Freak on a beat

There's no denying that the nu-metal genre had some low points, but Korn was a band that managed to trailblaze more than others, relishing in textural feedback and occasional hip-hop breakdowns that were otherwise avoided by mainstream 1990s alternative rock and metal groups.


With the band's 10th album, The Path of Totality, it seems Korn has decided to try and break ground again, importing dubstep into its style. Instead of using it as an accent, however, Korn's entire album is grinding dubstep top to bottom, with every track featuring a guest spot by artists such as Skrillex, Datsik and Excision.

If you haven't heard the album, you can be forgiven for appreciating the idea of Korn attempting to evolve, especially considering the group's last few records have been so unremarkable.


That's about as far as you can go appreciating The Path of Totality.


Effectively, Korn's 10th record sounds like a remix album. Korn has always been the kind of band that reuses the same types of melodies to define its sound, which is why all of its music has been so similar. The Path of Totality finds Korn writing some of the same melodies again, only this time they are all filtered through extremely aggressive dubstep beats and production.


Some tracks have honestly epic bass drops (read: "massive"), such as "Chaos Lives in Everything," featuring fancy hair connoisseur Skrillex, and the opening to "Narcissistic Cannibal," featuring both Skrillex and Kill The Noise.


Despite Korn's usual ability to meld brooding rage with sing-a-long choruses, most of the hooks on these songs are cheesy instead of headbanging. Every time one of these choruses cuts in, it completely stops whatever groove the band had built up, forcing the audience to wait until the throb comes back.

The fact that all this unexciting dubstep production becomes the main attraction on The Path of Totality makes it seem like the producers had far more creative control than any of the members of Korn.

All 11 tracks are pummeling, high-energy synthesizer bass implosions with very little dynamic alteration. Even at 37 minutes in length, The Path of Totality is hard to sit through.


The slowest songs on the record, "Sanctuary," featuring Downlink, and "Lets Go" featuring Noisia, are easily the best. The key difference is that these two don't focus on the dubstep or use it as a gimmick, forcing the band to actually write a tune worth hearing beneath the noise.


If Korn had styled the rest of the record after these two songs, they could have created something worth listening to. Instead, The Path of Totality is just one more curio in dubstep's rise to mainstream prominence — an uneven attempt by Korn at regaining some sense of relevance in the music scene.

Verdict: The Path of Totality finds Korn trying to connect with modern audiences by shacking up with dubstep. Spoiler alert: It doesn't go very well.