Korn remembered who they were just in time to forget it all again on
The Path of Totality, an unexpected left turn into dubstep and all manner of dark electronica from the kings of nu metal. Unexpected this move may be, but not unnatural.
Korn always emphasized texture over riffs, so shifting from a gray guitar grind toward claustrophobic electronic collage doesn’t induce shock, apart from the shock that the album actually works.
Korn’s cast of collaborators -- notably the Grammy-nominated
Skrillex, but also
Noisia,
Excision,
Feed Me, and
12th Planet -- does not redefine the band’s character but rather reinterpret it, retaining the same tempos, the same creeping minor-key melodies and riffs, the same sense of enveloping angst that have been present since their 1994 debut. The difference of arrangement -- heavy on skittish drums and electro walls of assault -- has the curious effect of making
Korn seem not adventurous but rather mature: the content of
Jonathan Davis’ rants matter less than his tone, and the producers have folded his vocals, along with
Munky’s buzzing guitar, into a web that feels like
Korn even if it doesn’t strictly sound like any other
Korn album, not even the industrial-funk of See You on the Other Side. Despite all the electronics, there’s no mistaking
The Path of Totality as a
Korn album...and one of their better ones to boot. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine