| For most bands, the process of experimentation involves infusing more traditional song structures with weirder, or less familiar sonic elements. Not so for Iowa's Slipknot. All Hope Is Gone, the metal neuftet's fourth full-length, finds them further mining the seam that produced 2004's Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses, adulterating their caustic, percussion-heavy take on thrash metal with acoustic guitars and anthemic choruses. Present too, though, is a heaviness that harkens back to 2001's aggressive Iowa, meaning the likes of "Psychosocial" and "Dead Memories" mix big, inclusive vocal hooks with bulldozing low-end and savage percussion breakdowns set to arcane time signatures. Nor is it all set to formula: "Butcher's Hook", for instance, sounds nothing like anything in Slipknot's catalogue to date. It is a slamming funk-metal track not unlike The Rollins Band, with broiling anti-establishment lyrics and a huge call-and-response chorus. The occasional Nickelback-like chorus might appall the diehards, but Slipknot are still stretching themselves, and All Hope Is Gone stands up to anything in their catalogue. --Louis Pattison |
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