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UNTOUCHABLES
The much delayed fifth studio offering from Korn, Untouchables, as finally been released. It is hard to call it a new album though for it is anything but new. Sure, it is new in the sense of when it was written and when it was released but listening to it gives you the sense that you have heard this before. I am not talking about it being available on the internet for months it’s just that Korn hasn’t done much in the way of growing over the span of album releases. Don’t think that it is not well written or well produced for it is. Jonathan Davis shines as per usual both in his writing and his singing. He shows great range both when he subtlety whispers or yelps full range. He is brilliant throughout and shines and such tracks as “Hollow Life”, “Hating” and “Embrace”. Davis drags you through his demented world and fucked up feelings with an earnest that is missing from most of today’s front men. Fieldy seems to have overcame the debacle of his solo shitfest and his ear shaking bass lines are in full affect. But, as with what we have come to expect from Korn on their four previous albums, Welch and Shaffer deliver the same sounding guitar work with workman type effort. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing new, nothing memorable but at least nothing full of suck that most new bands rely on. Korn is perilously risking of becoming the joke of being a band that knows three cords but only plays two. And while we are keeping with a deja vu theme for this review, just lump David Silveria’s drum work and technique in general as par for the course. Like so many bands that have even the slightest hint of staying power, Korn takes the safe, proven road with Untouchables. I am not a Korn hater mind you. I enjoy the new album just as much as I enjoyed their previous efforts. I just can’t help feeling a little disappointed hearing “Here To Stay”, which happens to be on the album twice (a worthless remix closes the album), or “I’m Hiding”. Some songs just wind up sounding like an over hyped blockbuster sequel making you long for the originality of the first. If I were measuring Untouchables against what can be heard on most radio stations and what MTV like to pass off as hard rock, I would say it was the album of the year. But alas, this is not the case. While they have carved out there own sounding niche through out their careers, instead of furthering themselves they took the easy road and played this one safe. One can hope that they don’t continue down this same old shit road but you will have to wait a few years for any chance of that happening.
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