Another Awsome Slipkont Album.
December 12, 2008
This Was Another Favorite Of Mine. I Really Enjoyed There Debut Album, And I Really Enjoyed This One As Well. This Second Outstanding Slipknot Album Was Just Plain Heavy Metal/Alternative Metal. Even Though, I Did Enjoyed The Rap That Was In There First Album, But I Like Heavey Metal/Alternative Metal Also.
All The Song's On This Album Was Just Plain Heavy, And Alternative As Well. This Was An Awsome 2 Album From Them. This Album Was Very Enjoyable. Buy This Album If You Don't Have It. You Will Love It, If You're A Fan Of Metal.
Exploration of mainstream music: Subject A: Slipknot: Album #2: IOWA: Thoughts: They sure like them power chords...
October 10, 2008
...as far as Slipknot is concerned this is apparently the album where they attempt to be alot more "dark" and "technical"...have slipknot succeeded in this attempt of theirs? Have they dropped the power chords? Let us see...let us see...
515 6/10: Another random intro track of random low feedback combined with them randomly shouting in a horrified manner...if you're anything like me it's more likely to make you laugh then feel uncomfortable...unless you want to take the innuendo then it may be slightly scary...
People = (The magic S) 8/10: Begins with power chords and explodes into a full assault...corey doing his "I'm a macho screamer man"...the random turntable affects are still apparent in this song...and so are the downtuned guitars...what impresses me is that the power chords take more of a break...they're actually attempting to play riffs this time...even though they're not that difficult (I looked up the guitar tab) it's still in some ways an evolution...I also noticed that Corey's lyrics have become the stereotypical "I hate myself" jargon...so that's another evolution...all in all this track is rather strong...nothing special but it's very heavy and makes a nice change to the previous album...I can see what they're trying to do...I just hope they learn that the equivalent to people is not what they excrete...unless they're maggots (no pun intended)...
Disasterpiece 8/10: Surprisingly heavy song(how?)...the drums double bass intro is very delightful and the guitars have truly evolved now...no crazy power chords...just very low down tuned riffs...which of course isn't 100% improvement but it's definetely a step in the right direction...Corey seems to have given up melody and decides to feel the swoon (which makes no grammatical sense)...after messsing randomly around though the structure gets kind of boring...they seem more tightened and it bothers me...if they want to shock they should say something interesting...not to say that Corey's songs are irrelevant...I just wish he'd...OH MY GOD I HEARD THE BASS!! An extra point for that...it ends with corey singing kind of...but the instrumental arrangement doesn't really change key at all...when it does I'll be happy...
My Plague 7/10: Yawn...lets play the same thing over and over again and change in the chorus to a weedy melodic vocal line...why do I hate myself Corey? WHY!!? Honestly this song is nothing special at all and really gets boring after a while...and again...Corey's song themes are really mundane...I'm not saying he can't sing...just sing something about confusing metaphors that makes me think (e.g. Converge, The Locust, Mars Volta etc...I'm not going to name drop)...the "everything's depressing" thing is ok...just make it more intelligible ohterwise you'll just have teenies and people who grew up with you and stay with you for nostalgia as fans...
Everything Ends 9/10: I like this song...the melodic arrangement of the guitars is quite pleasant to hear...a very evil sound to the descending scale in the chorus even if the verses contain the crazy powerchords to which the debut was saturated with...unfortunately it seems this time round Corey's lyrics are the weak point...everything else is so strong (even the crazy sound effects contribute very well) and his voice has no trouble singing...he just needs a more interesting lyricist...the instrumental break after the second chorus is also very heavy and strong even though yet again it's panifully easy to play on guitar...a very good song and well recommended for starters (it's still under scissors on the previous album though)...
The heretic anthem 7/10: Oh dear oh dear oh deary me...this accursed random addition of a satanic reference...and for what purpose? To irritate christians? Pointless provokations without any subtlety just turn me right off a track... "If you're 555 then I'm 666" that must have been so hard to work out...instrument wise the drums are fantastic yet again but you can hardly hear them...the guitars are just those silly riffs which now seem to be getting old...maybe they should revert back to there pointless power chords just for a little while...oh Mick and Jim...you are such lucky boys...if you like being satanic for no good reason then go for this song...otherwise it'll probably just annoy you...
Gently 9/10: SEE!!! YOU CAN PLAY A GUITAR WITHOUT AN AMP!!! The beginning starts with some very nice accoustic guitar playing...I really wish they'd play like this more often...having heavy and intense power is ok but at least here you can feel emotion in what they're playing...or maybe that's something they develop in their later albums...who knows...of course afterwards they turn the amps on again and play but they seem to play things more reminiscent of the era that tried to rip off the melodeath era...but to me any change was welcomed and I enjoyed the instrumentation at the beginning...alot...it gets kind of awkward when it sounds like Corey has developed a Swedish accent for about 10 seconds...but then he starts shouting again...there's no denying where their influence for this track was...but I'm so so so glad they did something different...
Left behind ?/10: Any mark I give this song would be biased...when I first heard this song 3 years ago (when I was 14...I know I'm pathetic) and saw their faces I was so scared I changed the channel...a year later I really enjoyed the song for a while...the melodic hooks within the chorus and verse really connected with me...now I feel half-hearted about it...it's the song on this album I've heard the most though...if you've heard this song and think that it'll be filled with songs like this one...be warned...this song has been garnished and specifically niched for the mainstream audience...the songs in the rest of the album are far more explicit...
The Shape 8/10: Another heavy track this time...double bass drumming and a distorted medium pitched (MEDIUM!!? WOW!!) riff that turns into a quiet little slumber...Corey's lyrics are still rather awkward but more bareable...haha...I thought he said "I lost my ointment"...but that's not what he says...the guitars throughout seem to be doing the exact same thing as on everything ends only lower down the scale and to a little less affect...and plenty more powerchords...a heavy song...just nothing new to the table...
I am hated 7/10: Heavy song...talking...guitar riffs...turntable effects yada yada yada yada yada...nothing new or interesting at all...and Corey's lyrics are irritating me so so so so much right now...
Skin Ticket 7/10: Starts off with some distorted guitar wavering all over the place (possibly a whammy bar?) the bass drum in this is a very nice addition...until turning into another downtuned low riff that's just played heavily for the sake of it...and they all stop to let Corey say his piece...which is slightly better as it leads to Section B very briefly after returning to the heavy and boring Section A...his singing of "come see my cage" is nice and soothing and makes me want to go to sleep...the harmonics between the bass and guitar at this point is very consonant and sucessful...well done...and it wouldn't be slipknot without reverting back to the heavy section...good show...pip pip tally ho...there is then a guitar solo of alternate picking until they decide to go heavy again...will they ever end on a nice melodic note? No...no they shan't...
New Abortion 7/10: Starts off heavy (again) and then turns into a mad frenzy of drumming until structuring around Corey's voice...the guitar makes some nice squeaky sounds but does nothing interesting with that episode...the other guitar stays low and plays a pentatonic (check) scale...another heavy song...just not particularly interesting...apparently I can take Corey's soul...
Metabolic 7/10: Very interesting electronic percussion affects that yet again revert to downtuned guitar riffs...ENOUGH ALREADY!!! They need to learn some variety...I know they're potentially good guitarists...I HEARD GENTLY!!! Corey has a bit of a random sing song between shouts...but it sounds more like a wimper...again...it's ok...but doesn't require analysis because the only thing different is the random electronic percussion that sounds like a squashed puppy...
IOWA ?/10: This song is all over the place...I usually love epic songs that are over 10 minutes long...but this is nothing new at all...it's the same slipknot songs dragged out...think of the verse of Purity off the first album only four times slower and with a lot less explosion...I don't think slipknot understand the concept of progression as well as they should...it just seems to end with Corey making awkward noises and the drummer trying to make it sound interesting...the guitars get lost in their own atmosphere and just seem to plink in and out of the awareness of the listener...it was a very good concept but in contrast to Scissor is a very bad closer...
Overall:
Drums: As great as they always have been...complex cross rhythms and many good fills...
Bass: Improved...I heard it alot more in this album even if it was only in 3 tracks...
Guitars: Improved...from power chords to a downtuned riff...they should try something new next album...
Vocals: Lack of improvement in lyrical meaning means that the themes seem somewhat childish and meaningless...hopefully he'll get better
...all in all this album is heavier than the previous...more tight and structured and different variaitions on the same theme...if you prefer heavier and less rap influenced Slipknot buy this...
...I now delve into their 3rd album...which of course is the album they made most mainstream success...will they add more variety to their heavy formula? I shall find out...
A definate buy
September 26, 2008
This is a great album all around. Has everything that you should expect from this band. Although I think their newer albums suck, this was their last good one, in my opinion.
Definitely their best album!
September 23, 2008
The tension of this album is far beyond other rock, metal, or whatever bands. If you wanna get blown off, you should take this. I'm not gonna IOWA is the only great album in the universe, but at least absolutely one of the most brutal, aggressive, and destructive albums.
Just my oppinion
August 21, 2008
I bought this album a couple weeks after it came out. Left behind was decent, and I was really into the new metal fad going on at the time. Since then, I've gotten into black metal, death metal, deathcore, and pretty much any type of metal you can imagine. From someone who listens to it all, I have to say that first off, this can not at all be classified as numetal, secondly, I think it's probably the best album they ever did. They just wanted to put something out that was brutal and violent, and I think they did a pretty good job. Again, I'm just stating what is my opinion and hope no one thinks that I'm trying to convince people to buy it.
