Album Review: Against Me! “Shape Shift With Me”

“Shape Shift With Me”
Against Me!
Total Treble Music
Producer: Laura Jane Grace, Marc Hudson
Tracks: 12

Our Score: 4 our of 5 stars

Against Me! is back with their seventh studio album title “Shape Shift With Me”. Produced by front-woman Laura Jane Grace and Marc Hudson the album features 12 brand new tracks which are being released via Total Treble Music. The album is the bands first new studio album since 2014’s “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” and is the follow up to the bands 2015 live album “23 Live Sex Acts”.

Against Me! have been moving at what seems like a relentless pace since the release of “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” in 2014. Between playing countless shows all around the globe, releasing a live album in 2015 and now with a new studio album to add to their resume the band seems to be firing on all cylinders. “Shape Shift With Me” further verifies that statement as the album despite clocking in at just under forty minutes bolsters quality song writing and performances which make you want to listen to this album over and over again. From the catchy choruses of “Boyfriend” and “Crash” to the seethe “Delicate, Petite & Other Things I’ll Never Be” and the rockabilly like rumblings of “Haunting, Haunted, Haunts the album is a diverse yet cohesive listen that grows on you the more and more you listen to it.

Though the latest offering from the band didn’t grab me right away like their two previous studio releases “Shape Shift With Me” over timed seeped into my senses and after a few full listens I found it to be the only thing I wanted to hear when it came time for some listening enjoyment. Don’t let the albums brief run time or the redundant opening track “ProVision L-3” sway your first responses as this is an album that needs a little breathing time and requires more than one or two listens before it settles in but, once it does it will quickly become a favorite.

Track Listing:
1.) ProVision L-3
2.) 12:03
3.) Boyfriend
4.) Crash
5.) Delicate, Petite & Other Things I’ll Never Be
6.) 333
7.) Haunting, Haunted, Haunts
8.) Dead Rats
9.) Rebecca
10.) Norse Truth
11.) Suicide Bomber
12.) All This (And More)

CD Review: Korn “The Paradigm Shift”

Korn
“The Paradigm Shift”
Release Date: October 8, 2013
Label: Prospect Park (Universal)
Total Length: 42:53

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

It is crazy to think but I have been Korn fan for over 15 years. I have always been a fan of their albums. I was really hoping that “The Paradigm Shift” was going to continue that trend but I felt like it a bit of the same. I listened to the album about 10 times over before writing this and I just wasn’t blown away. I liked it but it didn’t really stand out to me. When I listen to an album, I look for a songs that make me stop what I am doing and actually listen.  This album works as background music but nothing overall special.

“The Paradigm Shift” is an important landmark for the band though since this album marks the first time that Brian ‘Head’ Welch has recorded with the band since their 2003 album “Take A Look In The Mirror” (also one of my favorite albums). He was always one of my favorites and recently returned to the bad after his religious departure years ago. I read a bunch of article online about this album that they delivered a new song and approach to their songs but I thought felt like it is typical Korn. I have to admit that the album does get a kick-ass start with “Prey for Me” and even “Love & Meth” is a sweet track but after that it just sort of blend together for me.

Track Listing:
1. Prey For Me
2. Love & Meth
3. What We Do
4. Spike In My Veins
5. Mass Hysteria
6. Paranoid And Aroused
7. Never Never
8. Punishment Time
9. Lullaby For A Sadist
10. Victimized
11. It’s All Wrong