Review by Saxy S for Slipknot - The End, So Far (2022)

Call me pretentious all you want, but I liked Slipknot after they started going more mainstream. Everyone goes gaga for the S/T debut and Iowa because of (relatively) how heavy they were, but I could barely tell you anything about the records beyond Corey Taylor's whine scream/singing. As they cleaned up on The Subliminal Verses and All Hope Is Gone, songs became more memorable, even as deeper cuts held on to some hard hitting tendencies.

The next two albums split the difference between being too boring, and not boring enough! My review of 2019's We Are Not Your Kind was divisive as I couldn't decide whether I liked the experimentation or not. In 2022, Slipknot are back with the end...so far. It feels more like a return to form for the band as they brush up on their nu metal roots, while still playing towards a more accessible crowd circa late 2000s.

Corey Taylor's vocals are vastly improved and the shout choruses can be quite fun if given the time, including a vast improvement in maturity from the early days. Percussion is also greatly improved from the previous album; Jay Weinberg is finding his place within the ensemble and is doing his best to replicate Joey Jordison, while still retaining a unique charm to help normies distinguish The End, So Far from other Slipknot albums. 

It has many structural faults though. The first and most obvious one, is the lack of progressive focus. Now some bands do not need to be progressive to be successful, but Slipknot have already laid the foundation for this on their previous album. Longer song structure do not hide that we've heard these riffs time and time again. The industrial moments that were a major selling point of We Are Not Your Kind are almost completely removed. And Slipknot still cannot figure out how to write a metal ballad properly; throw in some harsh vocals and let the songs explode instead of letting them reach a climax is lazy stream farming.

But I cannot say that I hate The End, So Far. It's vastly improved from the previous album, but has nowhere near the same level of highs as before. The album is more streamlined and very pleasant to listen to, but if you're looking for anything beyond that, this is basically just another Slipknot album.

Best Songs: Adderall, The Chapeltown Rag, Hive Mind, Medicine for the Dead, H377