Album of the Decade - All Hope is Gone

Slipknot is one of my all-time favorite bands, in fact for a good while was my all-time favorite, and All Hope Is Gone proves to be their best work yet. Proving to be even heavier and more experimental than their previously released Volume 3: The Subliminal Verses, everything just worked. Even the increase of sung vocals, which most consider to make the album too much like Stone Sour.

The album starts off with a bang with the incredibly beast Execute/Gematria (The Killing Name). I am completely in awe of Gematria. It's pure aggression, treating the listener to anger and politically-charged lyrics. And all this is accompanied by some of the best breakdowns that I have had the pleasure of hearing. Sulfur follows, infusing more melody but still maintaining the momentum that Gematria established. Then comes Psychosocial. The beat provided by the custom percussion encourages plenty of headbanging, and the breakdowns are absolutely fantastic (seeing the entire band yell "The limits of the dead!" amidst a din of custom percussion). Jumping ahead to Butcher's Hook, through inspiration of Meshuggah Slipknot takes a shot at polyrhythm and despite the haters it works fantastically well. This is followed up by Gehenna, perhaps Slipknot's most experimental track to date. Giving a spooky vibe with some excellently utilized samples and custom percussion to accompany the slower pace, it is what you would fully expect out of Slipknot while also something new. Following this is what has to be the second heaviest track on the album, This Cold Black. Not as notable or impactful as Gematria, but still notable nonetheless. Then jumping forward to the final track of the album, the title track, "All Hope Is Gone". The lyrics here, just as Gematria, are politically-charged and accompany some pretty amazing instrumentals.

There is nothing about the album that I can find fault with. Sure maybe thats the fan-boy in me talking, but as I stated earlier, everything just works.