KORN — The Serenity of Suffering (review)

KORN — The Serenity of Suffering album cover

Album · 2016 · Nu Metal

4.5/5 · 2016-12-14
Unitron

Korn is back with their twelfth studio album, The Serenity of Suffering, and has not left fans disappointed. The band has called it a "back to our roots" album like they did with Korn III. The difference is that The Serenity of Suffering does feel more like an actual return to form and doesn't leave the listener scratching their heads in confusion.

While it is a bit of a return to form, The Serenity of Suffering is more of an album that shows the band taking all that has made them so great in the past. There's the crushing heaviness of the debut, the atmosphere of Issues, and the experimentation of Untitled. As these three albums I've mentioned are among the band's best, it should come as no surprise that this is a pretty damn great album. The album immediately starts out strong with the opener "Insane", and from that the album never lets up with killer track after killer track. Even "A Different World", despite featuring Corey Taylor of Slipknot, is really good. I'm usually not much of a fan of Taylor's vocals, but he actually sounds really good here.

Jonathan Davis's vocals are at their very best on this entire album, his melancholic vocal melodies are absolutely beautiful. His vocals on "Next in Line" are certainly worth a mention. He's also brought back the scat vocals on the track "Rotting in Vain", which blend perfectly with the death vocals that are featured in that same part of the song. The only Korn song previously to feature death vocals was "Killing" from Untitled, but they are occasionally featured on the aforementioned "Rotting in Vain", "The Hating", and "Please Come for Me" on this album. The first two songs are coincidentally my favorites on the album.

Not only are the vocals top-notch, but so is everything else. There's killer riffs throughout the whole album, but especially the driving guitar after the choruses of "Die Yet Another Night" make me instantly bang my head. There are of course many crunching riffs, along with some more melodic guitar playing to balance it all out. Similar to Untitled, Korn has returned to the use of atmospheric electronics and a symphonic sound which really increases the impact of the whole vibe of the record.

This is easily the band's best album since Untitled, which is probably my favorite Korn album, so that's saying something. It won't turn the heads of the band's detractors, but I think it's up there with the band's best and a nice return to quality after three weak releases. Welcome back Korn! Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

more than 2 years ago
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siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

My ambition is high for doing more reviews. My spare time is not! My reviews are more or less spontaneous. I have to feel inspired. When i try to force it i find them boring ;)

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks, I personally love See You on the Other Side. I'd recommend checking this one (and Untitled) out. I'd love to read some Korn reviews from you. :-)

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Great review. I kinda gave up on them after See You On The Other Side. Seems like the style just got stale as i was discovering new music but Korn remains one of the few nu metal bands that i actually still like :)