Review Summary: With Korn remembering who they are and Head back in the band, The Paradigm Shift makes The Path of Totality sound even worse than it already was
After I bought this album, I'll admit that I had average expectations before finally listening to the whole thing (including the 2 bonus tracks), and wondered if there will be a lot of Path of Totality resemblance.
But to my surprise, The Paradigm Shift is actually a really great album.
Not only should it have been the band's real 10th album, but with Head back in the band, I feel like he really helped with the album, making a sound that's like a future Untouchables or even Issues.
My only complaints is that the song Never Never resembles what should of been a B-Side of Path of Totality that ruins the albums sound after 6 tracks in.
My 2nd and final complaint is that some songs on the 2nd half of the album don't sound as great as the rest, but it doesn't mean that I think they suck.
A good example of this is when you compare songs from the 1st half such as Love & Meth to It's All Wrong and Prey For Me to Tell Me What You want; You can see how there's more of that trademarked sound that Korn is known for, but still with newer touches to give you a feeling like it's an all new Korn album. However, with the latter two tracks, they sound more experimental but not in a wub wub wub kind of way and in more of a See You on the Other Side way somewhat, thank God for that.
Overall, I would give The Paradigm Shift 4.5 stars out of 5.
If Never Never wasn't on this album, it would probably get a perfect 5 star score.
My faith in Korn's future has been restored; I can only hope now that they'll continue to remember who they are and not take anymore paths to totality.
