All Hope Is Gone is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot, released on August 26, 2008 by Roadrunner Records.

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.

[9] Taylor and guitarist Jim Root paired up with Sid Wilson, performing on keyboards, and percussionist Shawn Crahan to work on "oblique, arty pieces".

However, one of them, "Til We Die", appears as a bonus track on the album's special edition along with "Child of Burning Time" and the similarly experimental Bloodstone mix of "Vermilion Pt.

[16] 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.

[17] 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.

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.

"[4] Corey Taylor reiterated this, describing All Hope Is Gone as a "very dark" combination of the band's two previous studio albums, Iowa and Vol.

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".

Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic wrote that "Gematria (The Killing Name)" goes from "a cluster of cacophony" to "an onslaught of densely dark intricate riffs".

"[11] Jim Kaz of IGN stated that the "swaggering, cock-rock groove and an anthemic chorus" of "Psychosocial" gives Slipknot the potential to reach out to new fans "without sacrificing a lick of intensity".

[11] The track "Gehenna" incorporates elements of Slipknot's slower, more cerebral edge similar to "Prosthetics" and "Purity" from their debut album, and "Skin Ticket" from Iowa.

", features Taylor's response to former United States Vice President Spiro Agnew's speech targeted at Vietnam War protesters.

[39] During an interview with Kerrang!, Taylor discussed the song's lyrical content, explaining, "There are a lot of people who are disguising politics as religion and dictating taste and turning it into policy.

"[42] Reviewing for IGN, Jim Kaz said that lyrically, "Gematria (The Killing Name)" gives the listener a "heaping dose of Corey Taylor's caustic bravado".

[41] 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.

"[42] 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.

[44] 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".

It has been certified Gold in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Russia, Norway, and Austria hence being a commercial success.

"[63] 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.

Ogle stated that the fans' views of the "diversity" of the album would be Slipknot's "saving grace, or their misfortune", concluding, "While it may not be as jaw-dropping or revolutionary as some might have hoped, it's by no means a bad release.

"[57] Reviewing for Blender, writer Darren Ratner observed a different theme in the lyrics when compared to previous Slipknot albums, noting that the band is able to "make ugliness sound just a little bit pretty".

[65] 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".

"[41] Q noted that the band no longer resembled "a threat to Western civilisation" but claimed that the album delivered one shock; "how listenable they've become", including "Snuff" in the top 50 downloads for August 2008.

[66] 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'.

[67] The album was praised by Total Guitar's writer Nick Cracknell, who declared the effort "Slipknot's heaviest and most aggressive work to date".

[68] 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.

[69] All tracks are written by Corey Taylor, Mick Thomson, Shawn Crahan, Craig Jones, Jim Root, Chris Fehn, Paul Gray, Joey Jordison and Sid Wilson, except where noted.