Day 0978 - All Hope is Gone

Slipknot "All Hope is Gone" (2008)

I’m kind of surprised to see more than one Slipknot album on this list (their self-titled debut was day 885).  More surprising is that the second selection is not their excellent third album “Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses”.  With that album they expanded their sound to include some more melodic tracks and different musical ideas, while presenting a cohesive sound that utilised all members.   Lots of memorable music there.

Apparently “All Hope is Gone” sold better, so maybe that’s why it’s here.   It opens (as many of the Slipknot albums do) with a creepy ambient track that’s not really a song as such.  The first couple of songs passed me by without really making much of an impact.

For my tastes, the album doesn’t really get going till you reach single “Psychosocial” which has a nice pulsing chug of an intro/verse and a catchy melodic chorus that keeps the momentum going.   This is followed by the melodically interesting “Dead Memories” and the crazy drum intro of thrasher “Vendetta”.   Elsewhere, “Gehenna” is a creepy horror movie piece that moves into melodic almost grungey territory in places.

After a couple more metal tracks they drop in "Snuff" which, with its emotive melodic vocal, acoustic guitar and dramatic production brings singer Corey Taylor's other band Stonesour to mind.   

 

The album closes out with the title track that is pretty unrelenting with speedy percussion, yelled vocals and speedy metal guitar.   

As suggested, I prefer "Vol.3" but this one has enough to recommend it.

Day 0885 - Slipknot

Slipknot “Slipknot” (1999) – got it

Slipknot as a band are something of an onslaught on all fronts.  For a start, the album cover that shows all 9(!) members of the band in their stage garb (borrowed liberally from Mr Bungle) of matching overalls and a collection of bondage, clown and other masks.  This image combined with the band-members being identified by numbers instead of their names leads to an general dehumanisation of them.

With 1 drummer, 2 percussionists, a bassist, 2 guitarists, a DJ, a sampler and a vocalist, the band present an imposing aural and visual presence.

After a brief track with repeated vocal sample and unsettling oscillating drone sounds, the aural part of the assault kicks off with opening track "(sic)".  It’s a thundering wall of metal guitar and pounding drums.   A friend of mine pointed out that Slipknot’s heaviness comes less from their guitars (though the riffs are plenty heavy) or the vocals (though again, ROAR) and more from the 3-headed drums/percussion monster that really gives the music much of its punishing brutality.

If the band's approach has a problem, it'd be that the onslaught is a little too constant.  Though there's a drum-n-bass break at the start of third track, a little more melody in single "Wait and Bleed" and one or two other little variations, for the most part it's the same sound across the album's runtime.


.... and of course don't forget the secret hidden track, because it's still the 90s.

Day 0616 - Vivid

Living Colour "Vivid" (1988) - got it

One of the first black metal bands (as opposed to black-metal), Living Colour was started by guitar maestro Vernon Reid, and originally billed as 'Vernon Reid's Living Colour'.   Vernon was originally from the UK, which I guess explains the English spelling of colour. 

The band sought to break down the idea of rock/metal being for whites and rap/RnB being for blacks.  Reid assembled a highly talented band, including bassist Muzz Skillings, drummer Will Calhoun and vocalist Corey Glover to produce this mash-up of rock, metal, funk, rap and occasional balladry.  A strong sense of melody is evident throughout in even the heavier songs.
 
Brilliant album that I haven't listened to nearly enough lately.  So again I have to thank this 1001 albums thing for (a) introducing me to new and interesting music, and (b) leading me to revisit and rediscover albums that I was already familiar with.