SOUND BITES

  If you read a certain article leading up to the release of Slipknot's seventh album and saw a red flag or two, that's understandable; when one of your band's members is making pre-emptive excuses for a drop in quality and citing all the factors that worked against them during production (and fanning the flames of inetr-band tension by claiming not to be the only member with doubts about the finished product), there might be solid evidence that there's something on this record in need of an explanation. Slipknot waste no time providing just what Jim Root could have misgivings about; while they've been well known to wriggle out from under the fan base's expectations of heaviness that tug at their ankles like an anchor, gleefully dragging their sound outside the realm of metal despite and/or because of the fickleness of some members of that community, this time they come out of the gates defiant. Adderall starts the album off in shockingly subdued fashion, slow...

To say Slipknot has had a tumultuous career is a bit of an understatement; chided for the nu-metal leanings of their first two albums by some and bemoaned for the evolving songcraft on the two that followed by others (not to mention internal tensions that resulted in multiple hiatuses along the way), this band was in for a tough go of it coming into their fifth album (and first in six years) as it was. Throw in the tragic death of bassist Paul Gray in 2010 and the departure of former drummer Joey Jordison and it's a minor miracle that a fifth Slipknot album exists at all. And, in the face of such catastrophe and calamity, the immediate question going into .5: The Gray Chapter for many will be "should it exist?" It is worth noting up front that, upon a cursory listen to the album, both Gray's and Jordison's losses are deeply felt. The replacement players know what they're doing, but couldn't possibly stand a chance of playing the same spiritual roles as ...