The newest Korn-ographic sound: The Paradigm Shift

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With nearly twenty years of dark angst and dreadlocks, Korn still has it in them with their newest album The Paradigm Shift.  With their return of Brian "Head" Welch, Korn went back to their roots and have made their attempt to fall back into a more appealing raw sound.  Being a Korn fan for the past five years, I have really been able to know Korn's sound, but sadly also have to hear their new music that they have been releasing for the past five years now.  When The Paradigm Shift came out I was pulled into the movement, especially after watching interviews about the sound and how Welch will be aiding them.  Many have waited for the possible return of Welch as well as the return of Korn's original sound.  The Paradigm Shift has been topic of many interviews and has been a work many -including myself- have waited for.  DISCLAIMER: KORN FEATURES DARK MESSAGES, INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE, SUGGESTIVE THEMES, AND IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE SENSITIVE TO DRUG ABUSE, MOLESTATION, AND SUICIDE RELATED TOPICS.

 [Top is from The Paradigm Shift bottom is from Follow the Leader (1998).]

Korn is band with a shifting sound from Alternative Metal, to Goth, but is mainly considered Nu-Metal.  Korn has dark lyrics with a raw, high gain sound with their guitars, their kits have a Grunge house kit sound, and their bass is incredibly discordant and raw with its intense gain and brutal slapping along with precise fingering and flat noise.  From 1994 to 2013 Korn has released music all over the world.  Korn is led by lead singer, Bagpipist, and keyboard head Jonathan Davis.  Little fact is that in high school Jonathan was voted "most likely to own a mortuary" and soon after high school Jonathan was actually a morticians assistant.  Davis didn't start with singing and actually has asthma so bad that as a child he was presumed dead for minutes due to an epic asthma attack, but no Davis played bagpipes for six hours on a daily basis.  Guitarist Brian Welch reminds me a lot of Robert Carr, for he is a single father with a former meth addiction, but took the turn to Christ once again.  Welch had been friends with Davis and "Munky" since at least middle school.  Second guitarist "Munky" is not the most popular member, but is easily the voice of the band as long as interviews go.  Surprisingly "Munky" got into guitar after severing his finger in a three wheeling accident.  Korn's bassist Fieldy is actually my favorite bassist of all time.  Fieldy is so intense with his slap style that some consider him to almost be a percussionist with the bass.  Nice fact is that for his fifth birthday, Fieldy received a bass guitar and has played bass for nearly 40 years.  He may not be the original drummer but Ray Luzier is a great addition to Korn.  Luzier is a self taught drummer and known for his past as a farm boy.  Korn has one two Grammys and several other awards, their most nominated song being Freak on a Leash.

[Welch left, Fieldy, Luzier, Munk left, Davis bottom.]

 Korn is original plain and simple.  Korn helped pave the way for Nu-metal just as Nirvana did with Grunge.  Slipknot has the closest sound to Korn that I can really think of; their sound is very distinct.  With The Paradigm Shift Korn brought back many of their old techniques and sound, but kept with some of the new.  It has the simplicity and high gain of their self titled album, the darkness of Issues, the intensity of Take a Look In the Mirror, - which is my favorite album by them by far - and the techno sound of The Path of Totality.  One Youtuber even brought up that the song Mass Hysteria from The Paradigm Shift  has an almost exact same sheet as No Way off the Issues album.

In the mind of an angst filled teen lies dark and aggressive things.  It is such intense raw emotion that it would be missing a great opportunity to not put it into a form of art.  Korn resembles letting the emotion out, talking about your problems, and sharing your experiences and letting others know that they are not the only ones.  Korn fits into the teen angst, hate everything, darkness and death culture.  Gruesome imagery and unsettling verses are sewn in Korn's lyrics, but that is one of the big reasons many people have grown to appreciate them.  If Korn's music fits any stereotype it would be a creepy goth stereotype; you know like the one guy from your high school who seemed way more messed up than everyone and rarely spoke and carved dark images in the cheap wood desks.


The Paradigm Shift was a well needed change and bested the last 8 years and 3 albums the came before it.  With Welch back the band's collaborative attempts have reached a great outcome.  Love & Meth, Spike in my Veins, and Paranoid and Aroused are probably my three favorites.  All three have to with several of the band members' former addictions with substances such as meth, but it also holds Welch's story of overcoming it through Christ.  These songs had the raw creepy sound of Issues and the mosh starting intensity of Take a Look In the Mirror.  On the flip side the main downfall of this album was its ending song It's All Wrong.  It's All Wrong was easily the worst song and ended the album poorly, but luckily for those who bought the Deluxe Edition, you get a better end to the album with bonus tracks.  http://www.rocksound.tv/reviews/article/korn-the-paradigm-shift here is a quick positive note on The Paradigm Shift.  All in all this honestly wasn't Korn's greatest work, but it was better than the crap that has profusely been spewed by them into the music world for the past several years.  The Paradigm Shift is a figure of Korn returning to a sound many of their fans know and miss dearly.

Prior to this I've spent time watching interviews and listened to leaked clips of songs.  I plan on buying The Paradigm Shift and putting it in my collection of discs.  I have a few friends that appreciate Korn, but none have had the time to really listen to the album except the most pop sounding song Never Never.  Time has been taken by me to evaluate the lyrics and individually listen to each instrument specifically as well as the songs as a whole.  When it comes to Korn I have dedication and when it comes to music I have time.


In researching this I have realized that I actually really enjoy the sound of the Issues album.  Jonathan Davis' past has now been put more to my attention as well.  At first I hated the Dubstep that was put into Korn's sound in 2011, but I feel that now I like it with The Paradigm Shift.  Korn may be old but I still love them for their old and new work.  The Paradigm Shift may not have been a huge success, but I feel it is just the first step on a new era of Korn.

 Here are 3 of my favorite Korn songs in a well balanced time format.  From 1994, to 2003, to 2013

For those who are very intrigued you can check out these interviews about the return of Welch, the wait, and the making of The Paradigm Shift.  Just a little fun fact, through a big part of the making of the album Jonathan Davis was actually in rehab, yet still made some sick lyrics that he can't even remember exactly doing for the little time he worked with the rest of the band.


Works Cited:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0787313/bio
 http://life.is.peachy.angelfire.com/
http://www.followtheleader.20m.com/whats_new.html
https://kornrow.com/ray-luzier-bio/