To say that Korn’s album The Path Of Totality, which comes out tomorrow (December 6), has caused mixed reactions is a bit of an understatement. Some have applauded the band for experimenting, while others have been turned off by what’s essentially Korn’s foray into dubstep. That’s why we’re surprised that not only has Revolver Magazine listed it in its top 20 albums of 2011, but have named it Album Of The Year.
That’s right, in a year that saw releases from Machine Head, Mastodon, and Anthrax (just to name a few), Revolver Magazine has named Korn’s The Path Of Totality as their Album Of The Year. Take a minute to think that over… Ok, before we move forward, let’s play devil’s advocate. While we ourselves weren’t blown away by the songs we heard off of the album, the album isn’t terrible. The dubstep element is hard to not notice, but it’s not really that far of a stretch for Korn, who have been remixing songs since their first album. Plus, we have to admit that some of the songs sound pretty decent live. And dubstep might not be the wave of the future, but with the success of Skrillex, it’s definitely going to be co-opted by the mainstream more than it has already, which puts Korn well ahead of the curve.
Now with that said…Album Of The Year? Really?! Sure, it’s by no means the worst album of the year (cough Lulu cough), nor is it the worst combination of metal and electronica (cough Illud Divinum Insanus cough). However, and no disrespect to Korn, we really didn’t expected anyone (or at least any metal/ hard rock publication) to actually name Korn’s dubstep record the Album Of The Year, especially considering all of the releases that came out in 2011.
You’ll have to read Revolver’s 100th issue, which hits newsstands on December 13, to hear their reasoning behind naming The Path Of Totality Album Of The Year. In the meantime, you can read Revolver’s interview with Korn frontman Jonathan Davis about the honor online.
