Korn
The Serenity of Suffering

Hello everyone.

2016 is turning out to be a very strange year: on one hand, the leaps into the unknown like Brexit, Donald Trump, the fall of the Renzi government, and on the other, music and cinema revisiting past paths, with remake after remake of films and historic rock bands releasing albums like in the 90s: blink 182, Green Day, Sum 41, Metallica, Good Charlotte, and now even Korn. No one is missing anymore, just Limp Bizkit are not to be seen.

Here are the KoЯn, who with The Serenity Of Suffering return after many years of abominable dubstep experiments with Skrillex (The Path of Totality is 5 years old, but it seems more outdated than the wigs of the 1700s), uninspired albums (like that Korn III where they seem to mimic themselves from TALITM where they mimic their debut), unlikely experiments (like that untitled or a good part of SYOTOS) and simply ugly albums (The Paradigm Shift, does anyone even remember a note from that album?).

It must be said that Korn in 2016 manage quite well. The Serenity Of Suffering is the most listenable album since Take a Look in the Mirror, which is from 2003, an era that seems another age. The lineup is almost the same as back then, but with David Silveria on drums replaced by the talented Ray Luzier (who is amusing because he makes funny faces while playing). The Serenity Of Suffering is an album that sounds 100% Korn, there are the heavy guitars, Fieldy's clattering bass (though less noticeable than in the '90s), and most importantly Jonathan Davis, who sings just like in the old days, shouting angrily with gusto, always handling the melodic openings well, and once again trying his hand at scat like twenty years ago.

However, the problem is always the same: for Korn, making a good album means returning to their selves from twenty years ago, there are no opportunities to explore the sound (they tried, and it ended miserably), but neither are they a band like AC/DC capable of repeating themselves a hundred thousand times in an acceptable manner. This time it went well, but it was the first time in 10 years. Will we have to wait until 2025 for another listenable Korn album?

Can you imagine Jonathan Davis at 50 plus years old, chubby with gray hair, angrily singing about parents mistreating him and doing ba da-boom na-da-noom da-nanema as if nothing happened?