With Brian “Head” Welch off to adopt 200 kids in India on a personal religious crusade, the rest of Korn could have called it a day and done vanity solo projects. But the rest of the band has soldiered on, and interject a more polished, mainstream rock sound with the wildly erratic See You on the Other Side.

Korn decided to opt for less of the “back to basics” sound of their last record Take A Look in the Mirror to provide an even more polished product than their 2002 record Untouchables, with help of such producers as Dallas Austin and The Matrix.

The song selection seems designed to emulate the pace of a concert. The album still maintains some of the gritty sound that brought Korn to the masses, with a few new hooks thrown in. Lead off single “Twisted Transistor” may offend old time Korn fans at first; but grows on you after you listen to it 20 times or so. In fact, the track is completely catchy. This song could be equally at home on Top 40 or modern rock stations. The band stays close to their bread and butter sound on the angry “Politics”, and “Hypocrites”, before losing direction on much of the rest of the album.

On tracks, such as “Love Song”, and “Getting Off”, the group comes off sounding like a toned down Marilyn Manson, which kind of make you wonder whether you’re really listening to Korn or somebody else. Toward the end of the CD, tracks like “Liar” and “For No One” bring the album back to life though, and help it end on a stronger note.

As good as it is, somehow I expect more from Korn. I expect a strong, angry and raw record. Bringing in producers such as The Matrix wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but some of the material just doesn’t fit the band, and the album suffers as a result.

If you do buy the album, do yourself a favor and buy the deluxe edition. It includes the soon-to-be classic video for “Twisted Transistor”, which has rappers Lil Jon, Xzibit, Snoop Dogg and David Banner acting as Korn through a Spinal Tap-esque documentary. It’s sheer genius. But as for the album, it’s very hit or miss.

Grade: C+