SLIPKNOT
The End, So Far
ROADRUNNER
Iowa’s nine-man metal juggernaut fuels up on fresh inspiration
Slipknot: still putting the emotion into commotion
‘ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU CAME HERE FOR?’ roars Corey Taylor on Warranty, a savage call to arms halfway through Slipknot’s seventh album. Five seconds later, a battery of drums and serrated guitars kicks in, leading to a whopping hook, and all hell breaks loose. It’s a rabid reminder that, after 27 years of misanthropic annihilation, the world’s most volatile, nine-man wrecking crew are as untameable as ever.
“THIS VOLATILE WRECKING CREW ARE STILL UNTAMEABLE”
That said, it does raise a question: what exactly do people expect from a Slipknot record in 2022? Naturally, The End, So Far serves up plenty of maggot bait with frenetic singles The Chapeltown Rag and The Dying Song (Time To Sing), and the relentless H377 lunges straight for the jugular with demented yet methodical precision and colossal choruses. But 2019’s dark and experimental We Are Not Your Kind – asolid return to form after a period of patchy records – proved that almost three decades into their career, it’s impossible to predict where Slipknot will go next. Clearly, they have no intention of making it easy for fans this time around, either. Corey’s summation of this album as “a heavier version” of the band’s melodic and dynamic third record, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), rings true in that this is easily the most inventive, ambitious and varied album they’ve put their name to.