The Path of Totality Review ~ All Things Listed

Artwork

What would happen if you've spent years and years listening to a country band, and then you found out they've gone punk? Well, this is more or less what happened with KoRn. For the last couple of years KoRn has had its ups and downs in the music industry. Their last attempt to release an album that would reveal that KoRn hadn't lost its lustre was ridiculously futile. This is why I was incredibly skeptical when I found out this Nu-Metal band from Bakersfield decided to record their songs along with Dub-step artists like Skrillex or Kill the Noise. Frankly, I am not a fan of dub-step, and wasn't really impressed that KoRn would screw it up once again. However, I decided to put my prejudices apart, and listened to the album. After listening to a couple of songs you realize the synthesized beats and sounds accompanying Jonathan Davis's voice actually pair quite well. The quality of the songs are incredible, especially those produced by Skrillex.

The album is introduced with "Chaos Lives In Everything". The moment the song starts you are already assaulted with synthetic beats and effects instead of drum hits and guitar riffs. The song then unfolds and really shows that KoRn has put a lot of effort into the album and wants you to think of it as another KoRn album.

The next song, "Kill Mercy Within" is a lot slower, but the intensity of the sound here is greater than the first one. This song is the one that best shows how Jonathan's voice blends flawlessly into all those electronic sounds.

"My Wall", on the other hand, is perhaps one of the weakest. The music accompanying Jonathan is too overwhelming and monotone, and turns the song into a drag of overproduced synths.

However, the song that follows, "Narcissistic Cannibal", is the real star of this album. This is where KoRn shines brightest, because it completely reminds me of the old KoRn and somehow resembles the sound of the Untouchables, both in style and in sound. It's violent, but emotive. It's moving, but enraging at the same time. It's what KoRn has always been about.

Then we move to "Illuminati", which is the album's "Politics"song. Instead of expressing the band's view towards talking about politics, it's supposedly a critique to current President Obama, who Davis addresses as an Illuminati puppet. The song is perhaps a bit monotonous, but at least it's not as draggy as "My Wall". Jonathan's view of Obama, however, is perhaps too precipitated, apart from the fact that the Iluminati haven't shown any activity for the last 250 years.

Next comes "Burn the Obedient" which is another excellent song in my opinion. It also shows some resemblance to some of Korn's old works. The song sounds psychotic and unbalanced, but sane and sincere at the same time.

Then goes Sanctuary, which starts very much like "My Wall", but then takes a sudden turn and actually turns out to be an extremely enjoyable song that shows that this Nu-Metal band is still capable of creating great music even if there are not many guitars in it.

"Let's Go" is an ok song, with not much to offer. This time it blends some guitar riffs and distorted synths that try to show that the core components of KoRn are still there, but don't actually stand out among all that synthetic mess.

"Get Up!" is a better attempt to catch your attention. It's a perfect blend of synths and voices that don't blur the song or the sound of the guitars.

The song that follows, Way Too Far, gets the same blurry and overproduced start that My Wall and Sanctuary gets, but then becomes a perfect example that KoRn can do more than just Nu-Metal, taking a more melodic approach.

The last and final song, "Bleeding Out" is perhaps another example of how well synth and distorted guitars blend with Jonathan's voice and can both take part in the song without one overpowering the other. This song is another great one of the bunch.

KoRn's "The Path of Totality" is quite a risky attempt to change style, but it's a completely satisfactory one. Some songs like "Illuminati", "My Wall" or "Let's Go" are too overwhelming and overproduced to the point that they completely delete the distorted guitar riffs and bass slaps. However, the rest of the songs sound incredibly well. We could say that in conclusion, it's an album with some excellent songs and with some other mediocre ones, making it an unbalanced, yet admirable piece of work.