GwennyLOLmusic This album is just great no matter what. This album is incredibly heavy and kicks ass.

This is the band Element Eighty's first album, and 4 of the songs were remade for their self titled released 2003. This album is just really good and raw and I love it.

Individual Track Notes. Yankee Cake has a really neat verse flow, with its singing and its drumming, with the hi-hats. The song speaks about being betrayed and being better off without them. "And you call yourself a fucking friend?", "I'm insane, I loathe you. I'm alone, and better off without you". Painmaker, like with a decent amount of E80's early tracks, has multiple notable moments where the singing and the guitar riff sync up, like the pre-chorus, "Body Ache, Forsake, Penetrate, this fucking pain". A better example of this would be in Bloodshot or Pancake Land Frustrated perfectly transitions into R & M and it works very well. R & M's chorus is incredibly good and catchy.

All the songs have incredibly good and even catchy(?) guitar riffs.

Favorite track: R & M Least favorite track: Echo Song

martindavey87 It’s crazy to think that somehow this album would spurn an upwards momentum that would lead Limp Bizkit to, at one point, being the biggest band on the planet. Released in 1997, ‘Three Dollar Bill Y’all$’ is the debut album of the Florida-based nu metal outfit. They weren’t the first band to fuse rock and rap, in fact, bands like Stuck Mojo, Body Count, H-Blockx and Clawfinger and countless others were already worldwide names by this point. But for some reason, ‘Three Dollar…’ was one of the earlier albums that helped usher nu metal into the mainstream. I just can’t see what people saw in it!

Now, I should point out, I’m not a Limp Bizkit hater. In fact, I really like them! They’ve released some absolute bangers, and, let’s face it, was the soundtrack to my (and everyone else’s) teenage years at the turn of the century. But that still doesn’t explain to me what people back in 1997 saw in this album.

Overall, it’s very forgettable. The guitar riffs are quite messy, and Fred Durst’s blend of rapping, singing and shouting just aren’t really cutting it. At least not yet, anyway. Then there’s the cover of George Michael’s ‘Faith’ which was an early hit for the band, but again, does nothing for me. But if I had to pick, I guess ‘Pollution’, ‘Counterfeit’ and ‘Stuck’ are all okay.

But only okay. Nothing more.

It’s amazing that the band would go on to absolutely conquer the world, because if any bands released a debut this lacklustre and generic today, they’d be doomed. Still, the band are headed to bigger and better things, so skip this album and get the next one.

SilentScream213 Around the Fur is hailed as the first truly great Nu Metal album and considered one of (if not) the best in the genre. It was also Deftones’ breakthrough success, and a telling sign of the Metal trend in the late 90’s.

To me, it’s a really plain Nu/Alternative Metal album. Honestly, the production is probably the best part of this, the guitars having a fantastic tone and a perfect amount of reverb and effect on them to create a strong wave of slightly dissonant chords. The music though, is really average. There aren’t many riffs, progressions or leads that stand out, as the best part of the guitars are when they’re used more atmospheric like in “Be Quiet and Drive.” The rhythm section is quite standard, never doing anything too fast or complex. The vocals are at least unique, and I can see an appeal to them, but they don’t do a whole lot for me personally; the lyrics are similarly boring and border on cryptic. For a genre that excels at self-expression, there’s just not a lot of that here, and it hurts the whole thing. Nu Metal should either be full of catchy charisma or painfully emotional vulnerability, and this release doesn’t pack either one.

It’s the same quality as their debut for me. Average Nu Metal. Not bad, but nothing special.

Kev Rowland Here we have the band’s seventh studio album, and their last with Roadrunner after more than 20 years with the label. As is my custom, I had not read anything about the album before playing it for the first time, and when it kicked off with “Adderall” I was convinced that either I had downloaded the wrong album, or Corey had convinced everyone they should become Stone Sour. Simply put, “Adderall” is not a song I would ever expect from Slipknot as there is nothing about this which makes one think of that band, apart from the vocals of Corey who I have always felt is hugely under-rated for his pure vocal style. It was “Wait and Bleed” on the debut all those years ago which first gained my attention, and even before the band had been featured in Kerrang magazine I said they were going to do great things, even if they were signed to a tiny metal label. They were the most significant signing in Roadrunner’s history and there is no doubt it was Slipknot which has allowed the label to do so many things, but keyboards, samples, reflective bass, loads of space and a sense of pop with not much guitar, what had happened?

What had happened is that the band had decided to screw with us, yet again, as that song is in no way representative of the whole of the album, as there are plenty on here which are some of their heaviest works yet. Corey even described the record as a "heavier version" of their 2004 album ‘Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses’, and while I do think that is pushing it somewhat there is no doubt there are some very heavy numbers while there are others which maintain that stance while also bringing in commerciality in a manner not heard as effectively this since ‘All Hope Is Gone’, with “The Dying Song (Time To Day)” being a prime example. When I noticed the third song was called “The Chapeltown Rag” I was somewhat concerned as to what it may contain (Slipknot plays jazz perhaps?) but again we have a band producing the style of music for which they have become renowned, yet lifting it to a new level. Considering what they have been through over the last 25+ years, with the death of founder bassist and songwriter Paul Gray and the illness, departure and death of founder drummer Joey Jordison (this album is dedicated to him), it is amazing to hear they are refusing to sit on their laurels and just rehash what they have done previously.

There are too many bands in the metal scene who released iconic albums years ago and nothing of note since then (who said Metallica?), yet Slipknot are one of a precious few who continue to move forward breaking new ground and the more I play this the more I believe it is one of the most important they have released so far. Definitely not the end.

Tupan Ok, I never was a fan of Limp Bizkit. Always thought about them as the worst that nu metal can offer – and I simply plain hated nu metal for a long time, haha. I don’t hate the genre anymore, there are some good things there. Although I am convinced that the “nu metallers” never fullfiled their potential. There were never a band from this genre I can say “Wow, they make amazing music!”.

And after listening to Still Sucks, the most recent release of LB… Well, I don’t changed my mind about the genre, haha! I haven’t found that GREAT nu metal album yet. But I do changed my mind a bit about this band. Still Sucks is a decent album, actually. It’s varied – there’s even a good ballad, Don’t Change, and a pleasant poppy tune, Goodbye – and don’t overstay its welcome. In fact, this is probably their shortest release ever, barely passing the half hour mark.

I must praise the work of Wes Borland, he creates some good riffs and nice acoustic passages, I would even like to hear some solos… The electronics are well used, the rapping doesn’t annoys me that much. Unfortunatelly, there’s not a great track here. Surprisingly, the best thing their ever made, the track Endless Slaughter, isn’t here.

Anyways, I can revisit this album in the future, but it’s not an essential release. 3 stars.

Kingcrimsonprog ***This review is regarding the single disc, UK Blu-Ray version only. Which contains the full uninterrupted concert only, with no special features or documentary footage.***

Now, you might be thinking ‘I’ve already got three Slipknot videos with concert footage on them’ if you already own Disasterpeices live in London from the Iowa touring cycle, (Sic)nesses live at Download festival 2009 on their first headline performance there during the All Hope Is Gone touring cycle, and the 2nd disc of the documentary release Voliminal Inside The Nine which had a smattering of live tracks from different dates and locations during the Vol. 3 touring cycle.

So what has Day Of The Gusano got to separate it from the others and make it worth buying as well? Well; first off, it is their first official concert video with the new rhythm section of Jay and Alex on drums and bass. Its their first ever show in Mexico City and the fans are energetic and grateful. Its their first video of a Knotfest performance and features all the associated spectacle and backdrops. It has songs from the .5 The Gray Chapter album, which obviously none of the previous videos will have had.

Comparing it to their other DVDs, there are 11 songs here that aren’t on Disaterpieces, including the rarely played ‘Metabolic’ off of Iowa, and ‘Me Inside’ & ‘Prosthetics’ off of the debut. There are 6 songs here that aren’t on (Sic)nesses at Download ’09. Compared to Voliminal‘s concert section, well, its a full length concert in a single location not just 9 random tracks from various locations, and none of it is in black & white.

So, onto ‘Gusano itself. (If you didn’t know already or bother to google that, its Spanish for ‘Maggots’ by the way, which makes sense, since y’know, they call their fans ‘Maggots’ and its filmed in Mexico). The audio visual quality of the release is really high. The picture quality, camera work, variety of shots, editing and general watching experience of the concert are the best that Slipknot have had to date. It is beautiful to look at, and there’s nothing distracting or interrupting about the editing. The performance visually has lots of pyro and fireworks and big backdrops and set pieces, fancy lighting. There’s generally lots going on up there on stage… its big and flashy and never boring.

The mix and production are very good. The only niggle is that Corey’s vocals are a bit lower in the mix than any previous live efforts from the band, but that’s real nitpicking. Otherwise, the instruments are really clear and well balanced, you can make the kick drum out clearly in all situations, and its even easier to hear Craig and Sid’s stuff than usual too which helps you notice them a bit better. If there’s a key riff or drum fill or whatever its given priority and generally its all beefy, heavy and just plain well put together.

The band themselves’ performance will always make or break a concert though. All the audio visual quality in the world, with the most expensive fireworks and lighting can’t hide a crappy performance. Slipknot have been through different phases in that regard. Old bootlegs off of the first album cycle show them as a sort of messy raw jumble. On Iowa they were a tight well-oiled million dollar perfect live-band (I remember seeing them live in Belfast on that cycle and its still one of my favourite ever concert experiences all these years later). On Volume 3 they flipped between the two but generally they were let down by Corey’s vocals (both times I saw them on that cycle and indeed both their 9.0 Live album and Voliminal DVD from that cycle all suffered from Corey’s vocals not being as great as usual). On All Hope‘ however, they came back blazing and were incredible and put in career defining performances and Corey sounded like one of the world’s greatest ever frontmen.

Luckily, here, the band are really on top form. This is a fiery, energetic, fun performance that everybody seems into. There are no complaints about the new line up and they do a great job of trying to fill some pretty massive, childhood-defining, shoes. (Heck, Jay arguably plays ‘Vermilion’ better live here than on any of the other three officially released versions of it). The veteran members are all super practiced, tight and precise. Corey is really strong here, arguably the second-best that he’s ever been on an official release next to Download ’09. (There are some minor questions about that on ‘Sarcastrophe’ and ‘Prosthetics’ maybe, which are a bit sketchy perhaps, but for the majority of it he really, really nails it). Its also nice to see him making an effort to speak Spanish which he does rather a lot and appears really humble and grateful.

The one bit where all Slipknot concerts drag is during ‘Spit It Out’ when the band get all the audience to squat down so they can all jump (the fuck) up at the same key moment. The actual process of cajoling them all to squat down can be a bit boring to watch or listen to if you aren’t actually there yourself sometimes, but luckily here it really doesn’t drag on too long and they payoff is great; the image of the gigantic Mexican crowd all bouncing in unison is really rather impressive.

So just to go through the list: It looks great. It sounds great. The band play great. The setlist is different enough from previous live releases to be worth it. That setlist itself is also pretty great, doing a good job of pleasing fans with the songs they’d expect to hear (Old fans could never see a set without ‘(sic)’ or ‘Surfacing’ and newer fans would never accept a set without ‘Duality’ and ‘Psychosocial’ for example) with pleasing them by spicing things up a bit and not just repeating themselves every time. On a personal note as well, its just so damn nice that they played ‘Metabolic’ live. I’ve been banging on for years about it and how its my favourite Slipknot song and they’ve finally put it out on something. I’m very pleased about that. Underrated song!

Anyway, that’s just personal preference. Everyone has their pros and cons to any setlist by any band. I’m sure some people are gutted ‘Sulfur’ and ‘Left Behind’ are missing considering they were big singles. I myself am kind of surprised ‘Skeptic’ is missing. With its catchy-ass chorus its absolutely built for big audience sing-alongs. I’d have thought that would be in every live set ever following Paul’s death, but I guess maybe its too personal for them lyrically or something like that.

Overall; this is a damn fine release from the band and not one to miss out on. Not even if you’ve already got a lot of live material by them already, as discussed at the beginning. Its probably their best video album on purely video terms, and its really worthy of inclusion in your collection in the other aspects like tracklisting and performance. If you are desperate to see the documentary, don’t get this version, but if you, like me, only really want the concert then this is the perfect version (at the lowest price).

Kingcrimsonprog Most Slipknot fans won’t need very much convincing, a new live DVD has been released an you very probably plan t buy it, but for anyone on the fence about whether or not to get it, I highly recommend this package, on is own merits and not just out of blind dedication to the band.

‘(sic)nesses,’ is a pretty great package, documenting their 2009 headline performance at the UK’s Download Festival in front of 80,000 excited fans. Also included is a documentary (curiously on disc one, with the concert on disc 2) from Shaun ‘Clown,’ Crahan and all the music videos from the band’s ‘All Hope Is Gone,’ album cycle.

Performance wise, everything you expect to happen at a Slipknot concert is there, so don’t expect to be disappointed in that regard. One can expect to see people hanging off things, jumping off things and throwing things at regular intervals; in addition to a spinning in mid air drum kit, Different band members fretting the notes for the guitarists, different band members hitting a keg with a baseball bat, Clown and Criss’s strap-on marching drums during ‘The Blister Exists,’ and ‘Psycho Social,’ and of course Sid getting into the midst of everything, including the crowd whenever possible.

Without a doubt the entire concert is made on the strength of the crowds passionate reaction and that undefinable live energy that just makes the concert feel amazing. Seeing 80,000 plus people singing along to very heavy music is almost life affirming.

If you were dissapointed by the band’s live performances on their live album ‘9.0 Live,’ or the bonus live material from ‘Voliminal,’ specifically the mix, Corey’s vocals and the disjointed feeling caused from material being taken from various concerts and are unsure whether or not to buy ‘(sic)nesses,’ then I’d like to reassure you that it is of a much higher quality than the previously mentioned releases, the whole concert is much more impressive and intense, Corey’s vocal performance is noticeably stronger and the mix is a lot more suitable.

The audiovisual quality of the release is in absolutely no question, the tech crew behind it have done an absolutely sterling job recording, mixing, filming and editing it and the whole viewing experience is of as high a quality as you would expect from a band of Slipknot’s size, even considering that this was a festival performance which is where a lot of big bands release their weaker DVDs due to the reduced amount of control available. Put simply this DVD looks and sounds fantastic, better even than you’d expect.

The only negative things I have to say are mere nitpicking, such as a perceived shortage of material from the ‘Iowa,’ album and that the documentary is very much in the Shaun Crahan style (as seen on the main Voliminal film and the All Hope is Gone bonus DVD) which I don’t personally care for but of course, you could indeed love this style. These minor and circumstantial niggles do nothing to detract from the sheer quality of the release. It may sound cheesy, but ‘(sic)nesses,’ proves why people love Slipknot so much.

Kingcrimsonprog Mudvayne’s second concert DVD, All Access To All Things features performances from Metallica’s 2003 Summer Sanitarium tour; filmed across three shows at three locations, Seattle, Salt Lake City and San Francisco. The DVD features 50 minutes worth of live performances adding up to a total of ten songs as well as forty minutes of behind the scenes footage like interviews on the tour bus or in the dressing room as well as the making of their music video for ‘World So Cold,’ which is available as a bonus feature.

The performances are of a pretty great quality and the sound and visuals are of an acceptable standard. The two greatest faults are that the bass drum sound is rather poor, but this is to be expected at a big outdoor show and is made up for by the fact that the rest of the sound is very good. The other flaw is that on about three songs, the editing becomes distracting for about a minute or so when it is decided that a bunch of really quick cuts are necessary.

Apart from these two minor flaws, All Access to All Things is an enjoyable DVD worthy of a place in any Mudvayne fan’s collection. The performances are tight, the behind the scenes sections are relatively interesting, (but thankfully you are given the option to watch just the concert, which is great for repeat viewings) and the track listing is good. Matt, Greg and Ryan absolutely nail every second of the performance, playing both tightly and energetically, and Chad adds some brilliant improvised vocals at the end of ‘Nothing To Gein,’ and ‘World So Cold,’

Chad can really pull it off live, delivering the clean vocals really well and the heavier vocals almost as well with very few exceptions, chiefly on the faster songs from LD.50 where it would be impossible for anyone to sing that fast, that close together without losing their breath. On this DVD the band appear without the make up which was the trademark of their early career and are playing in daylight at big outdoor events across three different shows.

If this is not to your tastes, you may want to consider Mudvayne’s first concert DVD ‘Live In Peoria,’ which features the band wearing makeup, indoors in a smaller venue, at night and all from a single concert.

In summary; if you don’t mind that the live sections are not from one single concert and can forgive the bass drum sound, you will find a very enjoyable DVD that stands up even now.

Larry Sakin Documentaries about rock bands work on a formula. First, we have the all important formative years of the band, where we learn how the group struggled to learn their craft. Interviews with the band members, record company hacks, managers and DJs that cleared the way for eventual superstardom follow, giving the viewer a portrait of the turmoil, joy, and excesses that come with success. And finally, we have the where-are- they-now or what’s-to-happen with them sequence, which is supposed to answer the all important questions fans are supposed to have.

Steal This DVD, an unauthorized biography of the band Korn, is another in a long line of heavily formulaic views of a band that changed the rock world forever. But there are some differences here. At least with the other documentaries, you can listen to the bands music while the grand story unfolds, and possibly hear early interpretations of the songs that catapulted the band onto rock n’ roll radio. But because of some sticky licensing problems, viewers of Steal This DVD won’t even attain this modicum of satisfaction. The background music is eerily similar to that of Korn, but is just another copycat band grinding away.

So what we’re left with is a cut-and-paste production of other people interviewing the band, a lot of still photos of individual group members, and a great deal of detail on growing up in Bakersfield, California.

I’ve been to Bakersfield, and believe me, it’s no mystery why a group of guys from that dusty Central Valley area would produce the intensely angry funk-metal chords Korn is known for. Still, it occurs to me that major fans of Korn would already know how the damaging effects of a conservative California city impacted these superheroes of nu-metal. In fact, it’s hard to imagine there is any content on Steal This DVD that might illuminate Korn fans any more about the dark mystique that surrounds the band.

And if you don’t know very much about the group and their humble beginnings, maybe the time is right to really listen to singer-songwriter Jonathan Davis’ lyrics, because everything you need to know is right there. Davis has joined the ranks of songwriters who willingly split open their veins and bleed their madness onto an empty page, much like Kurt Cobain before him.

So I’m not really sure who the producers of Steal This DVD are looking to market this documentary to. Maybe they think there are enough die-hard fans out there that obsessively collect anything with the Korn brand on it, or that there are even more naive kids so unfamiliar with what makes Korn the brilliant band they are and need some kind of instructional DVD to help them “get it.” Whatever their direction may be, I think the producers are in for a huge surprise.

It would be so much better if the people who pumped these damned things out really thought like real fans do. They’d actually produce some interesting and entertaining packages that music lovers would appreciate. But unfortunately, the entertainment business too often conforms to the “biggest bang for a buck” theory, and cashes in by promoting anything that has a big-named group attached to it.

Consider this a caveat emptor, Korn fans. This trashy documentary won’t satisfy you until the next Korn release. Save your money, and listen to Life Is Peachy instead.