Slipknot -- All Hope Is Gone

7/10

Sometimes an album full of great songs just can't quite put the pieces together to make for a satisfying album. Slipknot's fourth full-length foray, All Hope Is Gone, sees the band exploring some new textures, and more political lyrics. While the heavy moments dominate, the dark "Sulfur" has perhaps the strongest chorus hook the band ever wrote, featuring an incredibly powerful vocal performance by Corey Taylor--this is where he started getting tagged in "Metal Vocalists with Greatest Range" articles...in fact, the Range Place has him listed as the vocalist with the second greatest vocal range in all of rock music--with video references to boot...and dang, this dude can sing. Anyway, what was I saying?
All Hope Is Gone features some great songs. The 1-2-1-2 sludgy march of "Psychosocial," and its barked vocals are supremely satisfying. The dark "Dead Memories" features yet another of the catchiest choruses the band ever recorded, and a moment before the bridge reminiscent of "Confessions" from Embodyment's The Narrow Scope of Things (one of the highest compliments I can give). "Gehenna" sounds like it came from a hazy, phosphorescent, haunted swamp. "Snuff" is a great ballad, and the most radio-ready Slipknot song ever, and that's also meant as a compliment. "All Hope Is Gone" is their most determined, yet-not-quite victorious closer (it's like a Demon Hunter album closer!).
The whole album features a grey skies feeling that is unique to 2008. Another heavy album I've reviewed from that year, P.O.D.'s When Angels and Serpents Dance, released a few months before All Hope Is Gone, actually features a very similar vibe, complete which surprisingly political lyrics. The difference is, I think P.O.D. were all on the same page when they recorded their album--love or hate what they went for, WAASD is super cohesive. All Hope Is Gone is not.
While All Hope Is Gone's rainy vibe is prevalent throughout, it isn't enough to tie all the songs together. Straightforward, and frankly forgettable metal tracks like "Vendetta" and "This Cold Black" feel like Slipknot-by-numbers, and are stranded moments of boredom among the album's standouts. The strange part is, All Hope Is Gone features the least amount of tracks on a Slipknot album to date, but it also feels like it drags on more than any of their others.
Still, I like it, overall. Maybe it's just some nostalgia for the period. That was the last year I was a hip young person...the next year, I became a father, and due to no fault of my son, a lot of the music from 2009 sucks. The opening keyboard line from "Snuff" is so 2008, and reminds me of hanging out in my cool dive of a 500-square foot mid-city apartment with my wife and our cool friends, doing cool stuff. The tattoo parlor, the pizza dive bar, the comic book shop, the music store, all within walking distance of me for the only time in my life. Jack-In-the-Box at midnight all the time, two tacos and an ultimate cheeseburger for $2, marathoning Friday Night Lights seasons,watching foreign films, and lying on the floor staring at the ceiling while listening to vinyl, hanging out with the neighborhood stray, roadtripping to see Radiohead play, hugging strangers at Drive-By Truckers, coming home on my lunchbreaks from my cool job, slamming a cold beverage with a hot pocket and half a library-borrowed movie, THOSE WERE THE DAYS OF YORE!
Anyway, I dig a lot of the vibe, I like a lot of the songs, but All Hope Is Gone just doesn't quite come together the way I wish it would!




2008 Roadrunner Records
1. .execute. 1:50
2. Gematria (The Killing Name) 6:03
3. Sulfur 4:39
4. Psychosocial 4:45
5. Dead Memories 4:30
6. Vendetta 5:17
7. Butcher's Hook 4:16
8. Gehenna 6:53
9. This Cold Black 4:42
10. Wherein Lies Continue 5:38
11. Snuff 4:36
12. All Hope Is Gone 4:47