It’s fair to say that All Hope Is Gone is the most controversial of Slipknot’s releases. When it came out in 2008, it rocketed to number one on the US Billboard chart (the band’s first time in that position) and spawned their immortal single Psychosocial. However, in the intervening years, The Nine themselves have spoken out against the album, lambasting it as overly safe-sounding. They’ve also admitted it was recorded in a disjointed way, despite All Hope… being the first music the Iowans made in their home state since the Mate Feed Kill Repeat demo.
Famously, percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan told Google Play in 2014: “[All Hope Is Gone is] my least favourite [Slipknot album]: no tension, no pain – just efficiency. Being able to go home, able to sleep, is not good, not for what we do.” Guitarist Jim Root added that the producer, Dave Fortman, was unable to get the nonet together in the same room.
