New England's Metal Shows

The Paradigm Shift

By J.Simpson

I've never done a track-by-track review for the website but I am proud to say that this album will be my first. My initial expectations prior to listening to the new Korn album were extremely high since this album marked the end of the whole "dubstep experiment" as well as the return of Brian "Head" Welch.

Dictionary.com defines the word paradigm as "a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, especially the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme" but one can think of a paradigm shift as a change of thinking one way to another. Looking at the cover art for the album all I saw was a vase of some sort implanted with gems. But after my friend told me that there were two faces as well. I had to top-down process the cover for a second and that's when my mind was blown because there are indeed two faces.

Paradigm Shift is an 11 song venture back to the heavy Korn sound that we all know and love. Like I mentioned above it marks the return of original lead guitarist Brian "Head" Welch and with the help of Jonathan Davis (vocals), James "Munky" Shaffer (guitarist), Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu (bass), and Ray Luzier (drums) came to fruition to create a kick ass album. As soon as I pressed play and the guitars started to pound out in unison with the drums I sat back and let it all sink in.

1. Prey For Me : Great way to start off an album bringing back the feel of the classic Korn albums. Not only does the album mark the return of original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch but it signifies the band's return to their nu-metal roots which is what the fans all know and love.

2. Love and Meth : The title was quite an ironic choice since guitarist Brian Welch left the band to deal with his substance addiction to methamphetimines yet the band still chose to select that as a title. According to Welch they named it "Love and Meth" just for fun.

3. What We Do : Fieldy's bass is pretty cranked throughout the song, all you can hear is the "dunnan dunnan dunnan." The bridge of the song featured Jonathan Davis' repetitive voice singing "We do" which reminded me of something off of Korn's earlier albums, it could pass for something out of the song "Falling Away From Me."

4. Spike In My Veins : One of the heavier songs on the album in my personal opinion. The song got me pumped up driving the music through my ears and putting adreneline into my veins as if it were a metaphorical spike.

5. Mass Hysteria : "We ride a dying star / across a burning sea / We're like a supernova now / The fire's burning in me... MASS HYSTERIA!" The lyrics to this song are pretty catchy and it really helps when they repeat the title of the song numerous times.

6. Paranoid and Aroused : At first listen to the song was in no way appealing. The intro was in no way intriguing and I figured maybe it will shift mid way through the song but nope, the opinion stuck around. I was not too fond of this track.

7. Never Never : This double-negative titled song is the first single off of the new album and is my personal favorite song on the album. Just starting off with the angelic introduction and hearing the words "I'm never gonna love again," being whispered into my headphones leading into the rhythmic beats from the band really got me into the song. The one thing I disliked was the whole "techno" breakdown in the middle, it really ruins the song for me. That one breakdown brings back memories of bad times, when collaberations with Skrillex were in order. Yet the song redeems itself when the chorus kicks back in, but I have to say that is possibly the worst bridge on the album.

8. Punishment Time : The song is kind of eerie, talking about punishment and what not. Walking on razor blades, not one of my favorite songs on the album.

9. Lullaby For A Sadist : I really enjoyed this track. The instant guitar riff that classifies it as a slower song as well as the instant use of the piano/synthesizer. It takes you back to the old school Korn. Just like every other song on this album the track can be labeled as extremely catchy. The lyrics as well are extremely mesmerizing. For a slow song, it's pretty bad-ass.

10. Victemized : Once again we return to that abundant and trademark "chuga chuga" Korn sound. I didn't really like the delievery of the lyrics on this song. They could have made the lyrics more affitted to the song, that would have given the song a better reputation.

11. It's All Wrong : My ears were directed to the drums the entire time. The entire song through my perception was just drums. "Bum-bum-bum-tsst-bum-bum-bum-tsst," that pretty much sums up the song.

12. Tell Me What You Want : An astounding way to close out an album. Extremely dynamic and powerful and an especially effective way to recover from the dubstep album. I find the title to be a tad bit ironic seeing how fans told the band that we want a heavy album, that they want Head back, that they want another album, and the band gave us just that after we told them what we want.

VERDICT : 7/10

After strong critisism the album received a seven out of ten. The replay value is high and a majority of the tracks are great at making you get up and want to mosh. Some of the songs on the album don't reflect the complete effort that the band could have poured into the album. Yes, it does show a return (and hopefully permanant) to the heavy metal roots. Yes, it is better than the previous album, (which received a .5/10 in my opinionated mind.)The album lacks guitar solos and some of the lyrics are just plain and bland.

To sum it up : The album is worth a listen on Spotify before you buy it. If you replay the album more than once, I recommend that you buy it. Hopefully Korn will be touring the new album in the United States in the future giving fans a perfect opprutunity to listen to their favorite songs from the album live.