The fateful day has arrived and let me tell you – it’s been worth the wait for us true Slipknot fans. Over the past few months the band has been releasing literally half the album to the public through YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, etc. for all of us to hear and gain an insight as to what the final product was going to be like. It all began with “The Negative One” and it all took care of itself from there. But now the full album is out and now we can all appreciate what Slipknot has created for us. I remember a little while ago reading an article where Corey Taylor said “…and once we heard what it felt like, I thought it had the ferocity of Iowa, but to me, it’s got the esoteric, melodic side of Vol. 3, which was a lot more artistic—the bite was still there, but we were starting to spread out artistically a little more (via Revolvermag)”. And that’s really where they’ve taken this album even if they didn’t mean for it to go that way which is even better. Taylor brings the vocals’ harsh brutality from “Iowa” and then the lyrical melody from “Vol. 3” and smashed them with brutal guitars, drums, and everything else that Slipknot used all throughout the album. The only exception is the track “Goodbye”. “Goodbye” is to “.5: The Gray Chapter” as “Snuff” was to “All Hope Is Gone”. And if you don’t like the idea of another “Snuff” then don’t fret because half way through the song the music picks up the pace quite a bit albeit the vocals stay relatively the same other than for a few moments towards the end of the song. But overall I absolutely loved the entire album, and I’m not saying that because I’m a fan of Slipknot. I’m saying that because Slipknot has truly created a masterpiece (or disasterpiece, your choice) with this album. And anyone who doesn’t agree . . . well, you are then the negative one.

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