Slipknot — All Hope Is Gone

All Hope Is Gone

Roadrunner/Universal

Andre Mihsin (CHARTattack)

08/26/2008 2:13pm

There's a line in "Vendetta" where singer Corey Taylor says, "Let's pretend we have nothing left." I'm sure this wasn't referring to Slipknot's musical mantra, but the line continually comes to mind thoroughout this album. Has this nine-man metal monster actually run out of ideas so that they need to reuse old instrumental tricks and song structures? Take "Dead Memories" which abuses the same squealing whammy bar sound they've been using since the first record along with Taylor's rev up and release vocal style (you'll know it when you hear it). Considering that guitarists Mick Thomson and James Root just started soloing on the last Slipknot record, you'd think they could muster up more besides the same wiggly-wiggly solos (again, you'll know it when you hear it). But just when you think Slipknot have nothing new to offer, they demonstrate some growth on songs like "Gehenna," a more vocally diverse song with a slightly doomed intro, or "Snuff," a creepy modern acoustic power ballad. You get a sense that there's a creative divide in this band where one part are happy to march like an army of maggots along to the beat of the same drum, while the other want to delve into uncharted and far more interesting territory. If the latter is to prevail, it better happen soon or all hope is indeed gone.