On August 20, 2008, "Slipknot's" fourth album "All Hope Is Gone" was released
The band's fourth album is so eclectic and created in such a hostile and difficult atmosphere that we cannot help but also make an eclectic review, so right now listen to the album on the link below and start reading...
In 2008 the band members met in their hometown, and after 3 years they did not see each other, to record the album which on the one hand would be the band's most successful album, but on the other hand, would mark the end of the core that formed Slipknot. Unlike previous albums, the creation of this album belonged to all nine members of the band together. This is the first time they have sat down to write and process the songs together. But working together was accompanied by a great deal of aggression, quarrels, friction, and madness.
It seems that in this album "Slipknot" takes parts of its previous albums and combines them with new elements. The opening song "Gematria (The Killing Name)" and "All Hope Is Gone" are crueler than we knew from the band before but are a bit reminiscent of the first album, "Gehenna" which is a bit reminiscent of the second album, "Dead Memories" and "Snuff" bring tragic and exciting moments. Listening to the album you often find yourself wondering where you are. Are you on the same album or did the player jump somewhere else? There is not so much flow or connection between the songs, they just throw you from place to place, and sometimes it even hurts. We think that is why there are a very small number of songs from the album that are remembered or known and there are a lot of songs that no one seems to have heard of.
All the band members claimed it was their least favorite album, except for one guy: Joey Jordison!
Joey claimed it was exactly the album he wanted to create with "Slipknot", just the way he wanted it to sound and the result was his favorite. He may have been right because it was the band's first album to reach number one, until two years ago when "We Are Not Your Kind" also took first place. No wonder he felt this was exactly what he wanted because after everyone intervened with each other on how to play, how to sing, how to produce, and how to process... In the drum recordings, Joey locked himself in the room and recorded all the drum tracks on his own !! Clown said it was so frustrating and so offensive that everyone was on one side of the studio and Joey in another room locked up without anyone coming in. He said he wanted to blow up the door with his shotgun but he was afraid it would hurt someone.
The lack of musical uniformity in this album... could it be that this was actually the reason Joey was fired?
It's not easy to get nine people into the studio and get them to record an album, Jim Root said that's why he was disappointed with the album's producer Dave Fortman because he just could not get everyone to work together. From the beginning, some of the members came with an emotional charge because they were not given the opportunity to influence the previous albums. It's no secret that Clown, Corey Taylor, and Joey are at the forefront of the band's work. So with all the emotional baggage, the lack of direction on where this album is going, the frictions, and the internal politics... from here it just got worse throughout the creation of the album. Add to that the fact that Clown lost his dad and Corey went through a divorce and Joey locks himself in the room...
Kindergarten party... this is it!
They all claim that this is basically what made the album what it is, you can feel the cracks opening up, feel the tension, feel the frustration and emotional charge. The hostile conditions are what gave this album its aggression, its cruelty, and its eclecticism. From the opening song "Gematria" through the anthems "Psychosocial" and "This Cold Black" and the twisted song "Wherein Lies Continue" all are moments that make this record what it is. You range from melodies and moving lyrics to relentless bursts of energy accompanied by lyrics that make you depressed.
But this is no surprise, in retrospect, this is basically the whole essence of the band.
We owe a few words to the most exciting song on the album that won a chilling acoustic version at Corey's acoustic solo performances and is the song "Snuff". It is very unusual in the atmosphere of the record, a ballad that has not been performed so far by "Slipknot" and is from start to finish a moving experience. The heavy bitterness that begins in the song, passes to heartbreak, and ends with a romantic release that is an epic story!
As we mentioned at the beginning, this album also marked the dismantling of the core that formed the band. "Slipknot" was formed by Clown, Joey and Paul Gray somewhere in 1995. About two years after this album was released, Paul died of a morphine overdose, and his death severely affected the band members, especially Clown and Corey. They did not know what would happen with the band's future and felt impossible to continue without him (somewhat reminiscent of Cliff Burton's story.) The day after his death, the rest of the band held a press conference with Paul's widow without the masks, a one-time event that never happened.
About five years after the album's release, the band members officially announced that Joey had left the band. There are many rumors about the separation process and the reasons for the dismissals but it is known that Joey was suffering from a serious muscle disease as a result of which he could not keep up with the music. And another thing is known, that following this album there were very difficult disagreements about the musical direction between Joey and the rest of the band members.
Aside from first place in the sales chart and Grammy nominations, this album brought "Slipknot" to the pinnacle of live shows at the time. In 2009, the band embarked on a world tour to promote the album, a tour defined by Joey as Mayhem !! From the very first show that took place in Seattle, the band members realized that this was going to be a tour from one of the greatest they knew, by the way, in this show Sid broke both of his legs when he jumped from a height of 4m during the show. For the first in a long time, they were excited and stressed by the show. Clown said they filled themselves with hatred and aggression so they could deal with the power and transmit the energies "Slipknot" wanted to transmit to the crowd. Indeed in June 2009, the peak of the tour took place, "Slipknot" for the first time in its career was the main headliner at the "Download" festival !! Corey cried inside the mask at the end of the show looking at his bandmates and knowing they did an amazing job, he felt they appreciate each other more (even if it was only for one moment).
Since then, "Slipknot" has been the headliner festival for three times (2013, 2015, and 2019).
By the way, it was during this tour that the band was supposed to visit us in Israel but the show was canceled !! Hopefully, someday it will come...
And we will finish with a quote from Clown on the album:
“I don’t have bad memories, I don’t have any regrets, I’m not mad at anyone, it’s just what a family does. A family fights. A family throws punches. A family bleeds, a family doesn’t talk, a family locks doors. That’s what we are, and that was my family’s last album”.
Listen to the album on: Spotify, Apple Music