First review for .5: The Gray Chapter. A very glowing review, but all pre-release reviews are. http://www.revolvermag.com/news/review-slipknot-5-the-gray-chapter.html
Track by Track review for the new album. Based on this, it seems like The Negative One is a good representation of the album, which is absolutely fine by me. http://www.metalinjection.net/reviews/slipknots-5-the-gray-chapter-review-track-by-track-first-impressions
Fucking amazing. Fantastic. What a great great album. Can't compare them to all their previous work yet because I have only listened to it once, but it is miles better than AHiG.
This song has a serious case GDMS (Generic Death Metal Syndrome). Sick intro, continuously gets more and more boring. Also the cheese on this song is too much for me to forgive. Not impressed.
This album lacks some decent hooks. I do enjoy a portion of the tracks but I am honestly not super happy with the album.
Just got through the album. Pretty great. Disagree that there is a lack of hooks. Had a few of the songs stuck in my head all day. The weak points were definitely Killpop, Lech, and Custer (except for that beast fucking intro). The stand outs are probably AOV, The Devil in I, Skeptic, and If rain is what you want. Could of used some Fehn vocals to to give some vocal variety, but that complaint only exists because I know they have that option. If they didn't it's not like there's any lack of diversity there. Anyways, good stuff, better than AHIG. Not going to say it's better than Slipknot, though it certainly doesn't touch Iowa or Vol. 3.
Funny you say that since those were probably the most hook driven songs on the record - Besides the first two singles. And that was probably what I meant - the songs that are meant to be catchy just aren't memorable/strong enough for me. But after a few more listens I actually like the record a bit more. Personal favorites: XIX(the lyrics... talk about angst lol) AOV The Devil and I The Negative One Normadic But the best song on the record is undoubtedly If Rain Is What You Want.
I suppose there is some immemorable stuff there and there is definitely a sameness to it, which I suppose is where my want for more Fehn vocals comes from. I guess that could be translated to say that anything that brought more diversity would be nice.
Not quite the monumental return I projected shortly after the release of 'All Hope is Gone' six years ago. Regardless, it was a decent release that turned out exactly as described; a fair mixture of elements stemming from Iowa and Vol.3. Familiar, yet altogether nothing new. The Gray Chapter is a shaky, uneven reflective take on the current transitional period within the band's career.
I've given the album some time to sink in. At first my reactions were extremely mixed, mostly negative... But I really had to take myself back to my 14-year-old self to appreciate the album. Back then I was religious with Slipknot. I ran a fan-site with a small forum and little (But surprisingly devoted) community. After listening to some Iowa and S/T to get back in the mindset, the album really opened up to me a lot more than initially. I'm not going to go into too much detail, because I'm still really giving it some time to make an impression in me, but I can say that I've been enjoying AOV, Lech, Nomadic, Killpop and If Rain is What You Want. XIX and Custer are cringe-worthy as hell to me, and are both becoming regular skips on repeated listens.
Didn't hear the album yet, but I listened to All Hope Is Gone yesterday for the 5th or 6th time, and the album really clicked with me more than it usually does. Iowa and Vol. 3 are fucking classics, some of the best albums I've heard. So this leaves me with self titled to listen to before I get to this one. Exciting times!