Korn
The Paradigm Shift
(Caroline)
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Celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, the Californian nu-metal pioneers Korn hit their commercial peak in the late 1990s, but they have been struggling to reinvent their increasingly dated sound in the face of declining sales for much of the last decade. Last year’s sonically adventurous The Path of Totality album featured a heavy dubstep influence, including three collaborations with the rising star of American “brostep”, Skrillex. But with their co-founder and guitarist Brian “Head” Welsh now back on board, the gravel-voiced singer Jonathan Davis and his crew return to their metal heartland on this 11th album, playing it safe with muscular metal-funk ear-stompers such as Paranoid and Aroused, What We Do and the soaringly melodic standout anthem Prey for Me. A few cosmetic traces of the band’s dubstep experiment linger in the pulverising digital shudders of Never Never and It’s All Wrong, but essentially The Paradigm Shift is the sound of Korn returning to their familiar discomfort zone. Which is good news for their hard-core fans, but a little disappointing for those of us who prefer their heavy rock with a more progressive, forward-thinking edge.
