You're the sin that I've been waiting for, Slipknot.

Slipknot released their new album, “The End, So Far”, on September 30th of this year, and people have mixed feelings about it. I like it. Yes, it’s not my favourite, but I don’t hate it either. It did take me a couple of listens to let it grow on me. Maybe because I love their tracks in Subliminal Verses and Iowa, I feel The End So Far is not aggressive enough. It's hard and heavy, of course, but I really miss that raw, uncontained, quasi-violent, rage-filled aggression in their music!

(And another side of the story is that before listening to The End So Far, I was listening to Unsainted and Vermillion on repeat, so it could have also made it a little difficult for me to go “woooow” in the first listen. But I did go “wooow” by the second or third listen, so yay!)

But then, with this album, Slipknot proved the band’s sheer brilliance in experimentation and versatility while stretching their creative potency beyond its limits (if any). Each song is unique, and the whole album, in my view, is an evolution of Slipknot’s sound. One more thing, maybe it's just me, but the songs in this album have a touch of 70s classic rock.

Anyway, from the album, I liked Adderall (obvi), Yen, Hive Mind, H377, Acidic, De Sade and Medicine for the Dead.

"Adderall", the opening track, was one beautiful, pensive track with that prog rock punch. This one blew my mind because it showed Slipknot’s ability to play with different sounds and not stagnate on a particular sound, so that’s pretty good. It’s the kind of song that can take you to a different dimension if you give in to it.

Then, "Yen": this one’s my favourite track on the whole album. It's dark, sensual and sombre while collapsing into a fervour of hard guitars and drums. I really liked the heavy bits, and the bridge was absolutely dreadfully intense. It’s got such twisted and intriguing lyrics. Yen sort of delves into the darker shades of rage and lust, and the whole song is so melodically sadistic (if that makes sense?) and pulls you into its flames. Also, it sort of reminds me of Vermillion.

"Medicine for the Dead" is a song that burns you slowly, excruciatingly painfully with those ominous riffs coupled with eerie lyrics, this track screams in the darker shades of horror. And "Hive Mind", what a tune. With those insane beats of the drums and brutal riffs of the guitar, Hive Mind is absolutely destructive. It just rips your soul out of your body, crushing it mercilessly.

"Acidic" screamed Alice in the Chains, but with a more suffocating, unnerving vibe. This song is one that can chew you whole and spit you out, leaving you battered and broken. It’s haunting, creepy and unsettling. But absolutely love it.

"H377" just swooshed me into the early Slipknot era. It was probably their heaviest and fastest song on the album. It’s unpredictable, viscous and dramatic. "De Sade" is prog-metal at its finest. Corey’s phenomenal vocal strength and the whole song’s melancholic vibe are so crushing with unbelievable intensity.

As someone still stuck somewhere in Slipknot’s Iowa and Subliminal Verses era, “The End, So Far” was definitely softer. Perhaps softest, nevertheless, a solid album. It can turn even new listeners into maggots with its dark, enigmatic, sinister music, just like most of their other albums. It’s a nihilistic red hot album with fuming tracks that leaves its listeners charred and burnt. And that’s why I believe 'The End, So Far' is an impressive album.

True, Slipknot's music can be maddeningly difficult to understand, but it's so damn easy to fall in love with it. They trap you in that unbridled excitement with the pure cacophony and rage they display. And that's why Slipknot is one of the best metal bands of all time.