The Gray Chapter is Slipknot's first album in a changed line, ie without the late bassist Paul Gray and drummer Joey Jordison without the fired. It is nevertheless a real Slipknot album become: the focused chaos and ebullient aggression of the first two albums are back, "Sarcastrophe", "Lech", "Custer" and "The Negative One" Screw the listener, sometimes by means of blast beats, was maintained from the head and are significantly more violent than the band on the two previous albums Blazed. Nevertheless, these pieces are often kept very catchy. The melodic and sometimes reminiscent of Stone Sour moments but there are also enough, about the otherwise also very hard "AOV", the single "The Devil in I" that lives from its contrast between quiet verses and hard groovy chorus, and the excellent "Nomadic", which is strongly reminiscent of "My Plague" of "Iowa". Is experimenting, such as "Killpop", varied trip of electronic beats, brutality and atmospheric chorus or the dark intro song "XIX". Lyrically will match the title desöfteren Paul Gray homage, about the refined built "Goodbye" and the driving catchy "Skeptic": "The world will never know another man as amazing as you." The slow "If Rain is what you want," closes the album from worthy then followed by two good bonus tracks, so that you end up of 75 minutes at a CD-busting Time. Yes, strong as an ox, that's all, and I would be inclined from the perfect album to speak, were it not for the drum sound and the production in general. That sounds strange often sterile, the mix is often too focused on vocals and Drums and thus falls but audibly against the manufacturing miracle "All Hope Is Gone" from. But at last we hear again the percussionist and turntables, so that one wonders no longer what actually the nine band members are needed. These acts Corey Taylor as in the form of his life and draws the whole range of dark emotions ... Overall, therefore, an absolutely decent, bold comeback that will crash into many leaderboards of the year. (9/10)
