The funny thing is that I had no idea that this was coming. These guys have been quietly prolific since their arrival a dozen years ago. I was sitting there on a Sunday morning perusing the sale flyers, and what jumped out at me but a new Korn release. I was sold. I eagerly ripped those damn security stickers off the case and threw it in the player. I was greeted with "Intro," a dark circus tune that doesn't really offer anything to the album, but proves to be unsettling haunted house music that prepares us for the cut, "Starting Over."
The first true song finds Davis telling us "My time is over, God is going to take me out." Could this be a reaction to Head's discovery of faith? It may, or it may not, it is one of a few potential swipes at their former member. I would like to think that there are no hard feelings between the guys, and this just happens to be a coincidence. In the end, it makes little difference, as, musically, this is a good album.
The first single is "Evolution" which features the familiar Korn structure, although it feels a bit more sparse in its arrangement, and the underlying keyboards add a nice dimension. "Kiss" is a strong outing, a Korn epic of emotional pleading like they have never been before. It is even more sparsely arranged and just sounds great. This follows into the more aggressive, but still dirge-like paced, "Do What They Say."
"Love and Luxury" finds a return to a more old school Korn styled track, although it still has freshness to it. Also, keep an ear to the ground during "Innocent Bystander" and "Killing" which introduce some nicely detuned crunch. The latter featuring some nice growling from Davis. Untitled comes to a close with the dark lullaby "I Will Protect You," an interesting conglomeration of crunchy guitars, a lightly singing Davis, with swirling keyboards in the background.
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