Today’s review is from another band that took a while to get onto this blog. It’s not because I thought that they were bad, but more because I didn’t know which one of their albums to put up here. After looking through their discography, I found the album that seemed appropriate, just due to how strange it is, and how odd the circumstances of it’s creation was. Let’s stop the words right there, and take a look at Korn’s 2002 classic, Untouchables, and see if it deserves to be called such.
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| Original Cover |
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| Limited Edition/Re-Release Cover |
Like the Japanese edition of Rammstein’s Reise Reise, and Judas Priest’s Turbo, Untouchables has an interesting story worth telling.
Korn had begun writing Untouchable in 2001, amidst a host of problems. There was tension between the band members (Which resulted in them heading to Arizona to write the album, in an attempt to ease things out), and there was the possibility of Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu getting fired due to his drug problems (He ultimately didn’t get fired). The album was released on June 11, 2002, and a single was released on the same day (Here To Stay). It managed to sell 434, 000 copies within the first week, but it wasn’t able to surpass sales from The Eminem Show, which was released around the same time. Untouchables got a re-release on November 12th of the same year as a limited edition (The re-release was due to poor sales after the first week. The band blamed Untouchables’s sales on a leaked unfinished copy of the album, which got out a full 3 months before the official release), which included an alternate cover, bonus DVD, and alternate/live recordings.
Ironically, Untouchables was certified platinum a month after it’s initial release, and as of January 4, 2013, has sold 2,400,000 copies in the United States (It managed to sell 5 million copies worldwide). It has since been regarded as one of Korn’s greatest releases.
Songs
Here To Stay (“***”): The first of three singles off of Untouchables, Here to Stay is also the first song of the album. Jonathan Davis said the meaning of this song was as such:
“Here to Stay is basically about being fed up with people taking advantage of you. I wrote it when being angry of basically being born a nice guy. Nice people always get taken advantage of. I'm lashing out.”
That’s a pretty accurate description of this song. Here to Stay is filled with distorted & aggressive guitars, eerie & alien sounds, and loud/direct drumming. Couple with a rage-filled yet surprisingly clear voice, this song perfectly conveys what Jonathan Davis was trying to get across to the listener.
Make Believe (“***”): I’m usually not someone to complain about swearing in music, but I’m making a rare exception in Make Believe’s case. I don’t know if it’s just me, but it almost seems like every other word is “Fuck” or “Shit”. Again, I normally don’t say anything, but I’m saying at least something. As for everything else, it’s rather bland, but still has some entertaining value. Make Believe makes heavy usage of electronic beats that rarely changes tone/pace, and distorted vocals that’s sounds like a message from space (We’ll be taking about this again soon). The guitar work seems to take a back seat in this song, but once it shows up, it makes it’s presence know.
Blame (“***”): Blame makes heavy use of two things: guitars & drums. Whereas Make Believe pushed them towards the side to make room for the electronics, in this song they come at you with the force of a baseball bat that cracks your skull wide open. As for the electronic elements, they are more of a complementary aspect of this song rather than the driving force. Jonathan Davis’s singing has a ethereal aspect to it, but his voice also goes back to that trademarked brutality at the drop of a hat.
Hollow Life (“***”): If Korn were a group of Martians, and if they were a Heavy Metal band, then Hollow Life would be their theme song. Taking a very futuristic route, this tune relies on beautiful & haunting usage of electronics/sounds, while the guitars & drums are used in a complementary position (Kinda like Blame, but in reverse). Jonathan Davis’s singing in this very interesting: as he sings, he will either have a soft & haunting tone (Use for the majority of the song), or go to his trademarked wailing & yelling. Both singing styles don’t clash in the slightest, and fit the overall feeling of this song.
Bottled Up Inside (“***”): At first I was gonna say that Bottled Up Inside was exactly the same as Blame, and I’m right for the most part. It still has the instruments front & center, and it also has the electronic sounds, but it doesn’t use those sounds as much as they did in the previously mentioned song. The singing is pretty much the same as it was in Blame, although the ethereal aspect was severely scaled back. This isn’t quite as good as Blame, but it’s still kickass!
Thoughtless (“***”): The second single off of Untouchables, Thoughtless is a rather disturbing song. Although I didn’t find a Jonathan Davis description, after watching the music video, the message was quite clear. It’s about getting bullied & beaten by those that are supposedly better than you. It’s about feeling nothing but pain & anger during those moments, and it about finally getting back at those who taunted you, and rising up above your tormentors. The instrumentation reflects this, as the guitars, drums, sounds, and vocals are distorted & twisted, but the emotion comes off clear as glass. Thoughtless is also one of the faster songs on this album, and it can go my in a flash.
Hating (“***”): Here we go back into space!
I really can’t say much else about this song that I already talked about in Hollow Life. It goes for that same futuristic vibe & feeling, Jonathan Davis’s singing has that duality again, and the instrumentation takes up a complementary position (To be fair, the guitars & drums are a little more prominent in this song). If there is anything different to say, it would be that the future vibes in this song don’t quite fit as well as they did in Hollow Life. A little more underwhelming than the previously mention song, but nothing unbearable.
One More Time (“***”): Thoughtless but slower.....NEXT!
Alone I Break (“***”): The final single off of Untouchables, Alone I Break is a song filled with sorrow. Written at what was probably the toughest point for the band, Jonathan Davis has stated twice about what this song was about.
Quote 1
“I wrote that song in my house, before I put the studio in there. I had the drumming down, and Munky came in and laid some guitars over it, and it became this great song. It's one of my favorite songs that we've done. It's very different from what we're used to doing, and it really hits home. It was one of those moments when I was very depressed...That whole time around Untouchables, everybody in the band was going through all this bad stuff. And I was just feelin' it, so I wrote this song about being alone and breaking down, and not feeling like a man's supposed to feel. You're supposed to be tough and take all these problems. So I'm basically saying, 'Does it make me not a man if I'm upset about stuff?”
Quote 2
“I wrote it when I was going through a rough time. And it's basically a song about checking out. About things getting so bad that you don't want to be here anymore.”
Like with Here To Stay, these are accurate descriptions. Done as a power ballad, Korn made use of rather clean vocals, synthetic drum beats (It’s not quite as noticeable here as it was in Judas Priest’s Turbo, but you can find it if you know what to look for), and special 14-string guitars that created a host of choruses. Mixed together, this comes across as one of the best Heavy Metal ballads ever produced.
Embrace (“***”): Okay, we’ve gone into space twice so far, so who’s up for a little bit of time travel?
Embrace feels like a throwback to earlier works, mainly Follow the Leader & Issues. Gone is the electronic sounds (The obvious ones, at least), and instead the instrumentation & singing takes center stage. The guitars are brutal, the drumming is furious, and the singing is top notch. Easily my favorite song off of the album!
Beat It Upright (“***”): There’s definitely been a fair share of songs in my life that have made me a little uncomfortable, but this one’s pretty close to the top. For starters, this is an incredibly sexist song for Korn, and they’ve been known for some less-than-savory tune. This borderlines on downright friggen creepy, given how the violence is portrayed. The singing is still good, but it’s the instrumentation that’s both brutal, yet mildly funny. It still has the intensity Korn is known for, but they made the beat sound like bouncing. Maybe as a reference to breasts, I’m not sure.
Wake Up Hate (“***”): A strange song, Wake Up Hate is maybe the weakest tune on Untouchables. For starters, this almost sounds like it was completely made with electronics/keyboarding. I’m all for songs made this way, but with how they couple the instrumentation to the electronics/keyboarding, it feels like pieces from two different songs were mashed together. As for the singing, Jonathan Davis comes across okay, but the electronic effects used distort it so it’s somewhat unidentifiable. I’d still say listen to Wake Up Hate, but only once or twice.
I’m Hiding (“***”): Make Believe but slower.....NEXT!
No One’s There (“***”): Untouchables concludes with this song, No One’s There. Much like Alone I Break, this tune seems to go in a ballad direction. However, Alone I Break seems to have a slightly faster pace, while No One’s There feels rather sludgy. There is one point where the instrumentation does pick up some speed, but it almost immediately goes back to it’s sluggish pace. There’s an incredibly mournful aura surrounding the guitars & drumming, and there almost no electronic effects used (If there were any, I didn’t hear them). Jonathan Davis really goes all out in this last song, as he almost pulls a World Coming Down, and fills his voice with sorrow. A fantastic way to end this album!
Overall Impression & Rating
Untouchables is a rather strange album. Written at a time when Korn was going through some personal issues (Get it?), it has the vibes & feelings of their previous two albums, while at the same time trying to sound more new & fresh. While this doesn’t make for a bad album (It’s one of my favorite albums of all time), this does cause it to be a bipolar & partially underwhelming album. Despite it’s flaws, Untouchables is a damn good album to bang your head to, and represents a intriguing entry for one of the world’s most iconic Nu Metal artists.
Untouchables gets a 7 to 8.2 out of 10.
See you all next time, when we’ll have our balls to the wall. Until then, stay Otaku!
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Fact: In a 2013 interview with Scuzz, the band revealed that the total recording costs of Untouchables were estimated at $750,000 due to living expenses and keeping their 15-person crew on retainer for the nearly two years it took to finish the album (Taken from the Wikipedia page).
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If you’d like to listen to the unfinished, unreleased edition of the album, click on the link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5JNqmHN1lk
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