It’s almost always accompanied by a tour of the press, the band proclaiming it to be their heaviest album, their most extreme, and now even before release, interviews have surfaced of both Clown and Jim Root downplaying the album and claiming they weren’t too happy with it. This is The End, So Far; the Iowan ennead’s seventh album; once again the object of speculation and constant fan theorising, especially as to whether it’s their last album from the name. All that’s really known is that it’s their last with their current and original label, Roadrunner Records, who signed them to the mammoth seven album prior to their debut.
But is it any good? It’ll certainly be divisive, as Slipknot always have been. Even their own constantly shifting sound, though, has had certain sonic markers or touchstones on their albums. There’s always been something of a brief ambient intro before it kicks into gear, but even by their unpredictable standards, ‘Adderall’ is one hell of a way to open the album. It’s a soft alt rock song, Corey Taylor in full croon that builds gradually over its runtime; it might just be one of the biggest curveballs they’ve ever thrown. Again, a divisive opening but one that’ll get people talking – as they always do. ‘The Dying Song (Time To Sing)’ follows it and again for all its catchiness, that chorus just isn’t great; especially not the opening rendition of it.
Frontloading the album with the singles is another interesting choice; rather than sprinkling them throughout the album, it means the opening flies by in a blur of overfamiliarity, especially when ‘The Chapeltown Rag’ has been out for a good ten months now. It runs the risk of switching off before some of the album’s stronger material; Hivemind’ is an explosion of belligerent blastbeats that recalls Iowa and Vol. 3 in equal measure, while ‘Medicine For The Dead’ expands on the sonic palette of Vol. 3 with its 80s horror synth opening and grooving chorus.
There’s definitely missteps; ‘Acidic’ is a faux-dark country that simply grates for its opening half, the heavier moments the only real respite from its monotony. The aforementioned ‘Adderall’ is an acquired taste of an opener, and seems out of sequence rather than an actively bad song, even if it does more closely resemble the currently-defunct Stone Sour than the Slipknot album it finds itself on. ‘Heirloom’ is very All Hope Is Gone-era ‘Knot and sounds like songs they’ve already done, again with significant Stone Sour undertones.
At the end of the day, though, this is still a Slipknot album and it’s exactly what you’d expect from them at this point in their careers for the most part. Where it deviates from the template they’ve more or less rigidly adhered to for a decade-plus, there’s screeching industrial moments weighed against alt-rock ballads; experimental by their standards, certainly, if not groundbreaking in and of itself. All of this is somewhat irrelevant though; chances are you already know where you stand on the new Slipknot record, even one as wildly eclectic as this. The End, So Far won’t change your mind.