Slipknot – The End, So Far (Review)

Slipknot are one of THE gateway-bands for millions of Metal fans all around the world. Depending on how old you were when you discovered them, any album of the Des Moines nine serves as an introduction to Metal. For me it began with the debut but my real love for them started with IOWA, still one of my favorite Metal albums of all time.

3 years after the slightly experimental but not lesser good We Are Not Your Kind, we are here with The End, So Far. A lot has been rumoured about this being the final album of Slipknot, but they are here to stay and this album shall serve as proof.

“Adderall“ is a truly surprising opener. I have never heard something like this before on a Slipknot album. „Adderall“ doesn‘t sound like Stone Sour either. It just sounds like a good Rock song with a nice bass-line and will go down in the Slipknot history as the oddest, but not bad opener, of any record. After “Adderall” “The Dying Song” kickstarts this album.

Sadly, a lot of the clean sung choruses seem out of place or just don‘t work. The End, So Far shares this trait with All Hope is Gone. As long as Slipknot come out swinging and shouting, this album can stand among the other albums of their catalogue. A song that illustrates this problem is the aforementioned single “The Dying Song“. When I first heard “The Dying Song“ I instantly thought of “Unsainted“. But “Unsainted“ had a far better chorus in my books. The verses are as Slipknot as a song can get, in a very good way.

“Heirloom“ and “The Chapeltown Rag“ on the other hand are songs that prove that Slipknot still can write clean refrains that work. “Heirloom” has a nice groove to it which reminded me of “Psychosocial” while “The Chapeltown Rag” is a good demonstration of Slipknot being melodic and heavy as they have been most of their career.

Other standout tracks are “H377” and “Finale“. “H377” is a song that will surely be a staple in their upcoming setlist. Fast paced, group-shouts and heavy as Mondays. Definitely the hardest song on this album. “Finale” is a finale in the most literal sense. It closes the album in a truly cinematic fashion: choirs, guitar solos and a chorus that will haunt you for days.

The End, So Far is a solid entry in Slipknot’s body of work. This isn’t a bad album by any means, it contains all the trademarks that made them famous in the first place but there are albums in their catalogue that executed them a lot better. There can’t be any more fitting words to end and describe this album than in the closer “Finale“:

I know it is the same – it happens every day, but I like it here.

Finale