Shifting Gears

Rating: ***

After several years and albums of traversing the musical landscape in search for new sounds,Korn returns to its inner child. Of course that child is still angry and loathes both the world around and itself,but this time round,in a slightly more cheerful vein. The Paradigm Shift,the bands 11th album release also marks the return of guitarist Brian Head Welch to the fold,joining vocalist Johnathan Davis,guitarist James Munky Shaffer,bassist Reginald Fieldy Arvizu,and drummer Ray Luzier,after more than a decade.

As is the case with most Korn albums,the bass and drums form the vanguard of the bands aural assault,with the slick guitars forming the flanks,while Daviss vocals directs the force of sound. Arzivus bass line is as brooding and heavy as ever,while Luzier utilises every weapon in his percussion arsenal. Shaffer and Welch stick to melodic riffs and hooks without either taking the lead,leading to a synergy of sounds

The 12-track album kicks off with Prey For Me,a number harking back to the bands Follow the Leader days,gritty like a dirt road and as snarly as a car tearing across it. The head-banging continues with Love & Meth and What We Do,the former of which would have made a particularly apposite addition to the Breaking Bad soundtrack. Other tracks like Mass Hysteria and Paranoid and Aroused retain the dubious old-school charm of crowded gigs,mosh pits and black T-shirts emblazoned with band names.With songs like Spike in my veins and Victimized,the band continues its flirtation with electronica (one which had culminated into The Path of Totality,the full-blown dubstep affair which was the bands last album),which are laced with synth and keyboard sounds and yes,some grimy dubstep.

The stand-out tracks from the album are Never never and Lullaby for a Sadist. The first is firmly tongue-in-cheek with a positive,mushy pop-like tonal quality with highly contradicting lyrics. Lullaby… is an updated version of Shoots and Ladders (from Korn),with a similar nursery-rhyme structure centred around a monologue by a sadist. Clearly not so much of a paradigm shift.