Korn made it fairly clear when rumblings about their up-coming new album began that it was going to be a throwback to their very first sound from their iconic, self-titled debut album and it's equally epic follow-up, Life is Peachy. With their original producer Ross Robinson back on board, their ninth album (the somewhat confusing title refers to their collaboration with Robinson, and the fact that – despite the subtitle – it's the third album entitiled "Korn") this one is clear in its purpose: Korn making an "early" Korn record, and having a litte fun while they're at it.

It's out on July 12th. And we've already given it a good listen. Here follows a long, ranty review about the album.

From the first track onward, it's clearly Korn. From the muffled, intentionally low-fi production (even though we suspect it took many, many hours of science in the lab to recreate the genuinely carefree recording vibe of the first two albums), to the clicketty-clack bass sounds and simple, monstrous riffing, the whole thing feels very natural for Korn. In fact, it almost feels a little too easy.

But, they're one of those bands that have evolved so much, and stayed active for so long, that anything they do will, to some extent, divide different generations of fans. The same disgruntled okes who slated the last two (in our opinion, brilliant) post-Brian-"Head"-Welch albums for being too far removed from their original sound, will probably argue that they're not doing anything new here. Whatever. The songs are either cool, or not. And most of the songs on here are indeed cool. Some are very cool.

It bears mentioning too that, after three albums now since his departure, guitarist Head is truly not missed. Many Korn fans felt that without him, Korn's "signature" sound would be forever lost. This argument was hammered home by Korn's previous two efforts, both of which are further removed from their "core" sound than any they'd done prior. Good albums – we'd even argue, great Korn albums – but very, very different in their sound.

On this new one, though, the crunching three-chord riffs, bass rattle and metal/funk vibe is present, accounted for and as potent as ever, even though it does sound a little dated. But hey, that was the point in the first place, right? And that's not to say there's no innovation on the record, either. Electro/sample elements and some truly left-of-field rhythms and vocal melodies pop up when you least expect them and remind you that this is a band who've been progressing well into their second decade.

Jonathan Davis' vocals are the dividing factor for us here. On the one hand, he hasn't lost any of his angsty, gutteral screaming capacity, and his harmonies are awesome as ever. The dude has only gotten better at singing, and hasn't lost any of his screaming prowess either. But, on the other hand, the whole crying/snivelling/having-a-tantrum vibe is back, and we found it a little annoying and also somewhat contrived. But then, there will surely be fans who love the album for precisely that reason. We can live with it. We are critics, though, and as such, need to find something not to like. As ever, it feels like JD coulda spent just a little longer on writing smarter rhymes, but we're kind of used to that by now. The collective lyrical works of Korn will not be filed next to Shakespeare in our grandchildren's grandchildren's cultural preservation efforts...

There are some songs on here that completely, utterly rule! Amongst them, Pop A Pill, Fear Is a Place to Live, Let The Guilt Go (our favourite tune on the album, featured in the video below), The Past (which contains a massively powerful chorus as big as anything Korn have done so far) and Never Around all drip with classic Korn awesomeness. These killer bangers are supported by other strong tunes like Are You Ready To Live?, Move On and Oildale, which are all worth a spin.

All in all, it's a good Korn album. Not our favourite, but certainly a worthwhile addition to a great band's catalogue. It's just terrific to have some new Korn to jam to, and also terrific that they've once again gone in an entirely new direction.

Check out this live version of our favourite tune on the album, Let The Guilt Go, as performed on The Jimmy Kimmel Show. We feel this song hard! Long live Korn!

FHM Music Ed, Gord Laws.