Lurker > Seanchan

I'm still trying to figure out my thoughts on The Subliminal Verses. I can tell you, I've listened to more Slipknot in the last 2 days than I have in the past 10 years trying to do that.

I was a pretty big on Slipknot back in the day, so this is not my first time experiencing their music.

Their first album has got a lot of catchy songs for being so heavy...at least in the first half of it. There's an almost thrash quality to some of it and lyrically it sometimes feels like you can hear some hip-hop influences. I don't think I was ever a big fan of Iowa. I certainly listened to it a lot and wanted to like it but that doesn't mean much.

My big issue with these two albums today is that there's some seriously awful lyrics and themes. Stuff like Surfacing, Spit It Out, and People=Shit are frankly embarrassing to listen to as a grown ass man. Then you've got something like Get This, a sophomoric song that's awful because it feels so self serious. I'll say that blink-182 suffers from the same thing too at times, but their pop-punk tone does it with a wink and nod.

I think I was a little put off at first by Volume 3 back in the day. There's a distinct shift musically from their first two albums. For one, it's a clean record, which is a nice change that you might not notice at first. Then you've got the softer, going into acoustic, tone on a bunch of songs, which is a radical shift. I know the singer did some side work on Stone Sour in between the 2nd and 3rd albums and maybe it was bringing in some of those elements.

I did listen to All Hope is Gone too but it's my last one before I got off the Slipknot train and I don't have any strong memories of it.

As I've said in past weeks (Toxicity, Hybrid Theory), I'm not a big fan of this style of music anymore. With that said, I can see why I liked them back then. Slipknot has a heavy, aggressive sound that still manages to be pretty melodic. And the singing really meshes well with that sound.

Two listens in this week and Subliminal Verses has grown on me a bit again. I'm not sure how much of that is just playing into my nostalgia. It benefits though from those slower, acoustic songs and the less "growl-y" bits, which make it more accessible and a less exhausting album to listen through. When I think about "iconic" Slipknot, I of course go to those first 5-6 songs on their self titled debut. But this is likely their best album from a modern context.

Fox

FoolFantastic posted...

Nearly a year ago, Seanchan and I both almost submitted virtually the same week back to back with Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware as the main features. Even if you have not heard of Jessie Ware, if you like any of the modern pop records we've tackled like Jubilee or Future Nostalgia, I highly recommend voting for it. It's one of those rare pop albums where it truly feels like every song could have been a single.

You have no idea (well Fool does) how disappointed I am by these initial poll results. Whats Your Pleasure is such a cut above the other two.

I had a feeling Kylie could be the spoiler because of name recognition factor. But I have to give honest nominations, so it is what it is.

Banjo

KCF0107 posted...

I have greatly enjoyed every Paper Mario game, and this is no different. I'm close to finishing the third chapter/releasing the yellow streamer

Its a better game than Color Splash (the Wii U one) but that doesnt mean much. That was one of the few Nintendo games I gave up on. I just really hated the battles.

Origami Kings battle system was neat at first but didnt have much long term interest outside of the boss battles.

Give me the M&L games any day.

KCF0107 posted...

I tried both Hellblade and Cthulhu in the past but didn't stick with them, but I downloaded them again in case I want to give them another whirl. I'm obviously not going to rush through Xenoblade, but I should start it this month after I finish Paper Mario: The Origami King.

Origami King isnt great Also I remember it feeling interminably long.

KCF0107 posted...

I will nominate Wolfenstein: The New Order this time

I just played that for the first time a few months back. Sometimes annoying but generally still a lot of stupid fun.

New Colossus is still on the backlog