IN REVIEW: Korn - "The Serenity of Suffering"

To say Korn hasn't changed all that much over their two-plus decades is doing them a disservice; truth be told, they've tried lots of different looks over the course of their career, it's just that their experiments have more often than not been met by a combination of derision or indifference. Their ill-fated foray into dubstep, for example (2011's The Path of Totality), is considered by many to be a curiosity at best and an abhorrence at worst despite it being by and large successful in its intended purpose of dragging the band out of their comfort zone (this after their previous record, an attempted return to form, was dismissed by most as a stale and diluted effort). Having said that, there's an odd satisfaction to be had listening to The Serenity of Suffering, their twelfth(!) album and second since the return of original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch; at its core, it's the nostalgia trip promised but not delivered by Remember Who You Are, those guttural tones and intense performances unequivocally recalling the group's commercial peak. Lyrically and thematically, it's careful not to hit that period too on-the-nose, and it does carry a maturity and seriousness that runs counter to what made their first three records smash hits with kids but offered little in terms of long-term appeal. Think less Life is Peachy, more Untouchables, a comparably grown-up version of the pissed off young adults who outraged parents twenty years ago. This just makes sense, of course, not just for a band that's endured scores of slings and arrows since their inception but also for pissed off young adults like me, who grew up to be calm, reasonably well-adjusted(?) middle-aged people that may be somewhat embarrassed by the behaviour of our younger selves but also remember how good it felt to press play on a Korn CD back in the day when we needed to just blow off steam.

October 21, 2016 • Roadrunner
Highlights Insane • Rotting in Vain • A Different World