Korn
Korn III: Remember Who You Are

"It has been eleven years since KoRn composed a metal album that could be called such, and this time it's time, even for the most tenacious, to lose hope"


On the upcoming 13th of July, thousands of fans will wake up in the morning with a smile and an awareness: "KoRn III" has been released. They'll get up in a good mood, impatiently await the record stores' opening hours, and when the time comes, they'll happily head to the nearest seller, perhaps even wearing a band T-shirt.

I am a KoRn fan and I'm afraid of the future. I'm afraid because I know that on the upcoming 13th of July, many fans will be disappointed. For those who managed to feel thrills even with the cacophonies of "Untouchables," "Take A Look In The Mirror," and "Untitled," it will be money well spent; but for all the others with finer ears (children of the first two master(pieces)), it will be another disappointment. It has been eleven years since KoRn composed a metal album that could be called such, and this time it's time, even for the most tenacious, to lose hope. As revealed by the guitarist himself a little over a month ago, the band has been prostituting themselves to record labels for too long, disguising it all under continuous (and increasingly doubtful) artistic "maturation". Too bad that in the last decade, the only thing that seems to have matured within the band are Davis's mustaches, which appear and disappear from video to video. That's why when, during an interview, fans heard the legendary singer himself express the desire to return to the quintet's primordial sounds, they couldn't help but cry out with joy...unaware that it was a wasted breath.

More than "KoRn III," this is a "Take A Look In The Mirror II," which is serious: we have thus reached the dreaded point zero. The group might have said "no" to commercial success this time, but they are so intoxicated, so saturated with a capitalist mentality that they can't emerge from the black hole they dived into years before. The songs all sound somewhat the same: good ideas, sometimes interesting riffs, but it's all ruined by a lazy choice of choruses and total negligence from Davis in vocal composition. You can't help but be somewhat satisfied with the singing style used by the front-man, who this time starts to add something of his own when he sings, finally stopping feeding off that faded ghost, depicting himself in the golden times, emulated every time with almost comic exaggeration. But what completely lacks in Davis's "KoRn III" is the invective. The verses are completely disjointed and seem like the result of a lazy five-minute job, mainly based on copying from past masterworks. I believe that never in the band's entire career has there been such a mix of banality and genius. Genius that, however, has great difficulty in emerging and manages to come out in actually few tracks (counted on one hand), where bass and guitar, which did a great job in this ninth effort from the group, miraculously find a compromise with the vocalist, who evidently was particularly on a roll in those situations.

As for the instrumentation, a note of merit also goes to the new drummer, Ray Luzier, who, although not able to reach Silveria in the "Olympus of the gods," still makes a good figure with a powerful sound similar to a ride, which going hand in hand with the bass, is the only one that manages to give a bit of aggression to a record of dubious metal nature. Not because the sounds aren't heavy, indeed, they are even very felt, but their appropriateness is immediately in question. Personally, I think that after two albums like "See You On The Other Side" and "Untitled," which are for better or worse the product of a mentality more tending to the melodic, it would have been better for the group to dare a "Issues II". The leap was therefore too great, although this "KoRn III" is still superior to "II" ("Untitled"), but it didn't take much. With that said, let's move on to the tracks.

Even the most distracted listener will have noticed, by the ninth studio album, a certain attraction on the part of the Californian band towards intros and interludes; this album is no different. "Uber-time" may not be an mp3 piece like "Twist" or "4U," but it presents itself as an interesting introductory track, which makes the audience feel a fascination, curiosity, and even a sort of dark mystery towards the record. But unfortunately, these feelings only propagate until the last second of the first real track. "Oildale" is indeed one of the standout tracks of the album, which, although defined by critics as "old-school-KoRn", has a personality of its own, never expressed before in any other work by the group. Here one feels a controlled, calm despair, which explodes only in the chorus ("Why don't you just leave me alone?...") also revealing a potent repressed anger: has Jonathan Davis returned? No. From this point on, you are catapulted into another album, which has nothing to do with what was heard up to this moment and which, as already mentioned before, leaves much to be desired. It's unclear what Davis wanted to prove with "Pop A Pill," but it's clear that it's his participation in the song that ruins everything. The only appreciable moments are when he copies here and there from "Life Is Peachy" and the previous self-titled, but this only makes one angrier: technically the singer hasn't lost the "magic touch," but he insists on hiding it, almost as if he were afraid to reuse it to create something truly his own. "Fear Is A Place To Live" results in further degeneration of the track just ended and therefore should be skipped outright. In "Move On," however, the balance that regulates mediocrity and validity leans slightly in favor of the latter, but not enough to give a minimum of consideration to the song. Notable is the riff, which somehow recalls "Tool," albeit very vaguely, and also appreciable is Davis's effort, who at least seems to have enjoyed composing the piece. "Lead the Parade" instead seems like the product of a countryside trip with Marilyn Manson. The bass and guitar parts are even memorable, but overall, even here, one can't help but wince, something that is finally possible to stop doing with "Let The Guilt Go." Although it's about a much less pretentious track than the previous one and ridiculously naive, it's one that so far, excluding "Oildale," manages to be accepted for what it is, without going through a series of ups and downs that ruin the totality of it all, thus achieving the primacy for uniformity. Simple and brash.

Like in an ascending climax, we finally arrive at another noteworthy song of the album. If the entire tracklist of "KoRn III" had followed the line of "The Past," the album might have managed to earn a full seven from me. Using a terrible pun, "The Past" represents the future, reflecting the pure essence, the spirit that KoRn acquired in 2010. It's as if for a moment the band freed themselves from the obsession of making a "debut-line" album and dedicated themselves to composing a sincere piece, which truly showed what was going through the minds of the five at that moment. That's why although it is among the less "furious" tracks and structurally among the least minimal (as was the nature of the band in the distant nineties), it is the one that convinces and enchants the most. If KoRn could let themselves go, we would witness something new and very valuable. But unfortunately, inspiration goes as quickly as it came, and we are faced with "Never Around," a filler piece that wouldn't even find space on "Take A Look In The Mirror". "Are You Ready To Live?," known by some as "My Time," is the masterpiece of the album. The only track that gives a logical sense to the title "KoRn III" shows itself as the natural continuation of the sounds of "Life Is Peachy," like what we all would have wanted to hear on "Follow The Leader" to make it believable. Thus, we return to experimenting, to developing new singing frontiers, and to finding new working blends between melody and power. This was the fourth and last appreciable track of an album of ELEVEN tracks. Indeed, only "Holding All These Lies" remains, a kind of very questionable ballad, placed at a moment of the album when there's no longer even the desire to discuss. One might as well press the "stop" button. But what am I talking about, as the entire critics will raise this clumsy attempt of rebounding as a masterpiece ("Metal Hammer" in primis) and the fans, the real ones, will naively convince themselves of what they will read, going to waste twenty euros on a product that is worth just five.

The only hope I rely on is Christigau, who in recent years has proven to be the only one, perhaps sometimes along with those from "Pitchfork," who knows how to distinguish a good work from a total flop. Therefore, before rushing to the record stores, listen carefully to the tracks on YouTube. I deduct half a point from the final score out of frustration: it could have been a great comeback, but it was ruined by choices that even a kid at their first listen to "Iron Maiden" would have known to avoid. The album is titled "remember who you are," but KoRn have shown that of what they were, they have only a faded memory.

Rating: 4 1/2