Thoughts On: Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind

” i’m counting all the killERRRRRSSSSSS “

Slipknot has always struggled on an album basis in my opinion. Every Slipknot album’s track listing is at least fifty percent duds, with their more recent offerings being closer to the seventy and eighty percentile. So, for that reason, We Are Not Your Kind is arguably Slipknot’s best album, because the album as a complete work of art is the most listenable from beginning to end in their discography. Not surprisingly however, none of these songs are able to capture what makes some of the bangers off of their first two albums so good, which is the raw, adrenaline-infused anger at the world that would obviously be lossed once you’ve transitioned into a life of fame and luxury. I’m not blaming the members of Slipknot for being successful, but I am saying that Slipknot will never be as good as they once were because the key factor to their music has become so diluted. The anger doesn’t feel genuine, but processed, because it lacks any direction or focus.

This point can be illustrated through example. Take one of the best songs off of WANYK, “Nero Forte” and one of the best songs off of Iowa, “People = Shit”. “Nero Forte” is musically a much better song than “People = Shit”, but the latter is such a powerful cathartic release of emotion that it impacts me much deeper on a personal level. Iowa, and this song specifically, is the most pissed off sounding music I’ve ever heard. WANYK sounds like a group of guys got together and made some extremely musically sound metal toons. That’s why I think this album is good, because the songs are well composed and performed incredibly, but it’s just a shame that Slipknot didn’t have the writing capability they have now twenty years ago. That’s an unfair request of course, but if that were the case the album they could’ve produced would’ve been legendary.

Slipknot has always had a level of cheese to them, both in their music and presentation, and that’s the second factor as to what I think holds this album back. Little cringe moments are peppered throughout this entire thing. It started with the first stand alone single the band released titled “All Out Life” when they decided to put this anarchy protest-esque speech that really sucks ass in the middle of an otherwise awesome song. Then the band released the first single off of the new album “Unsainted” which has a really cringey clean chorus, especially when Corey first comes in. “AAAAOOOoooooowwwww I’ll never kill myself to save my soul-ol-ollll”. They followed that up with the next single “Solway Firth” which instrumentally starts very nicely, but is ruined when Corey delivers this English hymn or something in such a strange way, almost with a southern accent, which makes no sense and doesn’t work at all. The album is dotted with moments like these and they need to be gutted.

Lyrically, the album also fails to capture me. Corey’s penmanship has never been fabulous, but here it feels particularly uninspired. Most songs are written in the first person as Corey rants to something in the second person, that most often being his own past depression. But like I said before, none of the anger really feels warranted because I think at this point Corey has already successfully worked through his past demons, but he needs to sound pissed off in the moment because this is a Slipknot record. Arguably my favorite Slipknot song is “Gently”, the lyrics actually being a poem Clown had written, not Corey. I wonder what would happen if Clown was given some more opportunity to produce so more poetry.

Despite all the punches I just threw at the band, I do enjoy this album quite a bit and I think this really is the best Slipknot is able to offer right now. WANYK marries the old with the new well. It takes some risks which pan out to sonically improve and advance Slipknot’s sound while still keeping the classic Slipknot style intact. The low tuned guitar tones mixed with impressive drumming is always a win in my book, and they sound the best they’ve ever sounded here. Thank the mixing and mastering folks! Phenomenal contributions and performances, especially from Corey Taylor, who vocally sounds the best since Iowa. I do think the album suffers, as many albums do, from a decline in quality during the third quarter of the record, but there are a lot of strong moments and certainly a handful of bangers I will be adding to my playlist. Quite frankly, I’m glad this album was released.