For most bands, the process of experimentation involves infusing more traditional song structures with weirder, or less familiar sonic elements. Not so for Iowa’s Slipknot. All Hope Is Gone, the metal neuftet’s fourth full-length, finds them further mining the seam that produced 2004’s Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses, adulterating their caustic, percussion-heavy take on thrash metal with acoustic guitars and anthemic choruses. Present too, though, is a heaviness that harkens back to 2001’s aggressive Iowa, meaning the likes of "Psychosocial" and "Dead Memories" mix big, inclusive vocal hooks with bulldozing low-end and savage percussion breakdowns set to arcane time signatures. Nor is it all set to formula: "Butcher’s Hook", for instance, sounds nothing like anything in Slipknot’s catalogue to date. It is a slamming funk-metal track not unlike The Rollins Band, with broiling anti-establishment lyrics and a huge call-and-response chorus. The occasional Nickelback-like chorus might appall the diehards, but Slipknot are still stretching themselves, and All Hope Is Gone stands up to anything in their catalogue. --Louis Pattison
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
all hope is not gone I brought this album in special edition and i must say it's the best slipknot album yet. songs like: sulphur,dead memories,butchers hook and psychosocial are the best to listen to and backed up by so many other cool tracks this album is a rare treat and the best album of 2008.
Yet Hope Remains! Newly converted... Slipknot are a strange entity. They've created a clever image for themselves that allows them to stand out from the crowd (Who says metal has to be serious all the time?), yet their music hasn't always followed suit.
Their first album was not what you'd call a classic in the grand scheme of all that is Metal. It had a dirty, heavy sound but the quality of the songwriting was sporadic, the riffs were often similar, and prone to a lot of noise for the sake of it.
It also went downhill very quickly... more info
Slipknot All Hope is gone A quality album- not fot the die hard fan of Slipknot- they have adpated there sound a bit - solos and awesome riffs to head bang too. personally it shows they have matured as a band and moved on from the old sound. Still very heavy in parts- enjoyable if your into headbanging and not the imagery and bandwagon that people jumped on with Slipknot- this is about the music and very impressive!
Saving my sanity Thank god for Slipknot!
I was just about going crazy with the lack of new music in my collection as everything sounds the same recently. In my opinion this is the best slipknot album as a whole. The songs have really catchy choruses and although there are a couple of "softer" tracks, they do fit in with the flow of the album. The dvd is a 30min short film that gives a visual incite into the recording of the album - with some eerie alien sceens.
