You know when you get teenagers who are scruffy, unwashed, and greasy with floppy, bad hair? And then they have a wash and all of a sudden you see the face beneath the muck? This is a fairly accurate way of describing the KORN's acoustic "Unplugged MTV" album.
The songs are dire, but the musicianship is nothing short of excellent. The piano and percussion are stunning, you can distinguish the Brazilian influence, and without all the heavy guitars and ear-bleeding distortion you can make out the musical nuances that played a part in making this band so big in the first place.
By the same token, without the heavy guitars and ear-bleeding distortion you can also make out the lyrics. They're crap. And Jonathan Davis' vocals are whiney and nasal. No wonder he growls/snarls most of the time.
In their old age, Korn seem to be "mellowing" slightly, and they get as near as darn it to a ballad (it happens when rock bands start to get on a bit). Davis snarls, spits and chokes his way through a duet with Amy Lee of Evanescence, which features the timeless lyrics, "Something is always raped and taken from me". How it makes the heart flutter. What'll be next, Barry Manilow covers? Well, no. But they do cover, somewhat predictably, Radiohead's "Creep", which despite the Doomsday drum bashing, ends up sounding a bit "boy-band". Oh the irony.
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For the benefit of any fans, other tracks include the deeply misogynistic "Twisted Transistor", the I-really-hate-my-mother "Love Song", and a hideously curious mush of The Cure's "In Between Days" and Korn's (rather aptly-named) "Make Me Bad".
Here, Robert Smith put in an appearance, and he does his best, bless him. But it's hard to imagine Smith keeping a straight face with Davis' simultaneous nasal grunting going on beneath him. So to speak.
Korn's "MTV Unplugged" is definitely an album for the fans only. To the untrained ear, it is easy to appreciate the musical accomplishments, but it also highlights the ugly petulance and brattish self-indulgence that Korn is all about. And let's face it, after listening to most of Korn's music your brain will inevitably feel soiled - dressing it up with pretty acoustic noises won't ever change that. Urgh.
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