Song Review: Slipknot - The Negative One

Oh, shi--!

I'll say this right now before I get monkey feces pelted at me, which I am thoroughly ready to take. I've got a shower right outside my door. I'm ready when you are. Okay, are you ready? I'm sure many of you have already read the title and are making judgement calls. Well, they're true.

I like Slipknot.

  

I like 'em, okay? I like the band and I'm okay with that. First off, before I get into reviewing the song, I must confess that these guys were a big part of my adolescence, a large segment of my angst-ridden youth. I was listening to Slipknot because I thought they were the heaviest band in the history of the world. Lots of people did and (for some crazy ass reason) still do. Without Slipknot at that time, I wouldn't have been willing to get out of my shell and explore more extreme music, so with that I have to thank them. I wouldn't have branched out to thrash metal, death metal, even industrial metal. So at least for that, I give them my praise. I own all their albums and have been a fan of them since, well, Vol. 3. I didn't get their debut first cause at the time, my dad didn't approve of my my music having swearing, especially the copious amount of swearing that were in their first two LPs.

But enough of that. Let's get to the song.

It's been a long time coming, fans clamoring for a new Slipknot album. Series of problems have continually delayed progress and have made fans incredibly impatient. Such as the death of Paul Gray back in 2010, Stone Sour releasing a double album, House of Gold & Bones -- Part 1 released in 2012 and Part 2 released one year later. Also, let's not forget their musical festival, Knotfest, which had to be stopped twice because fans broke down the barricade and repairs needed to be made. Then there was the retarded compilation Antennas to Hell, which was pretty much every single and fan-favorite being put yet again on a CD and put out to fans to tease them a little. They were dangling the carrot, except the carrot was rotten. With Slipknot returning to the stage the way they did, making an announcement that they were going to make a new album without long-time bassist Paul Gray, fans were ballistic. Some were pissed as hell, others were praising them for getting over their tragic loss and moving forward. I'll not talk about where I was because that's not important.

http://www.slipknot1.com/
^Their site, you can listen to the song here.



I know lots of people foresaw the end coming for Slipknot after Paul Gray died and thought it was the end for the nu-metal giants. Little did they know that if they stayed along for the ride, their hopes were dashed and naysayers who thought that their new album was to be another All Hope is Gone (I know, that fans utterly HATED that album, so did I upon repeated listens) had their inhibitions crushed under foot. And that came today with the release of this new single, "The Negative One."

If you listen to a lot of nu-metal or if you're familiar with Slipknot's style, then you should already know what to expect. And if you're looking for absolutely fantastic nu-metal, then look no further than them. They'll be sure to fulfill all of what you're looking for. However, with a six year holdover from their last album that a large chunk of fans were not pleased with, did they manage to champion over the naysayers?

In fact, they succeed in every possible aspect of the word.

Slipknot has always won fans over with their incredibly heavy material, their no-holds-barred approach towards metal, their angst-ridden, sweaty, smoke-filled, adrenaline pumping, jump-up-and-down, spit-in-your-face kind of metal. With rapped lyrics, screaming and singing with very modern and high value production. They're one of the forefathers of the genre that would become known as nu-metal, along with KoRn, System of a Down, and Limp Bizkit.

With that said, does this song deliver? Yes, it does. Slipknot has always been good with atmosphere and this album has it with an opening ambiance that wouldn't be all that out of place on their eponymous debut. Then we get into the drums (which I'll about later), the samples and this whatever-it-is that comes after. Then we drop this beat and riff that is sure to get any pit going absolutely mad. It's classic Slipknot. Sid is going crazy on those turntables throughout the entire song, doing great justice to the strangely thin production on this album. For a while, we have the instrumental and anybody who's is a fan is wondering where the hell the big man is, the head honcho: Where is Corey Taylor? Well, he's here and I have to say that he's never had a stronger set of pipes since his days of Iowa. He's still got it. In fact, he's gone back to his vocal style of their self-titled. It's crazy as hell and the motherfuc*er shows absolutely no signs of stopping. He's got energy to burn and he has no intent of slowing down. He's hungry, wanting to feed, and he'll consume everything in sight.

The production is a turn-off I have along with the drumming. The production, as I've said before, is strangely thin, almost as thin as their "demo" Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. I do have a bit of a problem with this, but at the same time, I'm willing to excuse it because of what they're trying to do. As for the drumming, it's just the same as ever. Just all right, nothing special at all. In fact, I'm going to say that the drumming here is just the same as it was on the last four albums. No deviation at all from the norm and it kinda pisses me off.

Or maybe I'm jumping too far to conclusions when saying the production sucks. Maybe this is just the pre-production version and the final version will sound better.

Should I call this a callback or regression? I don't know, but I do know that this song is killer. It would fit snugly in the track list of their first album. It's amazing, heavy, and fantastic nu-metal that deserves it's spot as one of the best nu-metal singles of 2014. If you're a fan of this band, you'd better be eating this shit up. If not and you despise the band and nu-metal in general, you'd best stay away from this because you'll hate it.

So...that's it. I'm hyped for the new album! Bring it on!


OVERALL: 9 demon horns out of 10

Pros
Classic Slipknot sound
Strong vocals
Turntables and samples applied well
Tons of energy

Cons
Thin production
Drumming is crap

I have not heard the new tune, I do like Slipknot but not one of my favorite bands, but I do enjoy their music from time to time.

Nicely written review and never worries what others think like what you like. Life is too short to worry about others opinions on any subject, especially music.

Thanks, man. Appreciate the advice. You know how metal fans are. Very fickle about what's acceptable to listen to and what's not.

A friend from another forum has been trying to get me to listen to some Knot...

Might have to look into them a bit further. Youtube will be my friend   

Slipknot is amazing. Vol 3 was a truly great, monumental album. The hate is undeserved. I'll have to check out the new song.

Never really given much airtime to Slipknot. This review could convince me to change that.

Great write-up!

I don't hate them - I have listened to a couple of their albums and seen the Download clip from last year - looks like they put on a good live show. Just not a huge fan - not something I can listen to all the time.... Plus, I'm not a huge fan of Drop B/Drop A tuning - a bit too low for my tastes..... Interesting and different but nothing I would ever want to play....

My old roommate was a fan and tried to convert me. Not really my cup of tea. The new tune doesn't change that opinion.

IcyGrave, you like 'em? Have at it, man. Life's too short to care what other's think of your music choices.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

IcyGrave, you like 'em? Have at it, man. Life's too short to care what other's think of your music choices.

Yep, this

thejokeriv wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

IcyGrave, you like 'em? Have at it, man. Life's too short to care what other's think of your music choices.

Yep, this

Agreed. Heck, you should see the random stuff I have on my iPod.  

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

IcyGrave, you like 'em? Have at it, man. Life's too short to care what other's think of your music choices.

Yep, this

Agreed. Heck, you should see the random stuff I have on my iPod.  

I can't imagine some of the other stuff you guys have on your MP3s and iPods. I'd love to have a music blog with some of you guys just to share individual music tastes outside of metal. Would be so cool!

So glad to know there's people out there with class. ^^

Quote :

I'd love to have a music blog with some of you guys just to share individual music tastes outside of metal.

Despite the troo kvlt name of the board itself, I'd say we do a pretty good job of sharing individual tastes outside of metal already. Your mileage may vary.   

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Quote :

I'd love to have a music blog with some of you guys just to share individual music tastes outside of metal.

Despite the troo kvlt name of the board itself, I'd say we do a pretty good job of sharing individual tastes outside of metal already. Your mileage may vary.   

Pretty much. Looks like I've found me a pretty awesome community here. But then again, I should have guessed that by my post count. I've been here for a little while now.   

Anyway, there's some pressing matters to attend to.

Another update on the whole Slipknot thing. If anyone wants to click on the link above, you'll find now that Slipknot posted the music video that goes along with that song. If you were curious about what all those freaky-ass teasers were about, now you know.



Quite frankly, Slipknot have always been about image. They've been big on that since day one. They're mysterious, cryptic, and very misty. They leave taboo messages all the time in regards to album releases, much like bands like Red, Marilyn Manson, and Nine Inch Nails do, in hopes that their fans will decode the message and get something special out of it. These guys do that really well, having built their career off of cryptic messages and treasure hunts with little hints dropping every once in a while until the riddle is complete. It can be frustrating, but its worth it in the end.

I'll keep this brief. Here we have the new music video for the new song. And how is it? Well...I'll let you decide.

I personally will find myself watching it over and over again. I think it's because Slipknot, few and far between, especially early on in their infancy as a band, had lots of live footage at festivals of the band performing for their music videos and not very many on-hand music videos with the recorded music and a set in the background with the band members. Their later material saw them shifting away from that, which I was happy for. Now we have this, which has utterly no band footage whatsoever, but a creepy girl and a goat head.

It's nothing inherently new, but it's definitely them taking their creepy sound and sonically transmitting it into video. They want the very unnerving nature of their music to be very brought out in their video content and, to be honest, it's effective. It's not gross or offensive pr disgusting in any way, shape, oo form (by the way, her nipples are censored, I should note), but there's some parts where you might cringe a little or ask, "What the hell is going on right now?"

Overall, the video isn't bad and fits well for the music. I like it.

I'll be keeping my eyes (and ears) open for any further announcements from the band and their label in regards to the new album.

More news regarding Slipknot!

I guess this is where I'll be posting all Slipknot related news up until the release of the new album, huh?

This announcement was actually dropped the same day of the video premiere of "The Negative One" by Slipknot and reported by Blabbermouth that this song was merely an appetizer to what was really going to go down.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/slipknot-to-film-video-for-new-single-the-devil-in-i/

According to the band, "The Negative One" was not pressed to be the main single from the upcoming album. Instead, the newest single is called "The Devil in I." Along with the single artwork and the new album confirmed for release in October, Slipknot has been working fast lately, sparing no expense to not only tease their fans, but to get their new album out the door as quickly as possible since it was announced. Also, another announcement that broke on Sunday also via Blabbermouth is that Slipknot is looking for "maggots" to be in the video shoot for the single. I would participate, but just recently moving and having to find another job has made it kinda hard to buy round-trip tickets to LA.

I can't get past the vocals of Slipknot.  I'm not a fan of screaming/shouting/growling/non-melodic vocals; all of which I think apply to Slipknot.

However, I will say I liked the one-off album "To My Surprise" by drummer Shawn Crahan, mainly because it sounds nothing like Slipknot.    

But as others have said, enjoy what you enjoy; who gives a rat's ass what anyone else thinks anyway.

I will. I will, indeed.

I dig some Slipknot.Esp. Vol III. Before I Forget is a killer song.Ill check this new one out.Great write up Icy Grave.

I've been listening to "The Negative One" like crazy. Every time I hear it, I just get more and more pumped for the album to drop.

Oh, boy! The single is finally here! Was posted on YouTube yesterday!

I'll just post it here. I'll post a review in here another time rather than make a whole 'nother thread about it.



Oh, and some more news. The album title, artwork, and official release date was revealed, as well. Here's the album cover, the release date is October 21, and the title is .5: The Gray Chapter. The Special Edition of the album, presumably for those who decide to pre-order, will come with two bonus tracks titled "Override" and "The Burden." Who knows when the music video will be done, but I'll post that up here, too, when that comes available.

Welp, here it is, the music video to their official first single, "The Devil in I." It's definitely more graphic than anything they've done up until this point. Oh, and by the way, Corey's mask is pretty sub par in comparison to his band mates.

Slipknot definitely has a unique sound and they've done really well - they just sound way too Hot Topic to me.