Saturday: Slipknot - AOV

     Were you, like me, pleasantly surprised with how good Slipknot's last record was? After the mixed bag that was All Hope is Gone, I didn't know what to expect from .5: The Gray Chapter. I certainly didn't expect the level of kick-ass that I got.

     Slipknot has always been a volatile set of relationships, something that only seems to have gotten more and more true as the years and albums have piled up. With a couple of the original nine now gone, perhaps the most important of which being bassist Paul Gray, it's hard to know how much gas Slipknot have left in their collective tank. Factor in the time Slipknot traditionally takes between albums, and it would seem that their alums may well be numbered.

     So let's celebrate the return to form the band accomplished with .5: The Gray Chapter by jamming heavy rager "AOV" at a decent volume, OK?

Last Wednesday: Slipknot - Vendetta

     Another day, another couple of much belated songs. For your Wednesday Christmas Eve, you're getting some bread-and-butter straight-up heavy. Hope you don't already have it.

     "Vendetta" from 2008's All Hope is Gone (is that record really six years old already?) is, in my opinion, one of Slipknot's best heavy songs in years. If 2004's Vol. 3 showed Slipknot's diversity and ability to come up with some less abrasive material, All Hope is Gone reminded everybody that the band was still a metal band somewhere inside, and tracks like "Vendetta" are the reason why.

     The blast-beating, trem-picking opening along is reason enough to check this track, but the masked marauders will keep you around with a thrashy-sounding verse riff and a slow, grinding breakdown-turned-outro. Slipknot's latest offering might not be your cup of tea (I'm not especially stoked on it) but this one should serve as proof that Iowa wasn't the band's last really good heavy outing.

Saturday's Song: Slipknot - Snuff

     Yes, I know I'm a few hours late with Saturday's song. I'll blame the weather, because the wintery blast we're currently in the midst of receiving has a great deal to do with my getting posts posted on time. Or not.

     Anyways, by now the well-informed among you may already have heard that Slipknot has parted ways with drummer Joey Jordison (or maybe it's the other way around), so today (or yesterday, now) we're going with a Slipknot song to commemorate the final nail in the coffin of Slipknot as we knew it. First Paul Gray's death in 2010 and now the loss of Joey add up to what will be a very different band on their next record.

     So as a kind of ceremonial chalice-raising to the end of the beast that was, your song for Saturday is "Snuff" from 2008's All Hope is Gone. It might be a little too Stone Sour for some Slipknot fans, but it's a cool song, and a good one too.

Song of the Day: Slipknot - All Hope is Gone

     Yeah, I know, I'm late. Let me explain though. We were at a social gathering this evening for the birthday of one of my colleagues, and we've only just arrive back at our domicile. Posh enough for you? Good.  Oh, and there's also this thing called Sim City that's nibbling at my time too. But enough excuses. Time for metal!