Korn – Take a Look in the Mirror

 

Sound: B     Music: C-

 

 

Ironically the band Korn decided to entitle their sixth album Take a Look in the Mirror, which might be good advice for themselves, rather than the people they are still trying to reach.  That audience though has moved along for the most part, while only some die-hard fans have stuck with the band on their road to riches (and sell-out mode).  What seems to really have happened though is that we have two sets of Korn fans.  They are the ones from the very beginning that started to tune them out right around the height of their stardom, which followed the release of Follow the Leader, exactly what everyone did by the way.  Preps and jocks decided to line the stores to buy the album from the same band they once made fun of others for listening to.  The second fan-base are the ones that started listening to the band at their height and now, like a bad virus, can’t seem to stop listening to them. 

 

As for me, well I remember the days when the band (previously known as L.A.P.D.) had emerged with their debut self-titled album featuring their first hit Blind, which would garner some radio play.  That album, in and of itself, was original, powerful, creative, and brutally honest.  We heard lyrics that spoke from the heart, but in a way that fused rap and rock together for a happy marriage. Korn had a nice following to begin with and other bands emerged around that time with a similar vibe also began to take hold such as Orange 9mm, The Deftones, Downset, and eventually Limp Bizkit.  This would only be followed by other bands attempting to capitalize such as Linkin Park.

 

With each album that followed their debut the band has headed more mainstream and while their sound tightened, the lyrics became all too familiar and eventually lead the band into a world of repetition and unoriginality.  Take a Look in the Mirror is yet another offering of just that.  Only this time the band may have actually hit rock bottom. Follow the Leader was the album that put the band into the spotlights, then came Issues, which pulled them down and brought them into a major sell-out position (even the album had four different cover designs.)  Untouchables was virtually a rehashing of Issues, but would feature very few hit tracks, even by Korn standards.  The biggest hit song from Take a Look in the Mirror came from Summer 2003’s big budget sequel Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life, which featured the song Did My Time.  Oddly enough that song was NOT issued on the soundtrack for the film, but became available for a time as a single, and then was placed onto this album.

 

Track Listing:

 

Right Now

Break Some Stuff

Counting on Me

Here It Comes Again

Deep Inside

Did My Time

Everything I’ve Known

Play Me

Alive

Let’s Do This Now

I’m Done

Y’All Want a Single

Where Will This End

 

As for a CD, the sound is ok.  The one thing that has always been a constant with their sound is very good studio mixes that, despite being compressed on CD, still offer nice low end.  The band prides itself on loudness and no matter what the volume; the album never ceases to become too distorted, although the low end does give way after awhile.  Korn might want to eventually think about getting Sony Music to reissue some of their material onto the company’s favorite new format, Super Audio Compact Disc, in order to ensure better quality in the high and low end of their material, plus the surround sound activity (all Sony SACDs are pretty much now coming out in multi-channel) could be interesting for a semi-hardcore band.

 

Perhaps the biggest drawback to this album is just the fact that by now most people do not really care in what Korn has to say anymore.  I mean, we are far past Jonathan Davis complaining about his terrible childhood and we are tired of the same beats, same growling bass, and screeching guitar sounds.  This mix once worked, but now it’s the broken record that just keeps going.  Rock needs a new face and Korn is past its prime.  That recent make-a-music-video stunt on MTV did not help either.  Take a Look in the Mirror is the last breath from a dying breed and if Korn plans on leaving the business with any dignity they need to stop while they are ahead, this might be a good place.

 

 

-   Nate Goss