The Serenity of Suffering is the 12th studio album from the nu metal legends Korn. It was also the second album since the return of guitarist Brian "Head" Welch. It also brought back the old Korn sound, a change from the bands attempts at a more industrial metal sound. This album is one of the band's heaviest since 2002's Untouchables and really blew me away.
You can hear the pain in Johnathan Davis' voice as he delivers lyrics like
This cancer finds everything I hide
Living my life horrified
Nothing will keep this pacified and out my life
(Life) Does nobody know I'm insane?
in the first track Insane, one of my favorites. Another stand out for me was A Different World, featuring Slipknot and Stone Sour front man Corey Taylor. Two songs I liked that weren't previously released as singles was Everything Falls Apart and Black is the Soul.
If there is one criticism I have of the album is that is a little too much of the same. Korn, like bands Disturbed and Five Finger Death Punch, have a distinctive sound that they don't really deviate from. The chest-thumping bass and screaming/singing of Davis has been a staple for me since the first time I heard Got The Life on TRL in 1998.
I give this album a 4 out of 5.
Safe is the last word I would use to describe The Stage, the seventh studio album from So Cal rockers Avenged Sevenfold. After a lackluster follow up to 2010's Nightmare, Hail to the King was the first album written without the help of long time drummer The Rev, who passed away in 2009. The album took fans on a look back at rock icons, that often times seemed like an imitation more than an inspiration. HTTK drummer Arin Ilejay was replaced by Brooks Wackerman on The Stage, making him Avenged's third drummer in as many albums, and it seems like they finally found what they were missing.
From the eight and half minute opener the title track sets the stage, pun intended, for the band to take the listener on a 75 minute trip into space, exploring the topic of artificial intelligence and the Big Bang.
As an A7X fan I never know what to expect, and that is part of the fun of following their band. The Stage sounds almost like a piece of art rather than a rock album. The first half of the album features some of the best thrash metal in the band's career. My favorite track was Sunny Disposition, which features a full blown orchestra that only Avenged can make work.
Creating God sets the tone for the rest of the album, which is slower than the first half, but just as good. The band explores an astronaut stuck in space in the track Higher, and Girodano Bruno, an astronomer burned at the stake in the 1600's for herecy, in the track Roman Sky. However, the band saves the best for last with a 15 minute epic, yes 15 minutes. Exist could be the most adventurous song in the band's catalog, yes even more so than a rock opera featuring necrophilia. The song starts with a 6 minute instrumental representing the Big Bang, which is followed by Shadows singing, and then a speech by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. It has be heard to be believed.
The Stage was described by the band as being a "grower not a shower" and that is the best way to put it. It isn't the best album to try to get someone into the band, but it seems like they are making music that makes them happy. With the return of Synister Gates and Zacky Vengeance's dueling guitars, the wild drumming of Brooks Wackerman, and the haunting singing by M Shadows, it is safe to say Avenged Sevenfold is back!
I give this album a 4.5 out of 5
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