.5: The Gray Chapter (Deluxe Edition)by Slipknot

SLIPKNOT IS BACK AT IT AGAIN! With the death of Paul Gray and the departure of Joey Jordison, it must have been really difficult to record the album without two founding members of the band. But, The Knot still figures out how to release new material that has an old feel to it. .5 The Gray Chapter brings back the sound of Iowa and Vol. 3 and gives it a reboot with new songs and members. Instead of going for a plain out heavy metal feel, they added more DJing and Sampling so everyone in the band is participating in the recording and their live performances. Corey is bringing back the old vocal feel like it was on Iowa and the angry feel when he is singing. Jim and Mick throw in amazing guitar riffs and solos that sound like they were recorded in 2001 all the way to 2005. Chris and Clown always have done fantastic percussion on all the albums and they continue to on this work too. The drumming is awesome with the Vol. 3 feel to it. Sid's DJing is spot on just like it was in the Slipknot/Iowa era. And without Craig's sampling this album and this band would not be the same. He adds the audio track feel to it with someone actually making them on the album and performing them onstage instead of someone playing it over a laptop. In the end, with the lose of two major members Slipknot still knows how to make hit after hit, with staying true to their roots. Because this album gave such an old feel to it, it made the album ten times better than it would have been. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!