Hey critics, Jonathan Davis has something to say to you:
[Video][Website]
[4.25]
Alfred Soto: I liked the intro organ and loved that buzzsaw motif, but not the sweat sprinkled by this crew of earnest men over polysyllables.
[2]
Anthony Easton: Korn didn’t change their sound at all, and it fit perfectly into Skillrex’s bombast — this should not surprise me as much as it does. It also doesn’t make it any more listenable.
[5]
Iain Mew: Neither party sounds at top of their game but it’s a competent merging of two genres that, as it turns out, go together rather well. Which results in a certain disappointment. Maybe it’s raised expectations after Lou Reed and Metallica, but the concept and title promised something bizarre, funny, exciting, at least entertaining. In practice, it’s just average.
[4]
Brad Shoup: Korn’s trusty strobelight riffs could, if I’m being generous, possibly share a type of tension with dubstep. It’s likely, though, that Skrillex’s emo background is the unifying link. More is less here, except for the Marr-circa-Dusk guitar howl during the choruses. Davis’ investment seems limited to the mic stand that got a Rolling Stone centerfold.
[2]
Ian Mathers: I don’t really get all the specific hate for Skrillex – yes, America, your teenagers now like dumb (for better AND worse) ‘dance’ music, welcome to the rest of the Western World. In any case, he sure makes Korn more palatable, as does those singing/AutoTune lessons Jonathan Davis has taken. There’s actual melody in the chorus, even if at times it just sounds like a uglier, dumber (for worse) VNV Nation or something. Minus a point for that truly stupid title.
[3]
Jonathan Bogart: I like the idea of giving this a high score because a) Skrillex really are the new “what the hell is that noise turn it off” for teenagers exactly the way Korn was thirteen years ago, and b) old times’ sake — I tried so hard to like Korn thirteen years ago you guys. But I sat through the lyrics video, so I know every word Jonathan Davis is singing. It’s not just that he’s stuck at thirteen years ago. He’s stuck at thirteen, period.
[5]
Edward Okulicz: In high school, a girl I knew called Dana once put the KoRN logo on my pencil case in white-out. I didn’t scratch it off. I’m still not ready to deny my teenage self either.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: This is reprehensible bullshit that whines and wriggles with the same dumb aggro throughout. It singlehandedly justifies the term “brostep,” as well as Skrillex’s newfound mockery and Korn’s old. Hundreds of tools are unironically headbanging to it as you read this. One of them is me. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. Here’s my music-critic card to take.
[7]