While many bands radically change their sound in a desperate attempt at regaining popularity, Slipknot mostly sticks to its roots with its final album.

Slipknot’s latest release, album The End, So Far, proves that not all bands downgrade through time. As the title suggests, the album is Slipknot’s last album to be released through Roadrunner Records, which the band has been signed to since 1998. 

Compared to the band’s earlier work, The End, So Far is able to maintain the classic Slipknot sound and structure. However, it also offers a new, more polished type of sound, and has less of the distorted audio sound found in the band’s earlier work. 

The distinction from earlier works isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are definitely more smooth vocals than most fans are used to, and frontman Corey Taylor’s voice has not faltered from aging. 

The album is definitely less hardcore than some earlier works, like their well-known album Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses, but it still puts forward incredible instrumentals, especially with guitars, drums, bass, and synths, which is nothing new from the band. 

Songs “Yen” and “Medicine for the Dead” definitely exhibit Taylor’s potential as a vocalist and portray the thoughtfulness of the songs written for this album. While the album does have an incredible sound, the most impressive aspect is the attentiveness put into this album. 

Some songs on the album, unfortunately, fall victim to modern-day cliches and overdone topics regarding social media, which shows especially through the lyric “When everything is God online, nothing is,” from the song “The Chapeltown Rag.”

While this is a respectable take on the internet and media, it’s starting to become very common in the alternative scene, and Slipknot’s lyrical abilities definitely could have spanned to more metaphorical statements. 

All in all, with minor flaws aside, Slipknot has had roughly three years to create this era-ending album, and they definitely did not disappoint.