The four year hiatus for Slipknot that followed the death of Paul Gray is apparently at long last coming to an end with a return to the studio and possibly, hopefully a new album in 2014. This period has undoubtedly been too long for fans and hopefully long enough for the band members, but it isn't like there's been a dearth of activity from the masked men. Corey Taylor has arguably only become the media presence that he is now since Gray's death. Audio Secrecy, Stone Sour's third album, came out only three months after his death, and that band, featuring Slipknot guitar player Jim Root, then followed that up with the House of Gold and Bones duology and all of the tie ins that came with that. Taylor also wrote two books in that timeframe and was involved with Dave Grohl's Sound City project. Shawn "Clown" Crahan may not have been as visible in the public sphere but was almost as busy with a production company and gearing up to direct a feature film of his own. Beyond that, the members have mostly been quiet, but the rest of the band has arguably never been that involved with side projects. That is, with the exception of one. Drummer Joey Jordison has been unusually quiet outside of a touring stint with Rob Zombie, and while he is certainly under no obligation to spend his time pleasing anyone but himself, it was certainly a pleasant moment when he announced that he had a new project with an album coming in right under the wire before the Slipknot reunion. The project, now known as Scar the Martyr, featured Jordison playing bass, rhythm guitars, and drums (a touring bassist will be brought out on the road), and a supergroup consisting of frequent Devin Townsend collaborator Jed Simon, Darkest Hour's Kris Norris, and former Nine Inch Nails member Chris Vrenna on keyboards with newcomer Henry Derek taking the microphone. The band has released an EP exclusively through the magazine Revolver as a preview, featuring the two lead singles Blood Host and Soul Disintegration along with a couple of B-sides that did not make the album. If the preceeding information dump hasn't proven enough of an indication, expectations are high for Slipknot nerds. Based on this preview, should they remain so?
Yes and no. Jordison giving a good performance should go without saying. His drums here are not quite as persistent and rapid fire as in Slipknot, but that's not to say it is any less impressive. Jed Simon and Kris Norris's guitars actually prove the highlight, particularly in the third track After the Fall. There are quite a few chances for the two to play solos that both interlock and play off of each other in opposition and their duality should be a force to reckon with live. The problem comes in with Derek and to a certain extent the way his vocals are produced. The production in general is quite strong. The artwork obviously suggests a Gothic, creepy feeling and the production unsurprisingly follows that. This is a very dark, creepy affair with touches like faint bells in the intros to songs coming off as suggestive of horror scores and sound effects of the past. Unfortunately, Derek's voice is very clearly studio processed, an untrained ear could even hear the effects, and for an unknown quantity like him being altered to sound like, well, frankly most other vocalists of this genre doesn't lend much confidence as to what he might sound like live. He could very well be just fine, but to a listener that doesn't know him a less than unique performance on record becomes a bit of a problem. Also, it has become a minor meme on sites like MetalSucks, but it has to be pointed out that Derek's lyrics are not exactly inspiring either. The words to Blood Host begin to conjure images at the start of the track, but the images never really coalesce and the meme comes in with the barked refrain of "CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE" which does, admittedly, sound like a few other meathead rock anthem refrains one could think of. Bad lyrics unfortunately can't be corrected live (well, I suppose they could, but that would make things complicated) unlike a production issue.
There's still another fourteen to sixteen songs coming with the full album, depending on which release you purchase, and it wouldn't be the first time that a record company picked tracks for the singles that aren't the most indicative of an album's quality. Expectations should remain high for this effort, but some caveats would suggest keeping them from getting out of proportion.
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