Slipknot - Slipknot (1999)
Sometime after "Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat." the band decided "Let's stop trying to be Mr. Bungle!" and when vocalist Anders Colsefni said "No, it's my DREAM to be in Mr. Bungle... To BE Mr. Bungle!!" and the rest of the band simultaneously screamed "FUCK YOU, ANDERS COLESLAW!!" and threw him into a huge hole in the floor ala "Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi", and after a minute of them waiting for the noise of his corpse hitting the floor, up like a speeding bullet came his reincarnated form: COREY FUCKING TAYLOR! Corey Taylor then said "I don't even know what a Bister Mungle is. Now, let's make a bunch of noise... Killer noise. Killer noise that kills with its noise. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." and the band quickly erupted into an explosive schizophrenic mess that is best known as Slipknot's angry, punishing, tormenting self-titled album that is rumored to have come straight from the bowels of teenage angst itself.
However, that rumor is false, because when you read Corey Taylor's book "Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good", you learn that a lot of the anger from this album, lyrically, came from him being raped as a young child in a basement by his older best friend, and locking it up for years. When backed by eight other psychopaths ready to move as an unstoppable wave of death, the anger and emotion released by Corey Taylor on this album simply cannot be dismissed as "teenage angst" or "woe is me" bullshit, but the words and anger of a child ruined, swinging blindly at the world around it, finally fully unleashing its never-ending internal rage upon the world through savage screams, and fragile singing. On this album, the child, wounds exposed for the entire world to see, becomes a monster.
A lot of metal bands somewhat bore me with their lyrics at times, because they oftentimes just go into talking about shit they read about in books, saw in movies, or even just generic word-salad about what they're going to do to you and your entrails, often including fornicating with said entrails, but not on this album: Slipknot's self-titled lyrically can be summed up as pure anger and hatred, even if at times it's a bit blunt and/or immaturely worded, such as the chorus of "Surfacing" in which Corey Taylor states "FUCK THIS WORLD! FUCK EVERYTHING THAT YOU STAND FOR!! FUCK EVERYTHING THAT YOU STAND FOR! DON'T BELONG! DON'T EXIST! DON'T GIVE A SHIT! DON'T EVER JUDGE ME!!" which reads like a 14 year old's cringeworthy LiveJournal entry circa 2000, but when you factor in that a lot of the anger from this album comes from childhood pain, it oddly fits.. Or rather, it sadly fits. Despite the album's nonstop verbal middle-finger to judgmental, ignorant, and/or authority figures, there's a sense of sadness quite constantly, as if to say "I'm this way.. But I wasn't born as this person. Someone made me into it." such as in "Tattered & Torn", which sounds like audible schizophrenia, not in the cool "this is so insane" kind of way, but showing the torment of said condition, with absolutely savage screams and growls. It's so fucking eerie sounding, and sounds like it came from Hell itself.
This album definitely isn't the best or most refined metal album you'll ever listen to, but it really doesn't try to be anything other than a really enjoyable album, and it succeeds at that. It's just an angry, and I mean fucking ANGRY album to make you scream at the world about your nonexistent teenage problems. Remember that weird kid in your class? The one that made you feel like you had to duck under a table one day to defend yourself from? Well, he was listening to this constantly and maybe you should hit him up for more music recommendations, because this shit kicks ass! Sure, the well runs dry when it comes to much musical variety, but it's wet as fuck (Jesus, why did I even type that out) when it comes to catchy riffs, great and pounding production, memorable choruses, and a percussion section that's to fucking die for. Sit down in your beanbag chair, turn a lava lamp on, and then turn it off because it's really not that kind of music you fucking dumbass, but HEY, did you know that Caesar salad was invented in Tijuana, Mexico in the 1920s? You can impress someone with that and not even credit me with having told you. I love you.
8/10
________________________________________________________
Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
