The gloves are off as Josh and Matt go head-to-head over Slipknot’s latest.
Even considering At The Gates’ triumphant return it’s safe to say that Slipknot’s .5: The Gray Chapter is the biggest metal release of the year. The release of this album has been an event, even by Slipknot standards. Besides the six-year gap since 2008’s mixedly received All Hope Is Gone, The Gray Chapter, named in honor of their dearly departed bass player Paul Gray, who passed away in May of 2010, is also the first Slipknot album without iconic sticksman Joey Jordison.
The Gray Chapter has in no way failed to make a splash in the metal scene, with Revolver magazine having just named it the album of the year, yet, in the month or so since its release, opinions remain divided on the record; no less so here at The Metal Observer. And so, without further ado, we welcome two metal observing titans to duke it out over the merit of Slipknot’s latest opus.
In the red corner, with 66 reviews and one interview for the year of 2014, it’s The Metal Observer’s foremost thrash metal authority and cult movie enthusiast, our Blood Brother in arms: Maaaaattt Reifschneider! And, in the blue corner, weighing in at 67 reviews, three interviews, unapologetic champion of modern metal and default deathcore ambassador (he also enjoys thrash metal), it’s Joshua Bulleeeeeeeeeeiiid.
While growing up with the nu metal genre certainly has lead me to continue embracing some of the remaining bands, it was always my opinion that Slipknot has become better with age. Their first two records remain scattered albums of quality in my opinion and their last two, even with experimentation, are pretty impressive slabs of music. The awkwardly titled .5: The Gray Chapter did not carry high expectations from me though. After losing two of their main songwriters and a handful of singles that did little to whet my appetite, .5 was looking to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2014. Luckily, the record is not nearly as bad as I was expecting, but it is still a pretty massive mixed bag of quality.
The big question on all of our minds going into this fifth record from the long time nu metal stalwarts is how the band does without the writing and performances of Paul Gray (RIP) and the recently fired Joey Jordison. Well, it’s pretty obvious that the band misses their contributions overall. On a performance level, all seems solid enough particularly with the drumming even if the new guy (who remains unnamed by the band despite some obvious speculation that I won’t go into) tends to overplay at times with complicated material. The rest of the band seems on par for their performances too. The production handedly undermines most of the record with very muddy guitars and vocals that devour everything else, but it’s not completely distracting from the solidity of the band.
To say .5: The Gray Chapter is a “mixed bag”isn’t even the half of it. The absence of Gray and Jordison on the songwriting front is felt severely and, while The Gray Chapter ironically features the most prominent and effective bass performance of any Slipknot record, the new drummer (to steal a much loved word of Matt’s) fails handedly short of Jordison. His performance is fine, it’s ok, but that’s it. It lacks Jordison’s unique style. A straight forward, meat-and-potatoes drum performance, is not at all what slipknot are about and, given how many insanely talented drummers are out there that would give their left nut to step into Jordison’s shoes, while not being necessarily terrible in and of itself, is a considerable let-down.
The problem is that .5 leaps in song writing quality. In a weird event, this record lacks a lot of catchiness that Slipknot has been using on the last few records. It’s as if vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root wanted to further separate Slipknot from their other band Stone Sour (even if Root was just fired from that band too). The first third of the record is something of a bore as the band attempts to go heavy for heavy’s sake and the last third drags too. If you have the bonus tracks from the deluxe edition it drags even more. Luckily, the middle portion of the record is actually pretty…well, impressive. It’s as if the band finally found their groove with the big catchy choruses on “Nomadic,” the groovy structure of “Skeptic,” and the feisty riffing on “Lech.” It’s just too bad they couldn’t keep it up for the whole thing.
This album is woefully uneven and, while I’ll be the first to commend a band for taking chances and incorporating diverse and unexpected elements into their sound, those on The Gray Chapter sound like four or five (all individually poor) songs being played at once. Slipknot jack-knife between styles so frequently here that it’s impossible to find any sort of entrance point. “AOV” kind of works, but it isn’t really all that fun or stimulating to actually listen to and I can’t really see it as a track that Slipknot fans will be visiting often and in a hurry. Fifteen tracks is too damn many to begin with and when only one or two of them are actually any good the problem is only compounded. The Gray Chapter is not only dull and unsuccessful but it goes out of its way to make the listening experience a trying one.
I’ve never been one to shout along with the chorus that “Slipknot sound too much like Stone Sour these days maannn” (I do love me some “Snuff”) but The Gray Chapter is overpopulated and persistently hindered by Taylor’s incorporation of clean vocals. The man can’t seem to find a working melody to save his life here; just compare the masterful “Vermillion Pt 2” (from Vol. 3) to the disastrously immature and over-dramatic “Killpop” and you’ll see what I mean. From the beginning this album’s directionlessness makes itself known, with “XIX” sure to go down in history as one of the most pointless and boring intro tracks of all time – an even bigger shame seeing as this is the band that previously brought you the likes of “Prelude” and “(sic) – and to top it all off, while I’m cautious about criticizing any sort of tribute to a dead friend, “Skeptic” is particularly awful.
Paul Gray (1972-2010)
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of .5 though is the fact that the band has seemingly gone back in time for a good portion of the album. The hard rock melodies still remain at times like the chorus of “AOV” or in the first portion of “Killpop,” but the rest of the record certainly harkens back to a nu metal vibe. “Custer” sounds like it might have dropped right off of Iowa with its screaming “Fuck, fuck, fuck me up” and “The Negative One” feels scattered in its delivery like their older material always seemed to me. Not that this is wholly a good thing, as I mentioned in the opening I have always been disenfranchised with their earlier material that hasn’t held a nostalgic value to me like it has for some, but for some fans this is definitely something to be conscious towards.
I’ll differ in pointing to Iowa as the clear standout of the ‘knot discography, but I agree with Matt that the first Slipknot record is overrated and uneven and that the band have mean a lot more successful and interesting with their last two records. Having said that, the throwback elements e ripping “Lech,” which is the only track that really grabbed (an held onto) my attention. The throwback moments are the only parts of The Gray Chapter that really work, though without really recapturing any of the “magic” of their earlier releases. I do get a kick out of “Custer” and “The Negative One” but these moments pale in comparison to their older material and are hardly substantial.
Disagree about our new album? How about a face-off?
As a closing statement, I’ll just admit that while .5 wasn’t the train wreck I was half expecting it to be, it’s still a mixed effort overall. The production and mix are off putting for me, but when the band starts really working together the album works efficiently. Now if only the whole album could have been as good as the highlights then it might have been one of the band’s better records. As is though it only gets a score of six from me.
What Matt’s saying is that, at best, .5 The Grey Chapter is an underwhelming and uneven record with a few nostalgic kicks. I hate to be the be The Negative One here (zing!) but this record is hardly good enough to have come from one of the biggest (and supposedly best) metal bands on the planet. A measly 2/10 from me. Don’t even bother.
