Review Summary: Take a ride through the corn maze of life with Jonathan Davis. Korn is back.
Corn is one of our most durable vegetables, a sturdy and starchy delicacy that's fed and enriched us for aeons. It's been used as currency by different tribes as well. When we think of pilgrims meeting the natives, what food is always right alongside the turkey? It is corn. It's not hard to see how Jonathan Davis and his monumental ensemble utilize a similar formula to which the nu-metal quintet owes its success - much like the vegetable, it keeps at it for a long time, refusing to spoil, even when many naysayers and haters would like it to. Monumental frontman Davis is unfazed by all this crap - no stranger to bullying, the man once said in an interview that having endured countless swirlies as a young buck made him largely immune to the words of music elitists and critics. The maestro has his own demons to work through, so your crap doesn't matter.
There's darkness within us all, and Korn have essentially based their career off of showing the darkness within us all. If Edgar Allen Poe were to choose a nu-metal band, he would definitely choose Korn. And that's the master of horror himself. From the opening notes of "The End Begins," our ears are treated with the trademark pain and frustration that has underscored this monumental group's career. It comes as no surprise to both Kornheads and detractors that, proceeding the death of his wife last year, the Pagliacci of modern angst in rock had baggage to unload, like a diaper full of stinky turds, except instead of crap it's filled with emotions and words sadly left unspoken. Unspoken until now. When life farts in your face, you have to tell the world, or else you'll simply go mad. You have to have an outlet, and Davis has chosen art. For all his detractors, can you really say Davis would be better off shooting up a school? That'd be ***ed up if you said something like that. Monumental artist Davis is doing this because of people like you who crap on him, people who only have hatred to offer the world. Jonathan Davis wants us to show love, but he juxtaposes his worldview and message with a frank and realistic portrait of the dark world we live in, shrouded in darkness.
The lyrics have no facade of detachment, they are obviously autobiographical and strongly influenced by the death of Davis's wife. "The Darkness is Revealing," one of the most gut-punching heavy tracks in Korn's arsenal, discusses this in depth. Sadness, anger, stellar production, an infectious groove, all wrapped in a nu-metal taco of goodness. The chorus has been stuck in my head for hours now. I don't know how I'll get a damn thing done for this next week when all I can think of is this song. Something feels a tad wrong, a wee bit dirty over essentially getting joy from this man's monumental pain. But then I remember the true goal of Korn: you aren't alone. We are in this together. The darkness within us all affects each of us. Some people bottle up their pain and go shoot people. Unfortunately, many of the people who commit such atrocities are Korn fans. Can we really blame Davis if some listeners do not understand his message?
