!) hell of a show. To my suprise, there were a ton of seats open on the top level, might have held another 1000 people pretty easily (really big pit at this show, the width of a hockey rink).

I didn’t see 10 Years, but got in in time to see Mudvayne (good seats too, 11th row, just left of center. Next time I’m going to try for the side of the stage to get really close to the stage). Mudvayne is really good live, I’m just not really into them. Simple set for them, the played for a good 45 minutes. Most notably is their incredible singer who has an insane vocal range. He doesn’t move around all that much, but he can switch from a growl, to a scream, to a soothing sing at an alarming rate. His voice was all over the place for their set, but he was always clear and in control. Worst part was the 2-3 strobe lights that they had pointed out toward the audience and after awhile it got really irritating to look at the stage. Bright white lights going crazy right at you for like a half an hour gets tiring.

Korn didn’t have that problem though. They had what looked like a simple stage, but it was pretty amazing looking back on it. The show started with It’s On! by playing the beginning sample(?) over and over while they had the top lights above the stage glowing red. That served as an intro before the curtain parted to reveal Dave as he starts drumming away. Rest of the band comes on and the show just takes off. First 2-3 songs were old school as they dug into the first album with Clown…through out the show you could see the levels of Korn fans, people that knew just the singles, the people that knew all of the songs (a lot of songs you could here the crowd singing along easily) and the people that didn’t like the new album. It was a wild show that really just got better as it went on….and it went on! Korn played for at least an hour and a half, I think closer to an hour 45. They did a huge amount of songs.

After those 3 classics, Coming Undone started and the curtain fell down revealing a back up band. A guitarist (if I’m right it’s Rob whos been a friend of the band for awhile and is filling in Heads position) , a guy on a synth/piano thing, and 2 guys in a big drum kit all the way on the right side of the stage. With the new sounds of the new album, they needed back up to play some of the other parts…and it worked really well. The 5 tracks off of the new album (Coming Undone, Liar, Tearjerker, Twisted Transistor and Hypocrits) sounded terrific. The backup members were wearing maskes that fit the animal theme of the albums cover. The biggest problem with this, is that from my perspective, it was really weird seeing that many people on stage for Korn (and Head missing felt weird obviously), there was a hint of Slipknot there. Plus, the second drum set was just to the right of David, and it was fucking huge. So much so that it usually drew your eye away from the rest of the stage.

Aside from those small things, Korn just straight up rocked the place. Really wide selection of songs, but there was a definate lack of songs from Mirror…no Yall Want a Single, Right Now or Did My Time (which I really wanted to hear) and no cover songs either. One is the shit live, I really missed that one. The medley they played was made up of 6 songs or so and I’ve heard them “mix” them better before, sometimes the flow felt off. But as a whole, they were really on. Best part was when Jon was standing in front of Davids kit and Munk and Fieldy closed in so they were just a few feet from each other during Blind. They were just fucking wailing and headbanging as hard as possible doing the infamous Korn “bop”. Long hair whipping, lights going crazy, crowd feeling every bit of it. If I had a picture of it, I’d make a poster out of it.

The production for this show was huge. The entire area behind them was a huge screen that they projected stuff on to. Each song had a different background to it, with crazy animations and a light show that really needs to be seen to be believed. There must have been 50 lights in the main grid above the stage pointed toward the audince alone. I really can’t describe what it was like that well. You never saw the same thing twice and it was timed to the second. Jon changed costumes about 3 times (fieldy changed too) with short little interludes between some songs. It was like the show was broken into 3 acts (it’s amazing how fast they changed too). Speaking of Jon, he was flawless that night. His voice was perfect and he just nailed everything perfectly. Tearjerker was pretty cool to see live, he just goes out there and sings from the heart with every song. Oh shit, Munky had a killer solo too. He cruised the stage and played for a good 5 minutes, it was bad ass to witness. A little bit more crowd interaction in the whole show than I’ve seen before too.

The encore was sick as well, leading to the final song…Blind. That might have been the song of the show right there. Always an intense song live, the place just went nuts, it was like entire show was rolled into this last insane song the last bit of energy squeezed out of the building. I got the intro on my cell phone and despite the shit quality, I think I’ve watched it 50 times since. There were so many times where Korn just rocked everyones face off. Blind obviously and Freak On A Leash was unreal. Sick spot lights to mimic the video and when Jon started scatting the lighting complete changed and highlighted him and then just pandamonium as the lights went nuts again. 3 days later and I still can’t get over how fucking sick they made the show. I’d totally buy a DVD of this show. I hope they come out with a new DVD soon, it’s been 3 full albums since the last one. I’ve heard that a “rarites” album is going to be released this summer.

Finally, other highlights include the fight that broke out on the left side during the beginning of Shoots and Ladders and the 40 something year old dude getting busted banging a 16 year old drunk girl in the bathroom. Who found ’em? From what I heard, the girls dad. Oh man.

Right now Korn has about 4 shows left on this US tour before they blast off to Europe to raise hell for another 15 shows or so. I think they are going to do another leg in the US for the summer….I’m totally going again. Check Myspace for a few pictures.

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Orange County Drum & Percussion

Check out one of the coolest videos ever made.
Girl

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.