Reviews about new records from big bands are often full of generalities and efforts to keep a neutral position – I’ve already read many such essays regarding ‘We Are Not Your Kind’, therefore Slipknot must be doing something right.
As a matter of thing, they only did a couple of things wrong in my opinion: They didn’t include ‘All Out Life’ on this, and they kept mentioning ‘Iowa’ during promotional interviews; Its atmosphere can’t be replicated, it shouldn’t be attempted, nor is it wise to create expectations for something that heavy.
On their second record with producer Greg Fidelman, the man behind ‘Hardwired… to Self-Destruct’, Slipknot experiment and expand their sound, as a band of their stature and commercially privileged status should do. After a relatively safe opening (‘Unsainted’, ‘Birth of the Cruel’), it’s the album’s midway point that really does the trick, with impressive stompers ‘Critical Darling’ and ‘A Liar’s Funeral’ standing out. ‘My Pain’ and ‘Not Long for this World’ are a little drawn-out lengthwise, affecting the momentum towards the end, but ‘Solway Firth’ comes in to save the day like a slaughterhouse soaked in blood and betrayal.
Slipknot during the 10s is a different beast, which makes sense considering they lost two core songwriters; They are more accessible than before, but more multifaceted as well. Lastly, they keep things at full throttle thanks to their neurotic overactive frontman – we’re lucky his ex-wife pissed him off this fucking much.