Another strength weakened here is the drum sound. This has always been another Korn strong point, but is now average and almost muddy in the mix. Drummer David Silveria just doesn’t have the punch of past songs like “Got The Life”…or anything else pre-Issues. His performance here is average at best.
Finally, the real problem with See You On The Other Side is the songs. Plain and simple, this album is the most “going through the motions” release of their career. While most agree that Korn is either “on” or “off” from album to album, there’s no denying that this one sits next to crud like Life Is Peachy as their all-time worst. It may be the worst, because while PEACHY had a lot of crap, it still had edge and attitude. This has below average songwriting, songs that just don’t fit in with their catalog (listen to the NIN ripoff “Throw Me Away” for proof), and dismal lyrics. These songs have the disgusting scent of “made for radio” all over them…not what any Korn fan wanted this time around.
RATING – 3/10 – While the Darkness’ album stands as the worst I’ve heard this year, this one is the most disappointing. This is Korn’s St. Anger. It’s their version of The Elder. Great band – horrible effort.
Edited:CMP
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Guppusmaximus
Dude, KORN sucked from the beginning...This just proves that they were a trendy, sound-alike band and that they should've died out sooner...
I agreed with your review of The Darkness but KORN needs to be tossed along with them and Rob Zombie... Aeorobic Disco Garbage.
2 - Al Barger
If an actual tune, a real SONG, were to come up and bite a member of Korn on the ass, would they even recognize what it was?
3 - TBJ
When was Korn any good?
This band was created for the sole purpose of pushing products..A.D.I.D.A.S. anyone?
4 - NickySantoro360
Man, i just don't agree. The irony is the bonus cd songs are better than half of the album songs.
Souvenir of Sadness, IMO, is one of the best songs Korn has every done. My balls were on the ground after listening to it.
-Santoro
monopolion
5 - YinYang
Korn is by far the greatest band ever. This is not the best, but this is a great album Korn has put out. If you dont like it, dont fucking listen to it.
6 - Lorne
Yeah, look i agree that this isn't KoRn's greatest work, but I still like it. Same for Life is Peachy. Peachy and Other Side are without a doubt their weakest 2 albums, but when u've done 7 albums, you can't expect all of them to be brilliantly origional works of art. I've been a KoRn fan since i was 13 and thats not gonna change just because their new album isn't their greatest work. I was pretty dissapointed though. Still, I hope they put another one out, hopefully it will confirm for all you faithless lot that KoRn have not lost their edge and are still capeable of kicking ass.
7 - heylel shalem
lol, korn puts out a industrial album and no-one gets it. I liked wat i heard. I guess at least they feel that there is now the "freedom" to do something a little different. Critics in general are pretty damn cruel to bands in general, and once a band kinda loses its popularity-or its sound is "dead" or considered passe? I'd hate to be in that positition, back to the mercy of the jackyls. I have never been a serious korn fan, but i respect wat they do- perhaps now they can find a comfortable place away from trying to appease a very fickle audience and a very ironic system of "worth" of which I mean trend following assholes who one day praised the genius of GNR and then after Nirvana touted that? lol. the folly of a critic is his own personal prejudices. I can say that this album may not break any new grounds- but if it did the critics would ignore it until it could'nt be. However long korn was around they pushed their sound and now its a staple.
8 - KoRnY
well first off to the person who wrote this review, i couldnt have said it better, its like you read my mind.
2nd off, we all know that music becomes un-original ones its done, pretty simple the thing is, bands can evolve, and change their sound a little bit, think outside of the box, for example slipknot's vol.3, they thought waay outside of the box but still had their original touch and signature on it.on the other hand what we have here, is basically crap, the album is an inconceivable piece of shit from all the aspects.
guitar work was the most disappointing to me, i thought munky would just bring out something amazing since he's under the spot now, but he actually didnt, you can neither hear the old skool grinding chuggy riffs like on ST or LIP, or the ringing melodic riffs that bring cutting edge soundscapes like on issues or untouchables, instead the guitar work to me sounds a lot like talitm with few layers, its so fucking boring now.
JD... i do have a lot to say about his work in this album but pretty much all what i am gonna say is he has completely lost it since talitm.
the funny thing is, i dunno weather they were kidding themselves or the fans when they put scatting & bagpipes, its pretty much obvious they wanna say korn are still here, maybe these things were one of many many things on their palette of tricks but hacking off a couple of them doesnt make it a korn album.
too bad this band is over now and soon it would be official.
btw i have been a fan for 12 years, now i really lost interest.
9 - Chris Lamb
Korn has been my favorite band for years, -in fact, since I began listening to Metal. They ar ethe fathers of numetal and have influenced every metal band since the early 90s. I haven't actually listened to the new album but let me say this for all Korn fans- I never expected this 7th to be their best work, or anything revolutionary. What I expect is another hard, driving effort from this veteran group. I expected the sound to be somewhat different as a result of the loss of Head. From the comments of people who have already heard it, this is a release that will most likely satisfy fans' desire for more, although at the same time push away any potential new fans or casual listeners. Personally, I believed they reached the apogee of their ability with the release of "Issues", which stand to be counted as one of the best albums of all time. I am also a big fan of the 2 following efforts, "Untouchables" and "Take a Look in the Mirror," although I realize these were not well recieved by critics. What I hope for in this album is some memorable hooks and balls-to-the-wall headbanging. Perhaps Korn has been around too long, and perhaps they have lost their inspiration. But for hardcore fans like myself, I will consider this album a fond farewell to a band that has defined a generation of metalheads.
10 - Ooohness
I think the author of this article is deaf -- one of the worst and most biased reviews I've read in a while.
11 - KoRn*DoLL
you know what? i've gone to so many sites to read what people have to say about KoRn's new album. You know what I think? They always eat it no matter what. When they sound too much like KoRn people say they're always the same and thatthey lack creative talent in that department. But here we all go again telling ourselves that the new KoRn album sucked because it was too different or similar to something else. It's sad that as KoRn fans that we have to be so over-critical. I'm a musician by profession, and i spend most of my time lsitening to music and analyzing it. there's a time and place for that. why can't you just take it for what it is? It bugs me so much that people who bash bands just to sound like everyone else? isn't that just what you're saying sucks about KoRn? do half you people even know that much about music and KoRn to begin with or is it a new anger-management tactic that we should know about?
12 - xpandnz
Well, i agree that this album isnt their best but it has some nice moments. I like most of the songs here. Sorry, but i been a Korn fan since i was 12. The moment i heard shoots and ladders, my jaw dropped and it was the music i had been waiting to here. I been with Korn through all their moments, good and bad, i just wish they could get it together. I want to produce their next album!!!!
13 - CoUcH
ok first and foremost i am a music fanatic. followed by my love for korn. This album is certainly not their best but then again my favourite album that they have done is Issues. The one problem this album has is that it follows one of the poorest albums which have been done of recent times. After the last failure korn have tried to bring themselves back up. While losing head they have lost a lot of the pitched harmonics which used to be in their music. this gave more depth to their music. Life is peachy had this in great amounts. This was also true for the first and third albums.
Nethertheless i believe they have tried to redeem themselves through this album. They havent tried to stay the same and i respect that. People change and so does the music. Overall i think this album is well structured and (agreeing with Korn*doll) it should be taken for what it is and not compared to any of their other work. it is a good album.
14 - FF
KoRn have just done their best album ever with this "See you..."
KoRn has invented a style of music...
15 - Joann
Well, I probably don't really even have the right to critique this album yet, since I just bought it 20 minutes ago on my lunch hour. BUT--my initial opinion is that my husband and I are gonna be very disappointed in it. My husband is a Korn fanatic (so I am, maybe not quite as much as he is) and all the things we both liked about their previous music are missing in this CD. I found myself flipping past each song after hearing about 1/2 of it to see if the next track was any better. I got a little over half way thru it when I had to turn my CD player off. Hopefully, when I get home and we listen to it on our awesome sound system, it'll sound better.
16 - john
This thing is really bad. Ive even listened to it about 6 or 7 times and it just sucks, the reviewer was dead on about its problems, I get what they are tyring to do but everytihng that made korn KORN really isnt there. I think it also has alot to do with the producers they hired and the fact it sounds like an industrial version of something say like britney spears. I think HEAD, believe it or not, was the SANE one out of the bunch and knew how bad this was really gonna be and jumed into the arms of jesus cuase he realized the band had just done gone to hell :)
17 - tdog
this album is exactly how I thought it would be after hearing twisted transistor on the radio. korn is trying this brittany spears sound with their own and it just doesn't work. I can see a band wanting to "evolve" but c'mon the lyrics and guitar work are just plain awful. Iv'e been a korn fan for a while now and I've excepted that they are done.
18 - Jeff
Right on review. I am HUGE Korn fan and found some tracks respectable on the last 2 albums. Usually when a band looses a member and releases a greatest hits album it signals the end. This unworthy half hearted effort prooves it. Industrial grind with synth went out in the late 90's. I swear if the cover didnt say "Korn", that i was listening to a Marilyn Manson album - Mechancial Animals? This album is already on ebay and I had it for 5 hours! Horrible. To much talent wasted - Hate to say it, but time to hang it up and while Head is out finding God, the remaining four need to take a look in the mirror and find some heart, passion and vigor...or they can stay on whatever side they are on.
19 - frame
One thing to add - With regards to Davis' "Harmonizing" on Hypocrites... He really isn't harmonizing with anything - in fact, there's really no harmony going on in that song at all - it's really just simple riffs and a riffy melody which constitutes the chorus; it is here where he goes completely along (quite high) with the guitar melody/riff
20 - frame
Oh, oh, one more thing - I do agree with most of the review, by the way.. but with that being said, I disagree with the comments on the drumming. Anyone with any kind of ear for performance AND sound quality will know that Issues had the WORST drums, I think, possible on any album (terrible performance/bass drum almost lost in mix, drums sound like they we're recorded by one mic in a basement) - now, after Issues, anyone listening closely to each successive realease knows that Silveria has come slowly back to his roots (more double kick, fancy drum rolls, playing with timing)- This album has some of the most experimental time sigs Korn has ever employed in their songs...Silveria gives an explosive and oddly fresh performance on this album - and when it sounds simple, you can blame that on the style choice / production - it's obvious that they have taken bits and looped them/kept the style simple in spots for that slick perfectly on-time feel. The sound quality itself is really quite good - actually some of the cooest drum mixes they've ever had (industrial and roomy at times), and otherwise, they meet the above average level of quality songs of past. This album and Untouchables have the most polished, thunky drum mixes in their collection.
21 - wow
#10
Ooohness
December 5, 2005
04:17 PMI think the author of this article is deaf -- one of the worst and most biased reviews I've read in a while.
i agree... its funny, i find all the songs thatw erent done or colaberated with atticus ross were great..the sound is different, i 1st heard the leak on my comp but my comp has a shitty sound n 1st was disaponted, til i lsitened n my car, then n my cd plyr, sounded 10 times better...i admit i dont like the NIN-like songs(5-8, 13) but sh*t...the rest were great...wat stuns me is all this life is peachy sucked bs...my question to those that say this is...have yall only been fans since FTL or issues or sumtin? no wonder why yall dont like this album...ssaying issues is their best album n what not says alot..the guitars are good...face it, its new n thats wat i think yall dont like about it...no one n this world seems to accept new things at all right away, lol look at how korn self titled was criticized by many when it came out...guess what if u guys havent figured out...there isnt going to be another self titled or for sum of yall issues... you know why? cause they already f*ckn made it!
22 - Curtis Spiers
i haven't heard the whole album, but when you said life is peachy was almost their weakest effort, i stopped listening.
23 - George Dionne
Korn's first song sounds just like every song that followed. It's too bad they just signed a big deal, because it's time for them to pack it up. The popularity of their sound is long gone. They can take Staind with them.
24 - sad sad girl
okee dokee,
well, i have to say, like most of the people on here, that i have loved korn since the tender age of 11 or so. now, this album TO ME is not really korn at all. i liked the style of them, i never wanted a change. but with the synthesiors and fake music just doesnt reak of korn, the lyrics are not jonathan in my opinion, i think we can all thank the matrix for that one. they (korn) should be solely writing their music. nothing is better than raw emotion that you can feel when the words come out of jonathan's mouth, sick drumming, and unique guitars, we will have to hope for better on the next album. for now, i will be listening to eaten up inside which to me reminds me the most of the korn in grew up with!
25 - MakerFreak
I got to say i think WOW is right none of these unfaithful people who say this album sucks is really fans at all (or were only fans from issues up) I got nothing left to say but ive been a fan from the start and korn is still changing it up every album and this album rocks.And those who used to be fans are the true sellouts.