Oh boy, has my opinion on this album taken swings. After about a year of schizophrenia, I think I'm finally ready to settle on a rating for this. That's right, I rated this a 2.5. I just don't think that this album is very good. The individual songs become tedious rather quickly, and the overall instrumentation isn't as good as it first seems. In particular, I dislike the acoustic songs. I think that they draw a lot of praise just because they are something new for Slipknot. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against quiet songs. But Slipknot's acoustic songs seem to be acoustic just for the sake of being acoustic; they show no traces of artistic inspiration. Danger - Keep Away is a perfect example of this, due to the repetitiveness and simplicity of it.
Technical skill and nu-metal are widely judged to be mutually exclusive. That stereotype isn't fully prominent in Slipknot, but it sure does poke up its head occasionally. The guitar riffs are simple stuff, although Mick in particular seems to be capable of more technically complex riffs. Joey Jordinson is one of the more overrated metal drummers. After months of defending him against haters, I have finally taken a few serious listens and come to this conclusion. He shows very little creativity on the drum set, the only thing he can really do is balls-out speed. And here's the only thing: he isn't particularly fast. Sure, he's faster than your average nu-metal drummer, but there are much faster drummers out there. As for the bass: Slipknot might as well shrink their number from nine to eight, because the bass is seldom, if ever audible.
Lyrically and vocally, Corey leaves quite a bit to be desired. His scream is nothing special, and his singing voice is average at best. Unfortunately, he sometimes feels the need to talk in a weird whispery tone, such as in The Virus Of Life. Also, sometimes he just talks, not even singing. One example of that vocal style can be seen in Three Nil, a rather unoriginal and bland song even without his vocal efforts. His lyrics are unoriginal at best. Normally, he is either whining about the hardships of life or railing against some shadowy figure. His lyrics don't show much thought or inspiration, they are just churned out from the same vile machine that created the lyrics for KoRn. Unoriginal lines such as "I push my fingers into my eyes, it's the only thing that slowly stops the ache," and "This is not my life!" abound, and you would be hard pressed to find a line that hasn't already essentially been done in an earlier album.
But this did get a 2.5, which means there are some positive aspects to the album. Some of the individual songs are downright excellent, and the riffs are fun and bouncy. Also, the experiments with quiet songs did draw out one gem in Vermilion Pt. 2. This album, although tedious in some parts, is relatively engaging for the majority of its duration. Also, Slipknot seems to at least try to branch out and attempt to include all of its nine members. And there are even a few guitar solos in this album! As you may expect, they aren't technical shredfests, but are still enjoyable and a nice change of pace.
There are many songs that are bland and unmentionable. Welcome, Three Nil, and Pulse Of The Maggots are all pretty boring. Three Nil and Welcome are all just bad rehashes of other songs, neither of them shows something that we hadn't already seen. Pulse Of The Maggots seems to be a popular song among Slipknot fans, but I disagree wholeheartedly with that opinion. The mob chant intro is boring, plain and simple. It didn't need to be there, and it would help the songs quality if it was just removed. While the chorus is rather enjoyable, there are four sections that are of poor quality. The "Say it again!" and "Do you understand?" sections are the ones I am speaking of, and they are each repeated twice. In fact, Pulse of the Maggots almost feels like a filler song. Slipknot tried to cover that up by proclaiming "this is a song dedicated to our fans," and the fans bought it wholeheartedly.
And those are just the unoriginal songs. Many other songs are poor examples of experimentation. Just a few: Circle, The Virus Of Life, The Nameless, and Danger - Keep Away. The Nameless seems to be a relatively well liked song, so I'll explain my dislike of it. The screeching noises in the intro and sprinkled throughout the song are annoying. There is a weird call and response vocal style that gets used in the song, and it is not good. The chorus is acoustic, and I don't find it to be a particularly good one. It certainly isn't catchy, and it mixes disjointedly with the verses. There is also a marching drumbeat in the latter stages of the song, which sounds uncomfortably like the one used in The Blister Exists. I just don't see anything that stands out on The Nameless. As I've previously stated, Circle and Danger - Keep Away are uninspired and repetitive. Virus Of Life is many times more boring than anything else on this album, the tribal percussion gets old fast. It seems like Slipknot tried to create an atmospheric song, and it didn't work.
So that leaves seven songs that are not failures. Not every single one of these songs are great by any means, but at least they are pretty enjoyable listens. Opium Of The People is one of my favorite Slipknot songs ever, and easily the best on this album. The intro with the harmonics is so unique sounding, and it rolls right into a great opening riff. The second verse is my favorite part of the whole album. On this verse, an extra guitar melody gets added over the heavy pounding, and Corey changes his screaming style. The result is absolutely orgasmic, and the singing part hasn't even started yet! There are no weak points anywhere in this song, it's just amazing. This single-handedly almost makes the album worth buying.
So overall, this is a painfully average release from Slipknot. The vocals and lyrics are atrocious, and the instrumental parts are nothing special. The experimental attempts are mostly failures, although at least they're present. About half the songs are worth your listening, and about half aren't. That's pretty much the definition of an average album, which is precisely what this is.
Recommended
Opium Of The People
Vermillion
Duality
