1. Dead(***/****) - This album kicks off with a great start with a minute-long short piece that starts off with a pulsing drum beat. Then the bagpipes get put in to the mix and there's a hypnotic quality to the beat before Jonathan Davis comes in with lyrics dealing with being happy. It then gets more and more layered as vocals pile up with each other to create a pleasant mood...but being Korn, the other shoe has to drop.
2. Falling Away from Me(***1/2/****) - And so the other shop does drop with this intense, brooding rocker. The guitars hit hard and hit fast, then they quiet a cool call-and-response guitar riffs from Head and Munky as they form an oppressive mood with fits in with Davis's lyrics about abuse. And while Korn has done a few better songs, I do think that this is one of Davis's best performances since "Daddy". Every idiosyncratic trick that Davis has is used to its greatest effect that really sounds like somebody trying to escape from bad circumstances but keeps failing again and again.
3. Trash(***1/2/****) - Almost immediately, you pretty much get punched in the face through the sheer force of the keyboard riff....yes, keyboards. But no, this isn't done in some lame 80's way where it's all happy and bouncy, this is still Korn we're talking about. It's used to conjure up fear and betrayal, then it drops down as it boils beneath the surface where Davis yells at someone just waiting to break through. And that's what makes this song instantly memorable, while the rest of the song is pretty good it's only through the keyboards where it realizes it's full potential.
4. 4 U(***/****) - It's another minute-and-a-half interlude where there's an incredibly layerd and distorted wall of sound where a distorted Davis sings about somebody he hates...again. It's a pretty cool and disturbing sonic landscape but it's lucky it's less than two minutes long.
5. Beg For Me(**1/2/****) - It this song starts off so well with a military drum beat which is then joined by some pretty awesome bass. Then the guitars and vocals kick in and that's where things lose their energy. The guitars are just aggressive enough without any real passion behind them and Davis sounds like he's constipated for some reason which gives it some entertainment value. Then, by the end it all runs together in something that's just a mess of rage but there are enough things to like to make this not that much of waste of time.
6. Make Me Bad(***/****) - This song is pretty good for the most part. There's a paranoia that seeps far and deep in this song whether it's the guitar effects or Davis's affected vocals that sound a bit unsure and scared of his surroundings. However, what makes this more than just a sonic equivalent of paranoia is the chorus. It utterly soars in mind-blowing ways. The voice and the instruments just complement each other so well that they create a highly impressive Wall of Sound where almost anything is possible. And while it's a bit sad that the verses don't hit as hard, it does create amazing contrast.
7. It's Gonna Go Away(**/****) - Already we have another minute-and-a-half interlude and wow does it suck. Alright, maybe suck is too strong of a word but it's horrifically inferior to what has come before. It's pretty much the band jamming and Davis crying like a little baby, not to say that's a bad thing per se since he can do it quite well, where it quickly turns hilarious. Lucky for us it's not technically a real song so it has that going for it.
8. Wake Up(***/****) - It's a song made up of two parts, a quiet part that works surprisingly well and the aggressive part in which it just smolders with generic rage. The aggressive part is just aggressive guitars and drums with Davis just yelling to "Wake the F*** up!" It's been done before and they don't bring that much freshness to it. However, it's all made up with the quiet part where the bass takes dominance and the guitars have a sleepy quality to it. Together, it all makes a nice song that doesn't work as well as it should.
9. Am I Going Crazy(**1/2/****) - It's another minute-long interlude and while it's not as bad as "It's Gonna Go Away"...it's still not all good. Davis is allowed to take dominance here and that results in a near-constant high-pitch whine. By the end, guitars kick in to try to salvage it but that whine is just too annoying for me to ignore.
10. Hey Daddy(*1/2/****) - This song is just an over-produced mess. There are no hooks, no riffs or even something that resembles a melody. I like the Wall of Sound but I don't like it when it's a brick wall. It's all a horrible mismash of aggression gone horribly wrong. Let's just move on.
11. Somebody Someone(***/****) - This song is the weakest of the singles from this album but when the other two were "Falling Away From Me" and "Make Me Bad", it's not that big of a drop-off. It undoes the damage that "Hey Daddy's" Brick Wall of Sound does with how to do Wall of Sound right again. The guitars hit hard, the bass pops and the drum beat is pretty chunky. It's not very memorable but it's still a good song while it lasts.
12. No Way(***/****) - Here's another example of the Korn formula done well. It still has its aggression and it's angry enough. It does its job and all, but what sets this apart from the obvious filler is the guitars. They have this other-worldly wail to them that gives the song a haunting quality to it. The rest of the song is good rock song but with that guitar sound, it becomes much more.
13. Let's Get This Party Started(***1/2/****) - Even when Korn wants to party, it's still dark and dreary where there is no hope or happiness to be found. The guitars have this spider-web thing going on as it weaves in and out of distortion and clean riffs, especially at the start. Davis does OK but he sounds as angry as ever in the chorus. It still not as good as the stuff from the beginning but it is still an extremely well-made song.
14. Wish You Could Be Me(**/****) - It's a minute-long interlude and it's not very good. But I do have some good news...it's the last interlude. Anyways, the song is pretty much a generic bass riff with Davis's generic rapping about angst or something. It's the last of these so be thankful...moving on.
15. Counting(***/****) - No matter what anyone says, this is has an awesome intro bass riff. Luckily, I have a lot more good things to say about this despite it being part of the formula. The chorus has that soaring quality that "Make Me Bad" had. The guitars has that the aggression fine-tuned to a point where it's not afraid to rock out. It's a fair song of course, but that bass riff...man, it's amazing.
16. Dirty(***/****) - It's the last song of the album and it's a nice soft song to close things out. Alright, maybe soft isn't the right word for it but it's not as hard as the other songs on the album. What keeps this from going totally soft is the drum beat. It's slow, plodding and it sounds like it's about to explode into a fury unspoken of...we are lucky that it doesn't. The rest of the song is nice, but only the drum beat is actually memorable.
The high points of the album easily makes this worth listening to, especially if you can get this real cheap like I did. But by the halfway point, the album does descend into formula and it suffers from serious ending fatigue. It's not a bad album, it hits all the right notes and all, it's just not something that you'll remember.
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