The American heavy metal band Slipknot have returned with their seventh studio album ’The End, So Far’ and it is a bit hard to fully explain this album, or maybe it is too easy.

Throughout their career, Slipknot has got this one standard sound, a sort of merge between heavy metal, nu metal and groove metal identified with heavy almost Pantera like riffs, screaming and melodic vocals, rapping, hip hop grooves, turntables while the trademark of their appearance has always been their creepy masks.

During the last few years, Slipknot have changed a bit, though the sound is undoubtedly still “Slipknot”, there has been an attempt to sonically redefine themselves which results in a Slipknot album that creates your typical Slipknot songs with a bit more of an experimental nature.

This LP marks the band’s last album on Roadrunner Records, the label that has housed them since their earliest days, when they first produced their self-titled debut album in 1999 which totally changed the 90s metal scene and was heavily influential in the development of the early 2000s metal scene.

There is a good texture, flair, atmosphere and production here which combined with some of the riffs here, showcase a level of maturity in Slipknot’s songwriting. In short words, the album’s success lies in its restraint and understanding of when to start and stop.

On ‘The End, So Far,’ Slipknot is successfully able find a balance between the controlled more experimental side they showcased on their previous ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ and the utter heaviness and savagery they have been relentlessly unleashing ever since their inception.

But despite its more eclectic nature, ‘The End, So Far’ suffers from the same problem that has been plaguing Slipknot for a while now. The riffs are good but somehow feel recycled, the drumming is tight and the grooves are good, but nothing special overall.

While there are some new elements here such as alternative rock ballads, hard rock structures and even industrial grooves, this album as a whole follows the exact same template that Slipknot has been following for the past decade, making it somewhat dull, predictable and boring.

Score: 6.5/10