Slipknot Vol 3, official opinions
 

I know there's a thread dealing with new Slipknot, but I read through it and it's not really relevant to anything now the album has leaked. What I'm after are the opinions of people who have heard it all the way through.

Now, I know Slipknot aren't the most popular of bands, especially with those who believe that because they listen to and enjoy four or more different genres of music their opinions should be taken as gospel. Please, vacate your golden thrones atop your plateaus of musical knowledge and open your minds for a second. All I ask for is honesty and respect for the opinions of others, and you all seem to be rather good at that.

The views of an ex-slipknot fan who was fast losing faith:

I burned the cd at work and experienced a plethora of odd emotions as I travelled home, namely excitement, surprise at my excitement, and shock at my surprise. An hour later and I'm sitting in my room, feet up on the desk and relaxing in my chair, ready to give the album a proper listen through. I'll admit that while I tried to approach it with an open mind, I was feeling a fair bit of scepticism based on the songs I'd already heard. That's not to say that they were bad, but they didn't really set my flammable spot aflame in the way I had hoped they would.

Fast forward to this morning. I've listened through (beginning to end) three times, listened to it quietly once (last night to send me to sleep), listened to it on the way to work and as I write I'm listening to it again in a deserted office. Each time it's given me goosebumps and this weird feeling akin to freefalling, only not quite.

This is Slipknot's masterpiece, and puts their other work to shame. It's the perfect blend of experimentation, brutality, atmosphere and melody, and all of these flavours are perfectly balanced and incorporated with overwhelming effect in some of the most expertly crafted songs I've heard in a long time, in any genre. I cannot stress the amount of atmosphere it has enough, there's this beautifully gloomy, sad vibe that underlines the mellow tracks and explodes into anger ever time the band dare get heavy. What's more amazing is that it's all still tongue in cheek, still fun, and it takes a very special kind of band to pull off something like that. They touch on so many styles yet always tie them back to a sound that belongs exclusively to Slipknot.

They've lost nothing of their old sound, their trademark stomp (ala Surfacing) is still there, the groove factor is more present than ever and the sense of musical insanity has been increased ten fold by better playing. They've mastered the art of the slow, sludgy song with a flair that many doom bands lack, and the quality of the acoustic tracks surpass many artists who base their careers around crooning.

My scepticism has been silenced, and I'm incredibly relieved/glad/overwhelmed because of it.

One word: Kiss.

They did a much better job of a crappy gimmick. I stick by my last post about losing Taylor and the masks, and they can actually make good music.

Talk to me when you've listened to the album.

They're sounding too much like their various side projects have affected their Slipknot sound. It's like they're trying to be serious now after writing songs with such intelligent lyrics as "People equals shit" and I'm not buying into it. They should just stick with their guns and make the heavier stuff like before. While it may not be the most intellectual music, I still enjoyed listening to it.

I made the mistake of downloading it over the weekend.... Lets just say it's no longer on my PC.
What a flaming pile of shit!

This album is by far their worst.

I have also downloaded the CD.

My thoughts, although some songs are not bad, overall they lost what made them good. Their "groove". (not to mention the singing is quite off to me for some reason)

giving the album a proper listen only made me want to shut it off. First of all, the instruments tend to drown corey out, Corey can't scream like he used to...for some reason...it lacks intensity, he lacks emotion and tries too hard. Alot of the songs seem to stray completely from the slipknot sound, as if they are trying to play old metal, but it just doesn't work...the album is a dissapointment, it sounds rushed and well, good thing it's thier last if they are going to sound like this.

I liked it...I wish they'd put out more of the Self Titled stuff than Iowa though. I'm a maggot, but still it takes alot of for me to get in the Iowa mood. I like Vol 3 though..the drumming is sic

Call me stupid, but I guess I'm just one of those few people who think this is their best album by far. I was never a big fan, but this album rocks!

--jaded

wow, some people absolutely hate it while some absolutely love it. I agree that Slipknot just doenst have the same .. i dont know what, as it used to. I think self titled was their best album, then Iowa and that Vol. 3 is way in the back. They should stick with the really heavy stuff, that's why I started listenin to them in the first place. Some tracks are good, but the CD as a whole is their worst.

I enjoyed this album for the most part. I cant stand about half the songs, but the other half, especially the few slower songs, I really like alot.

I have a feeling that after a few more listens itll grow on me more though.

After listening to it a few times i like it more and more, especially "duality" which is probably my most played track right now. The chorus just fucking rocks. I like how Corey's changed his vocals from rapping/screaming to actually singing.. like it very much indeed. I don't care what other people think about it.

it sounded like they were trying too hard to be meshuggah.

I really enjoyed the album. (Thumbs up)

From the one track someone played for me, (don't ask what the title was, I have no idea,) I liked it. The only other song of theirs I could tolerate was Wait and Bleed, and I'm hoping that the new album is more like what I heard.

I've heard one song, I guess it was "duality" but I can't remember. Didn't think anything of it. I liked the 1st album but Iowa was just lame.

I don't plan on downloading this, much less spending money on it.

If Corey has taken to singing rather than screaming, I don't even need to hear it. Slipknot does not sing. And Meshuggah is not something to aspire to.

meshuggah owns you, and you know it.

Um, no offense but this is nothing like meshuggah...

--jaded

at least vol.3 is better than Iowa. Vermilion and Vermilion pt2 are good tracks.

and yeah, Meshuggah is another league.

Yes. A terrible one.

My friend let me copy and burn his copy of this CD, and after listening to the whole CD, I must say I love it. It's a great CD in my opinion. Some people don't like it because they think Corey's lost his voice, or that it sounds too much like Stone Sour, but oh well, those are most likely the kind of people that turn on bands when they become somewhat popular, I think. Great album, though, I love it.

Hasn't Slipknot (aka Slapnuts) always been "somewhat popular"? The fact that some claim that they are industrial makes me sick.

I only used to like a few songs from them, I always thought that they were trying too hard to be "METAL", but with the new one, I really can't think of one track that I skip all the time, just to get to a good track.

I think this is their best album, both for the sounds they develop and for the way it's presented.

Overall 7/10

I've just watched the Duality mtv and it still seems kinda slipknotty to me.. which is a good thing! Other than that I haven't heard the other tracks yet, as I still don't have the album. Hope to get it soon from my local bootlegger.. tee-hee.. piracy here in asia's sooo widespread, even slipknot gets pirated you see..

I'm a classic rock fan, and I kinda like this CD... though its not in any way close to the classics.... I guess I'm just getting into heavier music.

I've been listening to this cd quite a bit since I downloaded it. It didn't really catch on with me the first time through, it sorta grew on me. I defiantly like it now, not sure if its better than the first album but it's definatly good. My favorite song being "Before I Forget".

I dunno, sounds like Corey is pushin some "Stone Sour" into the mix. And a band like this using acoustics?:hmm:

Metallica felt the "need" to experiment with new sounds too. :mad: Im not a musician, but i do like the way this little guy plays the drums.

Anyway, Three Nill to me is the best song on this new cd.

http://joey.wz.cz/pix/joeyfrowning.JPG