Korn, finally unplugged!

I've just come across Korn's latest release, Korn UNplugged. I'm half way through listening to the album for the first time and really loving what they've finally done to the songs I grew up with.

From what I've heard so far, an interesting range of acoustic instruments, which otherwise would not be used in Korn's normal arrangements, creates a good contrast against the band's usually low, thumping, bassy kinda sound. In fact, I'm loving the way Korn maintains their signature super low bass guitar on this album, and at the same time have the melodic piano playing on top. This is particularly evident in 'Got the life'. An interesting use of some string instruments have also been introduced on this album, namely the violins and if I'm not mistaken, also the cello.

I'd also like to point out that John Davis's voice doesn't seem to feel the need to be inhibited by the fact that the accompanying music has been made much softer than the band's original versions of the songs. As far as the voices go, Korn is joined by Evanescence's Amy Lee in 'Freak on a Leash', who helps out with some beautiful harmonic lines. And despite having heard some of her desafinado live singing, I think she does a great job on this track. The contrast between John's and Amy's voices, together with the accompanying piano make the track my favourite off the album so far.

Another plus from this album is the band's cover of Radiohead's 'Creep'. Again, one of the songs I used to listen to all the time when I was growing up (I know I'm making myself sound like I had a rough time as a kid). John softens his voice up a lot for this track and it's nice to hear him sing in a different way. A nice change to his usually powerful, sharp-edged voice.

Now that I'm on the last track of the album, 'Throw me away', I shall say that this line-up satisfies my years of waiting for Korn to come out with an unplugged release. On this last track, I'm hearing some Japanese drums, which is an interesting approach to a track, of which the original version has a lot of synthesized beats and sounds. So all in all, Yes!!! Korn has an official unplugged album!


Track listing:

1. Blind
2. Hollow Life
3. Freak On A Leash feat. Amy Lee from Evanescence
4. Falling Away From Me
5. Creep
6. Love Song
7. Got The Life
8. Twisted Transistor
9. Coming Undone
10. Make Me Bad / In Between Days feat. The Cure
11. Throw Me Away

And for those who are actually interested in hearing some samples: http://www.korn.com/