 
As much as it would please healthy eating advocates
around the world, McDonalds aren’t likely
to broadcast a 30 second television advertisement
portraying an overweight, middle-aged lady desperately
sobbing into her greasy, lukewarm Big Mac meal
while her lawless children wail incessantly and
throw their Happy Meal toys at disgruntled onlookers
. However, what many long-established fast food
‘restaurants’ tend to portray is an
image of perfection, of aspiration and of young,
athletically built Calvin Klein models enjoying
idle banter over their piping hot coffees while
checking their Twitter over the free wifi.
Many greatest hits compilations follow the same
formula. Typically, a hits album is compiled of
12-16 singles - many of which have entered the
casual fans’ consciousness through radio
playlists and music channels - with three or four
album tracks or festival favourites thrown in
to keep the purists happy. The mindless album
filler tracks are weeded out to form a slimline,
concentrated product that can appeal to not only
the diehard followers, but also to those who fancy
the occasional cheeseburger without the coronary
bypass.
This is essentially how Roadrunner has chosen
to play it with Antennas to Hell. Des Moines favourite
deranged sons have served up all the classics
from the last 13 years including Wait and Bleed,
Spit it Out, Left Behind, Duality, Before I Forget
and Psychosocial, as well as fan favourites Surfacing
and People = Shit. As you’d expect, it’s
a collection of tracks designed to thwack you
in the ear groin and steal your Lexus. It’s
what the misfit 9 (tragically now 8) piece have
always been about. The album reminds you just
how explicitly brutal the Nu-Metal poster boys
were when they first emerged as a snarling, masked,
bright orange beast, wafting a bloodied baseball
bat in the direction of middle America. Even if
their sound has nodded toward more melodic pastures
recently, a swift retreading of the first half
of Antennas will take you back to the glory (or
indeed gory) days.
There’s plenty to keep you occupied over
the three discs; 19 tracks, all of the music videos
and ‘(sic)nesses: Live At The Download Festival,
2009. It’s worth picking up just for the
Live CD of the now legendary festival set –
it could become the new ‘Nirvana at Reading,
1992’ whereby twenty years down the line,
every fortysomething in the UK will claim to have
been there. It’s common knowledge that Donnington
holds 5 million people, right?
Slipknot’s musical intelligence, knack for
a hook and ability to communicate with disenfranchised
teens has enabled the band to transcend gimmickry
and enjoy the kind of longevity that eluded many
of their contemporaries. Take one listen to this
offering of back catalogue highlights and you’ll
see why.
**** (and a 5th * for the extras)
5/5
Review by Jack Turner
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