The End, So Far is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot. It was released on September 30, 2022, through Roadrunner Records. The album is the band's first to feature percussionist Michael Pfaff, who joined the band in 2019, and is the band's final album to be released through Roadrunner, whom the band signed with in 1998.[4][5]

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The End, So Far
Studio album by Slipknot
Released	September 30, 2022
Recorded	2021
Studio	Various Henson Studios (Hollywood, California), JHOC Studios (Pasadena, California), Hideout Studios (Henderson, Nevada)
Genre	Nu metal[1] heavy metal[2][1] alternative metal[3] groove metal[3]
Length	57:31
Label	Roadrunner
Producer	Slipknot Joe Barresi
Slipknot chronology
We Are Not Your Kind (2019) The End, So Far (2022)
Singles from The End, So Far
"The Chapeltown Rag" Released: November 5, 2021 "The Dying Song (Time to Sing)" Released: July 19, 2022 "Yen" Released: August 5, 2022

Background

On May 19, 2021, band member Shawn Crahan stated that the band had been currently making "god music".[6] In an article published by Loudwire on June 9, 2021, Crahan revealed that a new Slipknot album would 'hopefully' be released in 2021.[7] He also added that the band would be parting ways with Roadrunner Records following the release of the album.[7]

In November 2021, the band started teasing new material on a new domain thechapeltownrag.com.[8] Several snippets of a song were shown on the website leading to speculation of a new single that the band would later confirm on November 4, with the single titled "The Chapeltown Rag" slated for release the following day alongside its live debut at the Knotfest Roadshow in Los Angeles, California on November 5, 2021.[9] In December 2021, Taylor revealed that the band were planning on mixing their seventh studio album in January, and hoped to release it by April 2022.[10] He also stated that he preferred the material on their forthcoming seventh studio album to that on We Are Not Your Kind.[10]

In February 2022, lead singer Corey Taylor announced in an interview with Eddie Trunk that the recording of the album had finished, and that it was in the process of being mixed. He described the record as a "heavier version" of their 2004 album Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses.[11]

On July 19, 2022, the band announced the album along with the album's second single "The Dying Song (Time to Sing)".[12][13] On August 5, 2022, the band released the third single, "Yen".[14] The full album was released on September 30, 2022.[12][13][14]

On August 22, 2022, the band announced that there would be nine special editions of the album to be released, each featuring a picture of one of the band members on the cover.[15]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100[16]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Arts Desk	[17]
Blabbermouth.net	8.5/10[18]
Clash	8/10[2]
Exclaim!	7/10[19]
Kerrang!	[20]
Metal Hammer	[21]
NME	[22]

The End, So Far was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81, based on 7 reviews.

Luke Morton of Kerrang! commented that The End, So Far was more of an album "rather than a selection of songs". He welcomed the new direction the band had taken with tracks such as the opening track "Adderall", a "six-minute, synth-driven track - with all clean singing", while still noting that the album retained Slipknot's trademarked heaviness, with "primal screams, blastbeats, and more scratching wizardry from Sid Wilson than we’ve heard in a long time".[20]

Andrew Trendell of NME gave the album four stars out of five, comparing the band's new direction to David Bowie, Tool and Stone Temple Pilots, while also noting that heavier tracks like "Hivemind" and "Heirloom" would provide comfort for "Slipknot fans of old".[22]

Blabbermouth.net, too, noted the band's new musical style, highlighting that, while singles such as "The Dying Song" and "The Chapeltown Rag" provided "skull-rattling heaviness and ululating waves of deathly riffing," tracks such as "Adderall" and "Medicine for the Dead" showed the band's, and in particular vocalist Taylor's, versatility and evolution.[18]

Thomas H Green's review for The Arts Desk was more mixed, however. While praising songs such as "Medicine for the Dead" and "Acidic" and "the rampaging metal of ‘Warranty’ and ‘H377’", he criticized the album’s lyrical themes as "the usual sixth form horror-obsessed repulsion".[17]

Track listing

Notes

• On first pressing vinyl versions, track 2 is titled "Dying Song" and track 5 is titled "Hivemind".

Personnel

Credits retrieved from album's liner notes.[23]

References

На других языках

[ru] The End, So Far