Slipknot erupted with their self-titled release way back in the late 1990s. They brought the extreme side of music to the masses and became one of those bands that were a gateway to a world unknown to many teenagers. Doubling down on this, Iowa followed up in 2001 and took the band into the stratosphere, forever cementing their place in history, there was no turning back, nothing could undo what was set in motion for the juggernaut Slipknot had become.
From Volume 3: The Subliminal Verses and on, Slipknot evolved away from the more in-your-face, explosive sound of the previous two releases. Guitar solos entered the fray, a new side was showing and it was one that displayed musicianship that many didn’t picture with Slipknot, one of the many faces much like their own, hidden away. Volume 3 saw the peak for me, heaviness to appease the headbanging, riffs to hook me in, melodies to add some spice, and solos to gratify my guitarist side, after this though, my ears drifted away to new things, heavier, darker, faster and so on…All Hope is Gone piqued my interest briefly but was otherwise pretty unmemorable, much like the rest of my life at that time! From time to time I drifted in to see what was happening in the world of Slipknot, but not long did I stay, nothing seemed to grab me like it once had, but it didn’t matter where I would go or what I would do, there was always someone there, sporting a shirt or merch from the band. Those outside of our musical world will joke also, thinking it’s funny and wondering how we could listen to bands as we do. “It’s just noise!” would always be said, but as much as they would attempt to poke fun at the heavy metal world, they know who Slipknot are, no other successful heavy bands like Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, Death, and so forth ever get named by them!
Well, it’s 2022, and I find myself sitting with ‘The End, So Far‘ in my playlist for my attention. Half of my life has now gone by since they last had my full attention so you can paint me intrigued. Opener ‘Adderral’ catches me completely off guard, mellow and gentle, although I am fully aware this is in the arsenal of things to pull out of the bag. ‘The Dying Song (Time to Sing)’ kicks off reminding me a little of what I used to know, and a great lead-up to the album’s debut single, ‘The Chappletown Rag’ which is very reminiscent of the band during those years around the millennium, but that takes a jump with their most recent single, ‘Yen’, with vocal melodies reminding me of Trivium. ‘Hivemind’ has some flourishes of greatness but sits a bit thin for my personal tastes, ‘Warranty’ more than makes up for that though, sounding like it’s been ripped right out of the Iowa sessions, “Isn’t this what you came here for?” Yes indeed, and some lyrical content that fits the throwaway society we live in today.
‘Medicine for the Dead’, ‘Acidic‘, and so forth crack on with the maturity in their writing and probably some of their best creativity on the album thus far, ‘H377′ comes at you with a bit more bite and aggression with tongue twisting action from Corey. ‘De Sade’ rolls back on that with a more refined approach, it has its moments with some trading guitar solos to round out before a minute-long noise that seems to steal a bit of that polished feel. ‘Finale’ closes us out with much of the same from the previous track, this takes their mellow and gentle approach with episodes of assault, but it feels to be on a much grander scale.
Overall, I’m not quite sure how I feel about ‘The End, so Far’. It is by far not a bad album at all, there’s plenty of complexity and more musicianship to it than you can shake a stick at. It’s got riffs, hooks, lyrical genius and a massively matured approach compared to the early days, there’s a reason they are as big as they are and able to do what they do, and some of these songs are written so well that I can only imagine how epic they will be when played live. On the other side of the coin though, I struggle to find anything that sticks out as truly memorable for me, it took several listens over a few weeks to actually be able to get somewhat into the album, so whilst the album feels more universal, it also isn’t for everyone, but Slipknot feels very far from done and like they’re going to somehow hit a new level soon.