The masked entertainers hit the world again with their second full length (or third, if you count their self-released... thing) Now when I went to the record store to buy this, I got home and then went straight back to the store because some funny head switched my Iowa cd with a 'Christmas on Deathrow' Hip Hop CD. Anyway, the cover is in shiny silver exposing their - Infamous by now, I assume - 'Goat' and what title would be better than a homage to their home state. Iowa.
Basically, they use the same formula that they used on 'Slipknot' only they tried to take it further. They try to disgust their fans and by doing so gaining their interest. Dead animals and mathematical figures in the booklet, it can only look interesting for a teenager.
However they didn't experiment a lot on this album, you can find a lot of similarities between this and 'Slipknot'. Both albums start with insensible intros that have been titled with a number and both end with very long and slowly building songs (Scissors --> Iowa). Both albums have the fast 'Rap Metal' tune (Spit it Out --> I am Hated). Other songs are also very comparable (Eyeless and Disasterpiece, Wait and Bleed and My Plague, (Sic) and People = S
hit...) and they even bear the same number in many cases. As it was almost a remake of the last album, this was very easy to consume for the fans.
Starting off with an intro that is just a bunch of screaming and sounds, it represents perfectly what some people think of this album (Namely a bunch of screaming and sounds). However, I rate it higher than that. It has some flaws though, there's no denying that. After the intro we get to hear a song that shows what the lyrical content is all about on this album. People = S
hit. Misanthropic, suicidal and 'Heretic' to an extent that can get tiring after a while. Not that the lyrics are badly written, but the topics are sometimes chosen unfortunately.
'I want to slit your throat and fuck the wound' is a line that gets quoted repeatedly to prove how much Slipknot sucks, this is not justified, however, as the rest of the lyrics don't fit that image for the most part.
Then the other problem that people have with Slipknot : The 9 Members.
I think they could've probably made this with 5 members. Samples, DJ and Custom Percussion, they can be a nice bonus in some songs, but they are not very prominent and are barely audible at times. But they're in the band and it doesn't exactly bother me, it can only make it better. As for the other, 'more useful' members, they perform decently. Joey is probably the most respected member in Slipknot, and his drumming is solid, nothing too amazing, but it's good. The guitars are downtuned to the point where you could probably use the lower string as a strap to carry your guitar. Personally, I don't really like the tone all that much and the riffs are mostly quite simplistic, but it works. Here and there we do get a good riff though, Left behind has a really catchy intro and it's probably the best song on the album, with the changing of corey's vocals from screaming to singing. As for the bass, eh, I didn't really hear a lot of bass...
Overall, we can say that the purpose of this album is to be heavy, yet catchy. They somewhat succeeded due to Joey's drumming, Corey's screaming and the downtuned guitars combined with Corey's clean singing and the mostly simple but catchy riffs. It's a pity that they tried to make this cd 'evil' and depressing. Because listening to it, it just doesn't strike me as if they genuinely mean it.
But if you manage to put that element aside, this is an enjoyable album, the songwriting is decent and I'd recommend it to any nu-metal fan. 3.5/5
