New Evanescence

Surviving a shaky decade that produced a couple decent albums and few identity crises, Korn bring it back to basics on their 12th full-length, The Serenity of Suffering. It's both a reminder that Korn are the masters of this particular universe and also fiercely dedicated to its fans. Inasmuch as the Korn faithful are capable of fuzzy feelings, Serenity delivers goose bumps for those who have stuck with the band since the '90s. Diehards will notice that Jonathan Davis and the gang have brought things back to the Issues/Untouchables era – especially on "Take Me" and "Everything Falls Apart" – when Korn perfected the combination of nu-metal brutality, desperate vulnerability, and spook show creepiness (in fact, the Issues doll – now wrapped in stitched-up skin with exposed ribs – makes a prominent appearance on Serenity's album art). Without pandering to career-peak nostalgia, Korn deftly execute all the hallmarks that have come to define their sound.

Originally forming as Pilate in the early 2000s, the Toronto-based rock quartet Pilot Speed changed their name to such in mid-2006 to avoid possible lawsuits as their music spread internationally from their native Canada, especially due to the "litigious nature of the United States" (as taken from a message on the band's website). Pilate were born in 2000 after vocalist and New Zealand native Todd Clark left the music program at the University of Western Ontario where he'd been studying and placed an ad online for potential bandmates. Bassist Ruby Bumrah, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, answered the call, bringing with him fellow alums Chris Greenough (guitar) and Bill Keeley (drums). Citing influences like Crowded House, Radiohead, and U2 for Pilate's especially sweeping brand of melodic rock – not so dissimilar to acts like Keane, Coldplay, and Snow Patrol – they released the six-song EP For All That's Given, Wasted in the summer of 2001. It quickly sold out its initial pressing and established the guys as players in the Canadian music scene.

Skid Row are out to reclaim their turf as kings of hard rock and proclaim, “The Gang’s All Here”! “The Gang’s All Here” is an oath to joy triumphant, bursting with euphoric energy that makes us hunger for more. It is the logical next-generation leap of the band’s trademark sound which stomps out new ground with singer Erik Grönwall (formerly of H.E.A.T, one of the best frontmen of this or any hard rock era) joining the family. Produced by Grammy Award Winning producer Nick Raskulinecz, a world-renowned producer (Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Evanescence) and long-time fan, Skid Row are ablaze. They are re-energized, picking up exactly where they left us wanting more, kicking their sound way up to modern hard rock royalty.

“I just heard your wonderful Sinfonietta: hope this is the beginning of your American success,” wrote Arnold Schönberg to Zemlinsky. But Zemlinsky was already suffering from the effects of a stroke and died alone in New York just a few days later. In his Sinfonietta, Op. 24 (1934) he reused a short theme from the last of his Maeterlinck-Songs, Op. 13 (1913), “Wohin gehst Du?” (Where are you going?), a theme of “self-doubts” and “farewell” from a time when Zemlinsky was beginning to observe growing anti-Jewish sentiments in Vienna. The Maeterlinck-Songs were praised as “the center of his output” by Theodor Adorno, and transport the listener to a mystic world concerned with life, evanescence and death.

This instalment of the popular 'NOW 100 Hits' series comprises a number of guitar-filled anthems, ranging from Meat Loaf's 'Bat Out of Hell' and Rainbow's 'Since You Been Gone', to Rod Stewart's 'Maggie May' and The Clash's 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'.