Slipknot
We Are Not Your Kind

Expecting that a band held together with spit and solely for profit can still produce interesting products is at least optimistic. It's no secret: the Slipknot juggernaut has been falling apart for over a decade. The metallic cauldron they originate from has been practically dead for nearly twice that time. What better occasion to reiterate this than by packaging a few middle school-level riffs, punctuated by the dear old double bass and topped off with an endless guttural scream? And well, to not alienate the sympathies of thirteen-year-olds, a good sample of tear-jerking melodies is needed: the same ones since 2002, but there you have it.

Was it reasonable to expect something different from the fanatic reiteration of the aforementioned formula, perfectly embodied in the singles “Unsainted” and “Solway Firth”? Probably not, but neither was a blatant rehashing of their repertoire like “Birth of the Cruel” (the recycled track, in case anyone wonders, is “Gently”). The chorus of “Nero Forte” even recalls the theme song of one of the Sailor Moon series. I'm not kidding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJwG4Pgs9Bo, compare to believe it.

To be fair, the nine costume-clad brutes do try to do something new (for them). “Spiders” embraces solutions familiar to fans of the Bristol sound but is just a glimpse of intuition in a plethora of programmatic choices. “My Pain” attempts the route of atmospheric instrumental but suffers from excessive length and an unfortunate choice regarding its placement in the tracklist. The calm-fury alternation of “Not Long For This World”, though well-conceived, comes too late to rescue the album from the label of "immense flop."

With “We Are Not Your Kind”, the group loses yet another good opportunity to store their masks in the attic and opt for less embarrassing choices given their age. Some people still like it this way, but guess what? I don't.