Volume 3: (The Subliminal Verses)

There's something to be said for a band that inspires as wildly divergent reactions as Slipknot. One school of thought sees the Iowa nine-piece as little more than a circus sideshow peddling calculated adolescent rage behind riffs pilfered from Pantera and a look that GWAR had first. That school is usually quickly set upon by the Maggots: Slipknot diehards who would literally lay down in traffic for the band. Volume 3 is unlikely to bridge the gap, but at times it feels a little like an olive branch. When Slipknot strafe their tunes with brutal guitar and drum assaults or scream themselves raw with declarations like "The only way is all the way!" ("Opium of the People"), it feels like an expression of pure, unfiltered id. But the surprising profusion of brooding, melodic ballads—yes, ballads ("Circle," "Vermillion Pt. 2," "Danger, Keep Away")—is evidence of a catch-more-flies-with-honey approach that doesn't really suit them. That said, maybe they're just finding a new way to piss people off.