KORN: III - Remember Who You Are

Produced by Ross Robinson
Released: July 2010

The last ten years have been long ones for Korn, as they slipped from the pinnacle of the rock world to teeter on the brink of being nothing but burned-out hasbeens, two men down and without a label on the back of one of the most critically-reviled albums of recent times. Going back to basics was probably the only option left after their run of disastrous and lame experiments with acoustics, duets with pan flashes like Amy Lee and other rubbish while former protegees like the Deftones grew in maturity, sophistication and popularity.

So Korn has now entered phase III of their career with the affirmation to remember who they are. To that end, the band has reunited with Ross Robinson in an effort to go back to where it all began, to that primal, urgent rumble that sparked an entire genre. Even the artwork reflects that of the groundbreaking debut. The result is only partly successful.

Remember Who You Are is Korn being Korn, and that's pretty much it. In some ways it's as if everything after Follow the Leader never happened, but at the same time you know there's been some crazy shit that's gone down to have led them back to this place. Korn in 2010 is like an angry kid coming back home after running away to find his old house knocked down and another, almost similar one, built on the same spot. It's kinda the same, but not quite. There is more technical finesse about Korn's musical delivery, the menacing sludge of Munky's murky riffs and Fieldy's bass throb, but Jonathon Davis' whiny vocals and woe-is-me lyrical bullshit doesn't take them anywhere they haven't been eight times already. It's almost like he's learned nothing.

"Oildale (Leave Me Alone)" is a great opener and "Let the Guilt Go" is probably the best song Korn has done in a very long time, but in between and afterwards is an album that neither scales any true heights or sinks to any appreciable lows. Remember Who You Are is solid the way a comeback should be, but not remarkable like it needs to be. It does show scope for the band to continue if Davis can find it in himself to move on from the cathartic angst of 16 years ago to something that rings truer. 

1. Uber-time
2. Oildale (Leave Me Alone)
3. Pop a Pill
4. Fear is a Place to Live
5. Move On
6. Lead the Parade
7. Let the Guilt Go
8. The Past
9. Never Around
10. Are You Ready to Live?
11. Holding All These Lies

Rating: 65%