Band:	Korn
Album:	See You On The Other Side
Style:	Alternative metal, Nu metal
Release date:	December 06, 2005
A review by:	jupitreas

Disc I
01. Twisted Transistor
02. Politics
03. Hypocrites
04. Souvenir
05. 10 Or A 2-Way
06. Throw Me Away
07. Love Song
08. Open Up
09. Coming Undone
10. Getting Off
11. Liar
12. For No One
13. Seen It All
14. Tearjerker
15. Too Late I'm Dead [Japanese deluxe edition bonus]

Disc II Deluxe Edition & Japanese Deluxe Edition
01. It's Me Again
02. Eaten Up Inside
03. Last Legal Drug (Le Petit Mort)
04. Twisted Transistor [The Dante Ross Mix]
05. Twisted Transistor [Dummies Club Mix]
+ Twisted Transistor [video] [Live In Moscow]
+ Hypocrites [video] [Live In Moscow]
+ One Year Membership To KoRn BSC Fan Club featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes media content, Korn community membership with personal home page and blog, pre-sale ticket access for the Korn tour [deluxe edition bonus]
+ Password access to two digital download tracks at Best Buy Exclusive! [deluxe edition bonus]
+ One Year Membership To KoRn BSC Fan Club with two books, first with texts of songs in English and Japanese, and second with pictures [japanese deluxe edition bonus]

What a lot of you people don't get is that Korn is a band that has been striving hard to remain creatively relevant even though, by the mysterious whims of the gods of popular culture, they found themselves at the center of mainstream attention. There are many such bands that become extremely popular even though their music is non-conventional and non-conformist. All of a sudden, the band is thrown into the dog-eat-dog realm of the mainstream, dominated by plastically engineered music designed to satisfy the statistical and non-demanding MTV audience. At this point, a lot of bands just switch to automatic and release more of what made them popular without ever trying to push the envelope any more (and if they do, they tend to make music so removed from the trends in the underground that it can be seen as a joke, at best). Surviving in such a world is not such an easy thing to do and most bands end up destroying themselves, either creatively (Metallica) or literally (Nirvana). I am happy to say that some minor missteps aside, Korn seems to be coping with their popularity just fine and the new album See You On The Other Side is for the most part a very rewarding and interesting listen.

This album is definitely a progression for Korn and a welcome one after the good but too retro Take A Look In The Mirror. The production is the most clear indication of this progression. The album boasts a deep, elaborate sound that draws equally from modern industrial rock and alternative rap. There is a massive low end here and the music is positively funky as a consequence. The band embraces their new-found groove masterfully and uses it to compose a collection of songs that are fairly unpredictable. Those who felt Korn should have worked more on perfecting their neo-New Wave chops from Untouchables will be very happy with such tracks as "Love Song", "Seen It All" and "Tearjerker" as well as with pretty much the whole album as elegant melodies are used generously, yet tastefully throughout. At the same time, the band does not lose its aggressive edge and explores some new ground on this front as well. "Hypocrites" almost sounds like a Rage Against The Machine song but with a NYHC claw, while "Coming Undone", "Getting Off" and "Politics" are all vintage Korn with all the trademark grinding, angular riffing, increasingly more technical drumming and growled refrains that we've come to expect from this band. Naturally, it is no secret that Korn is good at what they invented and this is why it is their constant will to surprise the listener that makes listening to this album exciting. Finally, what reflects Korn's growth more than anything is the lyrics on See You On The Other Side. It was long overdue for Jonathan Davis to decide that he does not need to be the substitute for the troubled teen's psychiatrist and instead write lyrics dealing with religion, politics and morality, among other things. He delivers these lyrics with total conviction and with the most vocal finesse yet.

Naturally, I am not naive enough not to be aware of the fact that what I described above in positive terms will be a thorn in the side of a very large number of people reading this review. Well, all of you brainless nu-metal haters and close-minded freaks - deal with it. A band that remains relevant and innovative so late in the game deserves your respect, no matter what illogical connotations with watered down hip-hop this music might conjure to you. Korn are still trying out new things and this is more than can be said about the majority of the 'non-mainstream' metal scene where the term avant-garde is stretched so thin as to describe even the most marginally unique black metal bands. Many of you will need to realize that your need to belong to that hip group of nay-saying delinquents can get in the way of enjoying good music.

See You On The Other Side is Korn waltzing through the obstacles of being popular. Not afraid to embrace non-rock influences, the band still makes music that can be surprising and unpredictable and is a joy to listen to for anyone who is not concerned with being seen as cool by their nekro-kvlt friends. A fine album from a fine band.