See You On The Other Side [PA] - Korn

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Its new and different .
Disadvantages:	It loses its trademark spooky guitar sounds .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Korn are back with their 8th studio album and without "Hed" on guitar they are now down to four members.
It seems like they have taken a new direction in their music performance and included modern perils such as politics to sing about.

*There is a parental Advisory Sticker on the front as it features few more swear words than their previous releases.

I ordered this on-line from Tesco Jersey for £8.99. it was on a special offer price at the time but is due to go back to £12.99 shortly.

#The artwork

The front of the sleeve is a disturbing, creepy picture of an albino boy holding a broken teddy with two half humans in in the background. The boy seems to be possessed by some evil and as the title suggest, it looks like the horse and rabitt man are taunting him to join them in a different place. It is colourful and eyecatching but i worry that the picture is a little too scary for young eyes.
The inside of the book features the same theme but in a sketched colourless version.
The centre piece is a nice picture of the band posing in a respectable way, then there are the band's thanks which are nice.
The disc is printed cerise or magenta and features the little boy.
The back picture of the case features many animal half-men and resembles an almost sinister "Wind in the Willows" theme.

#The tracks - Caution!

We start with "Twisted Transistor" 4.12 minutes of a very recent new release, this song has been played on music channels a lot lately. Its quite a melodic, rythmic funky guitar song with an easy to get into foot tapping beat. It is a good song that you can sing along to. I like this track, its funky and catchy.

"Politics" is more of old Korn with chunky guitar riffs and dominant drums. A nice light rock song that varies throughout. Runs for 3.16 minutes and makes references (in their opinion) to how bad a society is run. Some good sound effects done on the guitar and a good rythym. Almost reminds me of the band "Disturbed" in some parts.

"Hypocrites" runs for 3.49 minutes and again features a nice chunky guitar riff. The lyrics are fierce and offensive towards religion. Has a "System of a Down" feel to it in parts. Otherwise the guitar rythym is continious and dominant.

"Souvenir" runs for 3.49 as well and starts with a nice "Ozzy - Iron Man" feel to it. However this soon stops and we go back to a Korn typical guitar groove. It reminds me of some of their old stuff in parts and is similar to their " Life is Peachy" songs. A good track.

"10 or a 2-Way" is 4.41 minutes and is typical rap rock. The lyrics are strange for Korn and the drumming is a strange rythym. This songs hard to get into as there's no continiousy with the drums and the overall tune is jumbled. One of the weaker tracks on the album in my personal opinion.

"Throw me Away" runs for 4.41 also and is sort of getto rap influenced and starts off sounding dark then the tune goes into a spooky almost nursery rhyme rythym, this track is nice and the main chorus has a nice tune that can be sung to. Then after the chorus there's strange spooky sounds Mr Tim Burton could happily use in his productions!

"Love Song" runs for 4.18 minutes features a good beat from the dominant drums and quite a passionate rant full of hatred from Jonathan Davis. A good guitar groove and quite a strange feel to the whole song.

"Open up" starts of with a fun funky beat but the song develops into a pop type of song that (don't laugh) reminds me of the ending groove during MJackson's "Thriller". Apart from the swear words the chorus is really catchy and overall the tune is good and a nice consistent rythym. It runs for a really long 6.15 minutes. Towards the end of the song there's some experimental, instrumental sounds that flow directly into the next track.

"Coming Undone" is a great upbeat rock song. Nice scratchy guitar sounds and i can see this song being a succesful release. The tune is catchy and theres a continious rythym and excellent chunky guitar feel through the song. Its only 3.19 minutes long but i feel it should be a bit longer.

"Getting off" is another upbeat guitar tune and the tune is quite typical of Korns style and rythym. There are experimental guitar tunes and some shouting moments which seem new for Korn. Runs for 3.25 but its not one of my favourites.

"Liar" starts with an excellent almost "Pantera" type of groove (almost) but quickly goes into rap rock with the chunky groove featuring every now and then. There is an upbeat feel to the middle of the song and the chorus is funky. Midway Jonathan does his classic weird way of chanting a line like in their previous release "Twist". Another great track on the album that runs for 4.14 minutes.

"For No One" starts with an excellent guitar rythym then changes into what reminds me of some "Metallica" stuff. However these excellent riffs do not last long and the rap metal starts again. The chorus is fun and catchy and i can actually imagine this track is going to be played at rock clubs due to the very different feel to it. It is a great track lasting 3.37.

"Seen it All" starts off with an extremely creepy dark sound and a weird drum rythym creates a dark mood, and the song seems like it is talked through until the chorus. The dark mood thats created is excellent and here the singer mentions child hurt and a creepy piano solo is strange but effective as the guitars burst in once more. The bagpipes make a comeback at the end of this song to complete the eeiry feel to the tune.
I didnt like the start but after listening to it a couple of times i think it is great, the song runs for a lengthy 6.19 minutes though!

And finally "TearJerker" is a not so long as the previous but at 5.05 minutes it is still lengthy. A really sad song sung as though reciting a moving poem. No guitars featured but an eery, piano tune in the background. A nice chilled out song to end an otherwise upbeat album.

#More information

www.korn.com
www.korntv.com

Other album releases:
KoRn
Life is Peachy
Follow the Leader
Issues
Take a look in the Mirror
Untouchables
Greatest Hits Volume 1

#Overall

I enjoyed this album and the songs are certainly different to any of the other band's releases. They have left behind their trademark weird guitar effects and wails and it almost seems like as though they are trying to branch out to a different, more mature audience.
Compared to their other albums there is less of the child abuse claims mentioned in the songs as before, but instead more digs at society and government. This seems to be a main theme with a lot of bands lately such as "System of a Down" and "Greenday" so this is a new direction for Korn to follow.

It is a good album and is worth a try for non-Korn fans as the music is varied throughout.

Thank you for reading, and happy Head Banging! :) x