Review Summary: Bland, dated, tasteless.
I’ve always had a soft spot for KoRn in my days. Even at their lowest (and believe me, they got *really* low), I never lost faith in the band.
Untouchables was a sonic achievement for the group. Rivaled only by Eminem, the album took the band up the charts, and better yet, silenced a few critics. The band never followed it up and fell flat with future releases.
KoRn III and
Untitled left fans thinking the group hit rock bottom. However, the release of
Serenity of Suffering sent the group upwards. A strong release restored faith that maybe, just maybe, KoRn isn’t completely lost. Jonathan Davis has been on a creative high since then. Shortly after the albums tour, Davis hit the studio working on the album in question. My hopes were respectably moderate. Given Davis’ previous solo work, including his musical genius on Queen of the Damned, there wasn’t a lot to look forward to. As they say, history repeats itself.
Black Labyrinth is probably the worst thing I’ve heard this year. That says a lot because Nicki Minaj is really putting up a fight. The album is bare and directionless. There’s no telling what the album is trying to accomplish. The sound is dated, music skeletal, and produced like a Skrillex single. Considering the creative forces involved were Wes Borland, Mike Dillon, and Ryan Luzier, I knew this album would be all over the place. There isn’t really an overall sound to this album. The only constant is a Mediterranean instrumental that plays in a majority of tracks. It’s usually some weird stringed scale followed by jangly percussions and hollow drums. Behind that is a thick layer of gritty electronic instruments that unforgivingly blare in the background while Jonathan Davis screams something about finding yourself.
‘Underneath My Skin’ tells you everything you need to know about the album. The jangled and sloppy beats, unfitting atmosphere, and generic vocals are too much to handle. The chorus has some inaudibly dirty groove against a light ambiance for some reason. It’s trying to be upbeat but it sounds so mishandled. Keep in mind, this is the *lightest* portion of the album. Think ‘Hater’ but even more sloppy. ‘Final Days’ is where the annoying Mediterranean aspect jumps into the album. The intro is a weird hummed melody with squeaks and tribal drums. Davis decides to sing about war in this track, which is a sharp turn from finding yourself. The track was inspired by Davis watching the invasion of Iraq, yet the song indirectly mentions the subject matter. “Alarming in this present phase/Destroying all these places in my mind,” sounds more like being insecure than invading Iraq, but what do I know?
Davis spends a profound amount of time on religion in this album. This is probably the most interesting thing Davis does in
Black Labyrinth. KoRn seldom touches this subject, but the effort is wasted. ‘Everyone’ is a hilarious song that is hard to take seriously. Aside from the boring instrumentals, the lyrics are so horribly immature. “They don't like me 'cause I frighten them/They don't want me 'cause I'm not like them,” says a grown man in his 40’s, “Live the lies of a priest of the Son of the God that has gone and left us idle/Perfect crimes of the church of the lamb that has left at the stake for its survival,” he continues. Mind you, these are the first 3 tracks. What makes ‘Everyone’ even worse is the music video. Watching Mormons drink blue milk in a dining room and proceed to vomit afterwards is just as comedic as it sounds.
‘Gender’ is the icing on the cake in terms of how low
Black Labyrinth gets. Tackling the ongoing conversation of what gender actually is, Jonathan Davis graciously provides his insight into the topic. The song sounds like a horror story than anything else. Davis does that high-pitched whisper-ish tone he does with KoRn. There’s also a broken Mediterranean backdrop going on before synths work their way in. The lyrics are just as, if not more horrendous than previous tracks. “Can I wear your skin?/Can I have it now?/Such a perfect soul and I want to take it from you/Take it from you, take it from you, take it from you/Turn my gender down,” is the glorious chorus to the song. Gee, what a deep intellectual statement about an identity crisis. “And it isn't stealing if I come to confess (wish I was you),” just makes *everything* better. ‘What It Is,’ the closing track, is a perfect way to end the album all things considered. We’re treated to the genius that is, “It may seem impossible/But I will embrace who I really am/If it's a son of a bitch or a terrified kid/Then that's what it is.” At least he found himself after 13 tracks.
There are plenty more cringe moments like, “You were never there for me at all/You always gotta tear me down/You, you take the best of me/It's gone, my happiness is never allowed,” from ‘Happiness,’ but there isn’t anything else to say about
Black Labyrinth. The whole concept is fundamentally broken. Despite being about “finding yourself,” the album does very little in actually describing these different perspectives. We have a gender crisis, religious crisis, and moral crisis coinciding as these different stances attempt to find who they really are. Instead of focusing on that, Davis vaguely defines what is actually wrong, nor is there a satisfying conclusion to these threads. It’s a jumbled mess of situations that never pay off. The music doesn’t complement the tone of the lyrics. It’s needlessly creepy and dark when it should be emotional and gripping. Why should people be scared about finding themselves? Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?
Black Labyrinth is a huge misstep. Despite having an interesting concept, Jonathan Davis screws it from the start. The best thing this album has going for it is ‘What It Is,’ which charted way higher than it needed to. There is potential here, but it’s so poorly written and boring to the point if inaudibility.
Black Labyrinth is among the worst things you’ll hear in 2018. Nothing new or worth mentioning goes on. It’s a self-satire that assumes its listeners can’t handle anything intellectual. I wouldn’t recommend this album to anyone. I’m honestly sorry I listened to it, and I skipped
And Justice for None for this. I’m starting to wonder if I was better off listening to that. A labyrinth is supposed to be a winding puzzle to the end. This can’t even find a place to start.
Standout Tracks
N/A
