Slipknot
.5: The Gray Chapter
MP3 | CD | Vinyl
Roadrunner Records
Release Date: October 21, 2014

These past six years have been a rocky ride for both Slipknot and their fans. When the band released their last record, All Hope Is Gone, in 2008, it was met with mixed reactions. Many of the band’s long-time fans felt the album ventured a bit too far into Stone Sour territory — That’s the other band that singer Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root were in: a band that specializes in more lighter, radio-friendly, hard rock fare. Many of the tracks from All Hope Is Gone would not sound out of place on a Stone Sour record. On the other hand, the album was a huge success and garnered Slipknot hordes of new fans and saw them continuing to be a massive concert draw throughout the album’s tour cycle.

Slipknot has released the third advanced track from their highly anticipated new album, .5: The Gray Chapter. The track is called “Custer” and whereas the first two tracks sounded like a cross between the band’s second album Iowa and their third Volume 3: The Subliminal Verses, this new track harkens back to the raw brutality of their self-titled debut.

Listen to “Custer” here below.

The New York Times released an online hodgepodge of musicians we lost during 2010, and have omitted three major losses during the year that should anger metalheads across the Earth. In their year review, the Times has snubbed Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Dio), Peter Steele (Type O Negative), and Paul Gray (Slipknot).

You can view the New York Times montage over at their site if you can be bothered. I’m not embedding it here, because for my part, I’m disgusted they’ve overlooked three significant musicians — presumably just because they’re from the metal genre. The grounds upon which I make this assumption are that there is no metal whatsoever in their “tribute.” Rock, Soul, Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, Post-Punk are all included in the company of Funk, Disco, and others. Metal (and related genres) are nowhere to be seen.