SLIPKNOT - "THE END, SO FAR"

By Enrico Spinelli 

When we talk about Slipknot we almost always clash with two very distinct factions, the "ultra-haters regardless" who see in this band the stigma of nu-metal and the "ultra fans regardless" for which the value of the band is no question whatever comes out ... well, I think this record will mess up the cards on the table a lot. I must first say that I cannot define myself exactly as a fan, although I own and greatly appreciate all their albums released so far, but I still recognize the group's great talent for having taken its proposal beyond the spaces of the - surprising - debut, incorporating various influences and without ever reclining in the comfort of what has already been heard; if you add to this an extremely versatile voice and mind like those of Corey Taylor (listen to his solo album "CMTF" and then tell me) and that's it.

So what do we get from listening to Slipknot's seventh album, "The end, so far"? Personally a great confusion. Probably the band has decided to carry out the most intimate and difficult work of his career, putting anger and wickedness in the background and preferring the mid-tempos and dark atmospheres, leaving a strong feeling of pain. The opener "Adderall" - it almost seems to hear Radiohead in grunge sauce - as annoying (at least for me) is the subsequent "The Dying Song", a song with a convincing angry verse but with a refrain halfway between power metal and "Take on the World" by Judas Priest, not exactly a compliment. From here we will have an unbalanced alternation between melancholic songs and more drawn pieces, which is not a bad thing regardless since songs like "Yen", "Medicine for the Dead" or the final "Finale" are anything but bad. 

Indeed, for me the most classic and fired-up parts turned out to be less intriguing: they seem to me almost forcefully, so as not to upset too much the loyal audience that is already put to the test. The result is an album that is a little too heterogeneous (very different, for example, from the last of the Korns which, on the other hand, suffers from a certain static), a work that is undoubtedly not immediate but which probably requires time, patience and listening in order to mature an opinion. I know that these speeches would sound more appropriate when referring to a Tool album, but I really can't tell you if I like this record or not. My former self, more close-minded, would brand it as bad, poor, but trying to open my mind a little I allow myself to suspend my judgment and entrust it to time, and to the desire to listen to it again.