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When talking about Slipknot’s upcoming fifth studio album, Corey Taylor described the work-in-progress as a cross between the sound found on Iowa and Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses. And with the release of their new single “The Negative One” we seem to be getting exactly that and more.

Featuring heavy use of samples and turntables, the track will no doubt satisfy fans of their first two albums, but still also retains much of the melodic side Slipknot showed on Vol. 3 and All Hope is Gone. With “The Negative One,” Slipknot clearly want to take influence from all their previous albums, but whether they do it successfully is perhaps another matter.

That’s not to say the track is bad, but it certainly is flawed. The biggest problem is that it kind of falls into an awkward middle spot between heavy and melodic. The instrumentation is too light to fit the clear attempt at being heavy, but the song is also too cluttered to suit a more melodic style. What that leaves us with is the backbone of a good song, but one with a lot of elements that don’t quite fit.

Corey Taylor’s vocals are also noticeably off here. While I stand by my opinion that he is the best vocalist in metal, even I can admit that he hasn’t been in his prime since Iowa. But the change in Taylor’s harsh vocals coincided with a change in style that more suited his new tone. With the band returning to an older style here, it shows not only how much Taylor’s voice has changed, but how little it fits this style, at least compared to his old vocals.

I feel like I’m being a bit too harsh here. I don’t exactly hate Corey Taylor’s vocals on this track, nor do I think it’s a bad song. At its base, “The Negative One” is pretty damn good, but problems with the overall sound of the band can’t help but bring it down a bit. It smacks of wasted potential. A large change wouldn’t exactly be needed to make this song great, but as it is it just slightly misses the mark. It’s a shame, but I’m still remaining hopeful that Slipknot’s currently untitled fifth album will, on a whole, better merge the heaviness of their early work with the melodic, more mature writing of later albums.

“The Negative One” can be heard here. The video will premiere August 5th.