Review: Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter
By Tim Hurst, Contributor
[Roadrunner; 2014]
Rating: 7/10
Key Tracks: “Sarcastrophe,” “AOV,” “The Devil In I"
Finally back with its fifth full length album .5: The Gray Chapter, Iowa-based Slipknot has proven it’s more than able to overcome the substantial obstacles that barred its path over the last few years. Beginning in 1999, the same nine members made up the band until bassist Paul Gray died in 2010, hence the name of the album. Later in 2013, drummer Joey Jordison was dismissed from the band for reasons yet to be disclosed.
With the six-year gap between albums and the lineup changes, all eyes were on Slipknot. Being Slipknot, the album is bound to be successful commercially. Looking from a critical standpoint, .5: The Gray Chapter is impressive aside from a few missteps.
The first tracks released were “The Negative One” and “The Devil In I,” the former being a taste of what the record is supposed to sound like and the latter being the radio single. “The Negative One” is a strong, heavy and fast track with no clean vocals. Slipknot adds a high-pitched screech to this and a few other tracks, which comes across as annoying at first--but it adds so much to the mood of the album as a whole.
“Be Prepared for Hell” is an almost two-minute track doing nothing but enhancing the mood. With an atmospheric feel and spoken lyrics, one can feel the darkness the band is attempting to portray. This is also felt in the slow-moving album opener that slowly builds as the track goes on.
With “The Devil In I,” fans feared Slipknot was going a more mainstream route. Since vocalist Corey Taylor also sings for his side project, mainstream rock band Stone Sour, the comparisons between the two bands were everywhere. Clean vocals are much more prevalent in this song and the chorus is catchy in the sense it’s for radio play. Aside from this track and the skillfully executed ballad “Goodbye,” most of the album is heavy enough to deter most of these unwarranted comparisons.
Slipknot has been listening to fans. “Custer” is reminiscent of its self-titled debut album, containing the nu metal stylings most of the many fans fell in love with. The angsty, senseless lyrics are riddled with profanity but the energy is intense. “Sarcastrophe” can be compared to “Disasterpiece” from sophomore record Iowa. The song starts where the opener left off, building in an intensity that doesn’t relent throughout the rest of the track. “AOV” is most comparable to “Sulfur” from Slipknot's last album and it works just as well; the bass solo in the middle is easily one of the album’s highlights.
Unfortunately, there’s a few issues not easily remedied, the worst being Taylor’s voice. He’s been actively screaming for over a decade now and it’s taken a major toll. If one were to listen to his screams back in ’99 and compare them to now, they’d sound like they were coming from a different person. The heaviness they used to have is gone and his decline isn’t going to get better.
The drummer replacing Jordison’s replacement is competent and the guitar riffs are catchy, but nothing here is new or memorable. .5 The Gray Chapter is a hugely overproduced record, which ruins the heaviness in a way. The percussion, especially at the beginning of “The Devil In I,” is so clean and polished that it ruins the chaos and weight. This overproduction problem plagues the album.
Overall this is a good return-to-form for Slipknot, especially considering all its losses. With a dirtier, gritter sound, .5 The Gray Chapter might be the best thing that’s happened to the band since 2001’s Iowa.
