All Hope Is Gone

Preparation for All Hope Is Gone began in 2007. Drummer Joey Jordison explained, "I've told them to demo whatever they can so we've got as much material to choose from as possible." In February 2008, Slipknot entered the Sound Farm Studio in Jamaica, Iowa with producer Dave Fortman. All Hope Is Gone is the band's first album written and recorded in their home state of Iowa. Bassist Paul Gray explained that the band decided to record in Iowa because there were too many distractions in Los Angeles, where production of their previous albums had taken place. The band also stated that being close to home was good for their mindset; vocalist Corey Taylor drove home every night to see his son. Unlike Slipknot's previous releases, the album's writing process involved all nine band members, who wrote over 30 songs. Jordison commented, "I have to say that the band is at its peak; everyone—I mean everyone—is now completely involved in the writing process, and it's a beautiful thing." Taylor and guitarist Jim Root paired up with Sid Wilson, performing on keyboards, and percussionist Shawn Crahan to work on "oblique, arty pieces". The track "Sulfur" was the first combined effort of Jordison and Root, who wrote the song in one evening. Feeling discontent over the record's production process, Root said, "it felt a little bit rushed. And it felt like we were trying to do things just to appease a schedule, which I didn't really like." Root was particularly disappointed with the record's producer, Dave Fortman, and said, "Dave Fortman really helped me appreciate Rick Rubin as a producer. [Fortman] wasn't able to get nine people together on the same page and, to me, that's the most important thing in making a Slipknot record." All Hope Is Gone was mixed by Colin Richardson in Miloco's The Engine Room studio in the United Kingdom. ==Promotion==

performing at the Mayhem Festival as part of the All Hope Is Gone World Tour|alt=A man plays guitar on a major stage set wearing a black suit and a mask that resembles black and white makeup. Rumors that Slipknot would be recording and touring All Hope Is Gone without their trademark masks circulated after band members appeared unmasked during performances with various side-projects. However, Shawn Crahan dismissed these rumors in an interview on The Sauce. Bassist Paul Gray elaborated that the band would return with a new image; "It'll still be Slipknot," he stated, "but we're gonna upgrade, step things up a little." Beginning April 1, 2008, Slipknot's website displayed ten teasers to promote All Hope Is Gone. The first nine displayed the band in their purgatory masks, however, the final teaser featured a darkened photograph of the band with their new masks. Slipknot premiered their new masks on July 1, 2008 on Spinner.com; eight million people visited the website to view the masks on the first day. On June 15, 2008, a 30-second sample and cover art from the album's title track, "All Hope Is Gone", were made available on Amazon.com. The song began airplay the same day and on June 20, 2008, Roadrunner Records offered the track as a free download on their website. "All Hope Is Gone" was later released as a digital single. The second single from the album, "Psychosocial", began airplay on June 26, 2008 and was released as a digital single on July 7, 2008. Following the album's launch, "Dead Memories" was released as a digital single on December 1, 2008, along with an accompanying music video. The music video for "Sulfur", the album's fourth single, premiered on April 18, 2009, and the single was released on June 15, 2009. From August 17 through 19, 2008, Kerrang! magazine held six listening events across the United Kingdom which included a preview of the documentary supplied with the album's special edition, and free merchandise. On April 17, 2009, Roadrunner Records announced that the album would be released on vinyl on April 19, 2009, coinciding with Record Store Day. The album's cover art and track listing were released on July 8, 2008. Slipknot began its All Hope Is Gone World Tour the following day—the tour was their first since 2005. The band initially toured with the Mayhem Festival across the United States, through August 16, 2008. Afterward, Slipknot was scheduled to appear at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in England, the Two Days a Week Festival in Austria, and the Area4 Festival in Germany. However, the European tour dates were canceled due to Jordison breaking his ankle. Slipknot performed at the Rock on the Range Festival on May 16 and 17, 2009 then headlined the Download Festival in England during the summer, the first time they had headlined the festival. ==Music and lyrics==

Musically, the album sees the band moving away from nu metal and towards groove metal, with elements of death metal and thrash metal. Magazine Yell! wrote that All Hope is Gone "expands on" Slipknot's "thrash metal guitar work and vocal melodies." In All Hope Is Gone, Slipknot expands on their use of traditional song structures, acoustics, and solos that they introduced on their previous album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). The song "Snuff" is led by acoustic guitars and has been dubbed as Slipknot's "attempt at a power ballad", though it remains "dark and ominous". In an interview with Artistdirect, Shawn Crahan stated, "Everyone can feel the pain that's in there. It's not forced upon you. You have it in there innately." Slipknot also retained a metal edge harking back to their earlier work. Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic wrote that "Gematria (The Killing Name)" goes from "a cluster of cacophony" to "an onslaught of densely dark intricate riffs". Throughout the album, Taylor incorporates a focus on politics in his lyrics, compared to Slipknot's previous albums. The opening track, ".execute.", features Taylor's response to former United States Vice President Spiro Agnew's speech targeted at Vietnam War protesters. Reviewing for IGN, Jim Kaz said that lyrically, "Gematria (The Killing Name)" gives the listener a "heaping dose of Corey Taylor's caustic bravado". On the track "Wherein Lies Continue", Taylor offers a "dressing down of the world as we know it", explaining, "It kinda goes up against any civilization that takes themselves way too seriously and where the 'leaders' are so pretentious that they think they are deemed to speak for the people." He also proclaimed, "It wouldn't be a Slipknot album if I didn't rag on the recording industry." On "Butcher's Hook", Taylor specifically targets "all those little emo boys", commenting, "People give us shit for wearing outfits, but all of those guys look exactly the same." ==Release==

All Hope Is Gone was released on August 26, 2008. It was Slipknot's first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, outselling LAX from The Game by 1,134 units. Initially, Billboard published an article stating that The Game had secured the top spot with a margin of 13 units, in what was described as the "closest race for number one since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991". After a recount 12 hours later, the article was rewritten and Slipknot was awarded the number one spot, having sold 239,516 units. In Canada, the album sold over 20,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart. The album also debuted at number one on eight other charts worldwide. All Hope Is Gone has been certified Platinum in the United States by the RIAA, the United Kingdom by the BPI, and New Zealand by the RMNZ. As of January 2012, the album has sold over one million copies in the U.S. It has also been certified 2x Platinum in Canada, and Gold in Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Norway, and Austria hence being a commercial success. As of 2014, the album has sold 1,106,000 copies in the U.S. alone. ==Critical reception==

All Hope Is Gone was generally well received by critics. Several music critics anticipated the album immediately after the release of Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). In its review of Vol. 3, AllMusic stated, "There's a sense that whatever Slipknot do next might be their ultimate broadcast to the faithful." Copies of All Hope Is Gone intended for reviewers were pressed under the false name "Rusty Cage" to reduce the risk of the album leaking onto the Internet. Stephen Erlewine wrote in his review for AllMusic that the early "cluster of cacophony" of "Gematria" is "so effective [...] that when things do get a little softer a little later on, the album threatens to collapse like a soufflé" and opined that "one more power ballad like Snuff would be enough to derail the album." Regarding the album's creation process, Darren Sadler of Rock Sound wrote, "Slipknot raised their collective middle fingers, and created an album that stands out head and shoulders above everything else that will be released this year." Marc Weingarten of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ rating, calling All Hope Is Gone "a metal assault-and-battery on the hypocrisies of the modern world". Rolling Stone reviewer Chris Steffen praised the percussive edge on All Hope Is Gone noting, "The band's multiple percussionists generate a din that's more suffocating than ever [on the track] 'Gematria'." The album was praised by Total Guitars writer Nick Cracknell, who declared the effort "Slipknot's heaviest and most aggressive work to date". Dan Martin of The Guardian compared "Dead Memories" to Metallica's song "Enter Sandman" and called "Gematria (The Killing Name)" a work of "astonishingly dense thrash", giving the album four out of five stars. Accolades "Psychosocial", the album's second single, brought Slipknot their first MTV Video Music Awards nomination for Best Rock Video, as well as their seventh Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 51st Grammy Awards. In December 2008, Total Guitar ranked All Hope Is Gone as one of the "50 Best Guitar Albums of the Year". In 2009, it was rated 16th in UK magazine Kerrang!s "The 50 Best Albums of the 21st Century" reader poll. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. ==Track listing==

All credits adapted from liner notes. Aside from their real names, members of the band are referred to by numbers zero through eight. • (#8) Corey Taylor – vocals, acoustic guitar on "Snuff" • (#7) Mick Thomson – guitars • (#6) Shawn "Clown" Crahan – percussion, backing vocals, drums on "Vermilion Pt. 2" (Bloodstone mix) and "'Til We Die" • (#5) Craig "133" Jones – samples, media, keyboards • (#4) Jim Root – guitars • (#3) Chris Fehn – percussion, backing vocals • (#2) Paul Gray – bass, backing vocals • (#1) Joey Jordison – drums • (#0) Sid Wilson – turntables, keyboards Production • Dave Fortman – production • Slipknot – production • Jeremy Parker – engineering • Colin Richardson – mixing • Matt Hyde – mix engineering • Oli Wright – assistant engineering • Ted Jensen – mastering • Shawn Crahan – art direction, DVD director • P. R. Brown – photography, design • Chris Vrenna – additional production • Clint Walsh – additional production • Matt Sepanic – producer • Bionic Mastering – DVD authoring ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==