Considering that I have this year’s masterpiece in my cd player to review, and considering that most internet surfers don’t read long reviews I’ve decided to write two reviews. One for the fast surfers, a short objective one, and one for the true maggots among us.

Here’s the short one:

The long awaited new album with the highly unusual name starts of with a weird track called “Prelude 3.0”. It indeed is a prelude to the madness about to begin. A lot of samples can already be heard in this track, and that goes for almost every track. That’s one of the things you’ll notice, the samples and DJ sounds can be heard real good on this album, contrary to the previous albums, where they sometimes seemed to fade away in the rest of the music.

But those two instruments aren’t the only things that have a better sound, EVERYTHING has a better sound. Thank Rick Rubin for that, he truly is a genius in producing. The way the percussion sounds in the second track “The Blister Exists” is proof of that as well. It has never been better.

The biggest changes within the music comparing it to the first two albums are the use of guitar solo’s, acoustic tracks and a very high dose of melodic singing. Considering that Corey Taylor is my favourite vocalist of all time, you will know that this album pleases me a great deal. The acoustic tracks combined with the lyrics just give me goosebumps, if you can connect with the music too you’ll feel the same thing.
And then there were guitar solo’s in Slipknot. Slayer solo’s, melodic solo’s, show-off solo’s, they’ve got it all. Like it or not, technically it’s pretty good and even the show-off solo’s put a smile on my face.

That they still can compete with more brutal bands they prove on this album as well. A track like “Three Nil” can easily satisfy a Morbid Angel fan if you ask me, what a blastbeat! Tracks like “Welcome”, “Pulse Of The Maggots” and “The Nameless” kick your ass flat while having melodic parts in it too.

All in all, this is the best album I’ve heard this year. If you can produce one sound with nine insane fucks you’re brilliant. Add Rick Rubin to that, and you’re addicted.

Now for the maggot review:

May 24th, I rush from my job to the recordstore, driving 10 kilometres in 20 minutes just to pick up that new album. I enter in the store, and it isn’t there. One sentence enters into my head; THIS IS THE YEAR, WHERE HOPE FAILS YOU!!!! Corey couldn’t have said it better. But hey, now I’ve got a copy, and I get to review it!

Weird samples come out of my stereo, soon to be followed by relaxed drumming and guitar play. The intro track for the new album “Prelude 3.0” has a high space kinda touch over it, with very emotional singing. It already shows that we’re in for an adventure where everything can happen, rules WILL be broken and emotions will be reached that no other band can even slightly touch. The track gets more intense when it approaches the end and after Corey screams ‘no’ for a couple of times the real madness begins.

“The Blister Exists” is one of the best tracks on the album in my opinion. Powerful drums combined with better than ever sounding percussion gives a cool effect. Add a true Slipknot riff to that and you’re hooked. As soon as the vocals kick in one of the guitars plays a high part, which might be considered a solo, but is just a fast part played really high. The chorus is sung with a melodic voice.
When the bridge started somewhere around 2.15 minutes I just screamed of admiration. Brilliant how these guys make use of drums and percussion. And how the guitar riff is filtered in adds another part of greatness to the track. The track also ends with the drumming part, which by the way might remind a lot of people to a marching army.

A short drum intro followed by a Morbid Angel riff is a very promising start for “Three Nil”. Shortly after that an amazing blastbeat kicks in and Slipknot proves that, although they’ve become a lot more melodic, the death metal influence has certainly not disappeared. The chorus is sung melodically again, but doesn’t take the power out of the song at all. ‘Today I say goodbye’ will be racing in a lot of heads soon! The drum parts in the end are great too, especially the part where Joey rolls over the rite.

And then it’s time for the first single of the album; “Duality”. Catchy sentences like ‘I push my fingers into my eyes’ and ‘all I’ve got is insane’ are used and the song’s intensity level isn’t that high. But the start-stop riff that features that bash on the empty beer barrel just knocks me of my feet. Melodically this is one of the better songs, if you insist on distortion in melodic songs. A lot of vocal effects, mostly distortions, are used on the entire album as well, which sound incredibly cool. They make believe that two vocalist are at work, while only one is. The slow down-speeding up part in the end of the song pleases me a lot too, although it’s only used twice.

“Opium Of The People” starts with a funny high guitar “solo” kinda thing which puts a big smile on my face. The riff where the vocals join in after that intro makes the smile even bigger. You could almost call it punk, and if it wasn’t so agitated and drum-technical it probably would be. The part where Corey screams and the riff stops each time is done very cool too. This time the bridge is the melodic part of the song.

And then we go emo-Slipknot. Some weird samples lead to a acoustic guitar track with very emotional singing. Goosebumps everywhere on my body, so beautiful. The bass sounds cool too and some samples keep going on during the track. I just wonder who played the guitar for this track, considering that Corey also plays “Bother” of Stone Sour by himself. And I don’t see a brutal guy like Mick playing acoustic guitar…
And after you’ve cried your eyes out, the Slipknot part of the track begins. Amazing how phat the drums and samples connect in the ending part. Weird, but very cool.

The track “Welcome” is in my opinion on of the truest Slipknot tracks on the album. It’s fast and hard, but not too hard of course. It features the beer barrel again and some samples of a siren and other weird stuff. Just rambling your brains out, to make a long story short.

“Vermillion” has a special touch over it. It’s a “her” and “she” track, and if you’ve ever had a “she” like Corey means, this song gets a special meaning to you. He sings the track in a weird too-sexy-for-my-car kinda way, which can cause the occasional laughter. As he whispers “forever” and adds that sentence that leads to a dual-vocal scream it drives me crazy. After the second time that he does that, a brilliant bridge emerges. That riff and that brilliant way of singing combined make you go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!! And in the middle of the bridge it’s time for a reasonable melodic solo which leads to the beginning of the bridge part again. Beautiful ending to the song.

And then the siren goes of. This is the year where hope fails you! This is the new moshpit anthem if you ask me. “Pulse Of The Maggots”, the title says it all. After a complicated riff and some Marilyn Manson ‘hey’ screaming an insane build up scratch by Sid starts. The explosion after that is very short, but that goes undetected because the rampage still goes on. Do you understand? YES! Definitely a Slayer solo right here!! I can already see the army of maggots screaming “WE WONT DIE”!!!!!!!! Thrashing madness!

Another brilliant track follows up the previous one. “Before I Forget” reflects on Corey’s life before Slipknot, which wasn’t all to bright. The chorus is inspirational as well as being very catchy. Very emotional melodic bridge for this track, which makes the explosion of the chorus following all the better. I like the part in the end where Corey sings ‘was a creature before I could stand’ slightly different. And then there’s some yeah screaming. Crackling samples lead to the next track.

Een more emotional than part one, “Vermillion pt. 2” puts a big lump in the throats of people who have truly loved. If you can connect, that is. I certainly can connect to ‘I don’t know what to do when she makes me sad’. Even some violins are added, to make it a bit more emotional.

Then the perhaps best track of the album starts, in the form of “The Nameless”. Very weird scratching sounds in the intro that would even make true Fantômas fans smile. Some extreme metal riffs are in this track, which pleases me a lot. The first couplet is sung dual-vocal again, one voice being softer, distorted and screamed while the other is normal and spoken. Then all the sudden a extremely melodic part kicks in. Great! After that the scratching sounds return and then both vocal lines are screamed. After the melodic part comes one of the best bridges ever written. The sample that starts it of is insanely brilliant to begin with. And then it turns heavy. The melodic part is done louder a bit later. You’re mine!!

Then comes a track a bit in the style of “Skin Ticket” and Prosthetics”. A real dark and evil track with distorted vocals and loaded with freaky samples dubbed “The Virus Of Life”. Cool drums and percussion guide you through the song as you get hypnotized by the eeriness of the guitars and samples. A very weird guitar distortion is used in this track, to make it even spookier. I especially like the part where you hear Corey saying ‘no’ and ‘wait’ and ‘not yet’. Very creepy indeed. I like these dark Slipknot tracks, they give a good connection with the name of the band.

And then one of the most beautiful tracks I’ve ever heard comes along. Surpassing the level of the acoustic guitar in “Circle” and “Vermillion pt. 2”, this track gets it’s beauty from keyboards and samples. Sentences like ‘what if I never saw you again, and die right next to you in the end’ and ‘I wont let you walk away, without hearing what I have to say’. Yes my fellow maggots, “Danger – Keep Away” is the definition of beauty in music.

I’m going to leave it with this, I hope you enjoyed my review, I put a lot of time in it. And if you didn’t, I don’t care just buy the goddamn album. I’ve got nothing more to say than that this album deserves the maximum score, because there is no band like this one that can stir up my emotions, bring tears to my eyes with their music and make me so freakin’ aggressive, I really love to hate. Stay (sic).

Tracklist:
1. Prelude 3.0
2. The Blister Exists
3. Three Nil
4. Duality
5. Opium Of The People
6. Circle
7. Welcome
8. Vermillion
9. Pulse Of The Maggots
10. Before I Forget
11. Vermillion pt. 2
12. The Nameless
13. The Virus Of Life
14. Danger – Keep Away

Line-up:
0: Sid – turntables
1: Joey – drums
2: Paul – bass
3: Chris – percussion
4: James – guitar
5: 133 – samples
6: Clown – percussion
7: Mick – guitar
8: Corey – vocals