Slipknot - Iowa (2001)
Sometime after their incredibly hectic, chaotic and angry self-titled, they dropped one of their guitarists Josh Brainard and recruited Jim Root of vocalist Corey Taylor's other band Stone Sour instead. They had a lot of hype riding on them to prove that they weren't just a gimmicky act, a flash in the pan, y'know? Not just a bunch of dudes who wear masks + jumpsuit combos and make music. Even though the self-titled was heavy as fuck, and anyone who tells you differently didn't actually listen to anything other than "Wait and Bleed", this album might be even heavier. Straight out of the gate with "(515)", an intro track that features the DJ Sid Wilson screaming "DEATH!!" over and over in such a depraved manner over a harsh noise instrumental, because he was forced to miss seeing his grandfather on his deathbed, the pain on this album is just as genuine as the album before it. I mean, listen to "People = Shit" and once you get over how FUCKING AWESOME that song sounds, how the riffs collide, the cool samples, and the insane percussion section, you'll see that while Corey Taylor occasionally writes terribly blunt lyrics that can be, to just put it out there, bluntly terrible, he fucking means everything he says, for better or for worse.
Speaking of cringeworthy lyrics, just listen to "The Heretic Anthem"! "IF YOU'RE 555, THEN I'M 666"?! Someone told me that the lyrics are fighting back against record companies or some shit, but holy shit what a horrible lyric. Or how about "Zero and zero is nothing but zero" in "Skin Ticket"? Those are both some serious "MY LIFESTYLE DETERMINES MY DEATHSTYLE" shit!! My God, with a lot of the lyrics on this album, there sure as fuck aren't any concerns that someone else wrote the songs, unless they hired a thirteen year old to do it. That being said, whatever, Corey Taylor delivers most of them in such a believably angry way that you usually don't take that much time analyzing how fucking stupid some of the lyrics can be, because how can you pay attention to the lyrics when songs like "Disasterpiece", "Everything Ends", and "I Am Hated" go so fucking hard?! These songs are PERFECT for blaring over your shitty Xbox microphone while playing "Call of Duty"!! If those don't wet your whistle, maybe the eerie clean vocals in "Left Behind" and "The Shape" will get you in the mood to make another AMV of Gaara from Naruto!!
There are plenty of notable moments on this album that I haven't even gotten into: The slow and heavy (just like me!) "Gently" with a great and eerie opening on bass, the creepy ten minute final track which also happens to be the title track, in which Corey Taylor was actually cutting himself and throwing up in the studio while recording because that's apparently how you get shit done, and also just how mediocre "New Abortion" and "Metabolic" are compared to the rest of the album! Wow! Now THAT'S how you drop the ball towards the end of an album! Anyhow, this album has got some really good shit on it that you'd be a fucking fool to not check out if you're a fan of any of Slipknot's other work. This is the sound of nine very angry guys trying to craft the angriest, heaviest album they could, despite a few minor missteps. This is music to listen to when you're mad at your stepdad for asking you to mow the lawn, despite being in your twenties and living at home rent-free. This is Slipknot.
8/10
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