It’s hard to believe that it has been 12 years since the release of Slipknot’s first album, an independent release titled “Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.” That effort was followed by their debut studio album “Slipknot” in 1999, which turned the nine-piece band into heavy metal all-stars. Many music critics claim that album, with its unforgiving drums and blazing guitars, kept new-wave heavy metal alive during a time when Korn-inspired rap-metal seemed to be the ongoing trend.
Through relentless touring, intensely entertaining live shows, two more albums released in 2001 and 2003 and lead vocalist Corey Taylor’s 2002 side project, Stone Sour, finally hitting stores, Slipknot has released their latest, “All Hope is Gone.”
It’s obvious that Slipknot’s direction has changed slightly over the past seven years. “All Hope is Gone” almost seems to be an extension of their previous effort, “Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses.” The album starts with a fairly long build-up to the song “Gematria (The Killing Name),” which sounds like a touring opener with Taylor growling, “We will burn your cities down.”
The album’s single, “Psychosocial,” is yet another song about how our society is messed up and what we’re doing about it. The tune itself is somewhat generic, with a Rammestein-esque feel during the verses and some really lovely singing during the chorus. Taylor sings: “And the rain will kill us all/ We throw ourselves against the wall/ But no one else can see/ The preservation of the martyr in me.”
The track “Vendetta” starts off with some real potential but falls short due to poor choice in vocal style. About half way into the song, shouts of simply “Hey!” over and over again are made as prevalent as they are on early Marilyn Manson albums.
“Butcher’s Hook” sounds as though it was heavily influenced by Meshuggah and Fear Factory, but it’s still one of the better tracks on the album.
“This Cold Black” finally lets you enjoy the Slipknot you’ve been waiting to hear for nine tracks. Between a flurry of double-kicking bass drums, vocals filled with anger and crunching guitars, Slipknot reinvents themselves.
The title track, “All Hope is Gone,” is a solid choice to end the album with. It’s aggressive and triumphant at the same time: “We have made the present obsolete/ What do you want/ What do you need/ We’ll find a way/ When all hope is gone.”
With the exceptions of a few songs, “All Hope is Gone” is lacking the new-wave metal edge that made Slipknot famous. There are glimpses of greatness within the album but not enough of it to come together and make one feel the berserk nature that Slipknot has conveyed very well in the past. Only the Slipknot faithful need to pick this one up. Everyone else can give “All Hope is Gone” a pass.
