KOЯN: The Path Of Totality

23 November 2011

by Poppy Reid

14 years after industry experts declared an ‘electronica revolution,’ KoЯn announced an entirely dubstep-influenced album. The Californian nu-metal band have been offering whiplash- inducing aggression since the early ‘90s but are now adding fuel to the fire (or glow stick) once ignited by acts like Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, whose pioneering efforts came a decade and a half too soon. After a blatant cool-hunt lead by frontman Jonathan Davis, Korn teamed up with today’s dance music innovators like Skrillex, 12th Planet, Kill The Noise and Noisia, who are among the electronic partisans charging mainstream radio of late. The product of this unlikely hybrid is upcoming tenth album The Path Of Totality.The band are currently road-testing the new sound across the US and have just stepped offstage at The Paramount Theatre where their 1,500-strong focus group offered a “mixed” response, according to Korn’s tired but nonchalant guitarist, James ‘Munky’ Shaffer.

“I mean ten albums?! You gotta evolve,” he exclaims. “I remember when Metallica came out with the black album [1991’s Metallica] and everyone just freaked out. They were like, ‘oh my God, they cut their hair!’ And then that album ended up being one of the best albums in their catalogue. They’re still a great band thirty years later, they’re still pushing the boundaries.”

While stylistic progression is often celebrated, pushing boundaries and breaking moulds sealed over almost two decades is sure to incite some ostracism. However the 41-year-old ensures the hype surrounding the sound departure is just that.

“There’s a preconceived notion that we’re putting out a dance album,” he laughs, “which is completely wrong; it’s a Korn album. It just has certain characteristics that have progressed creatively, but that’s what we needed at this point in our life.

“Trying to work out how it will play out [live] has been a challenge for us too,” he admits. “You want your fans to walk away from the concert having enjoyed it and hopefully opened up their minds a little bit to something different as well as satisfying them by giving them some stuff that they know – it’s a balancing act,” he says before hastily adding, “but whenever there’s a challenge, you know you’re hooked onto something good.”

A certain confidence also came when many of the album’s collaborators revealed they were fans of the band. “Some said ‘you know, I’ve been listening to Korn since I was 13’,” says Shaffer.

Skrillex, who also co-produced The Path Of Totality, once fronted post-hardcore band From First To Last; the 23-year-old ditched the mic for a laptop in 2002 after observing the rising electronica trend in music culture.

While the album might seem a bandwagon passenger at face value, its themes remain quintessential Korn. The record is less blunt than previous efforts but still echoes their distaste for the ego and colourful views on secret societies – especially on the track Illuminati – although Shaffer refused to go into any great detail about its meaning.

“Did you just ask me if I am part of a Masonic cult?” he says, offended. Shaffer takes a moment before adjusting his tone. “Well if I was I’m not supposed to tell you. Rule number one in Fight Club.”

Despite many Korn-haters linking the band with US Freemason societies, the likelihood of this is small considering bassist Reggie ‘Fieldy’ Arvizu and former guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch’s devotion to Christianity which caused him to leave the band in 2005. Shaffer even says he would reform the original lineup if the chance arose and that talk of a reunion tour occurs “almost every day.”

“If Brian and David and everybody were into it and the timing was right, yeah it would be really exciting to have everyone together again,” he says. “But it’s one of those things you have to all get in a room and talk about.”

For now though, Shaffer is excited about the new path his band have taken and has prepared for the possible fan backlash in the only way a Korn member knows how; with the same heedless aggression that will always be their trademark.

“People get scared if they don’t understand; if it’s a new image or something different,” says Shaffer. “They’ve got to be willing to accept it, and if they don’t they can fuck off.”

The Path Of Totality is out through Roadrunner Records December 5