Review Summary: This album gets a lot of hate, and I really do think it's undeserved. Yes, it could lazily be labelled as nu-metal, and whilst a few songs do fit that structure, this album is so much more than that. It's fast paced and aggressive, with the highlights bei
Many of you may be already put off at my rating for the album, judging me as a fanboy, or just some mallcore kid, and you may be forgiven for thinking that. Despite this, I believe the rating I gave this album completely deserved, as it is an album that was not only hugely influential on modern metal, but completely unlike all the other nu-metal bands around at the time, yes songs like Spit It Out and Wait and Bleed have that commercial nu-metally sound, but this album is so much more than that.
The album starts off with sampling, which aims to set the mood for the onslaught about to come, and as the intro finishes, you are suddenly bombarded with heavy, downtuned guitars accompanied my death metal-esque drumming with DJ scratching also going on in the background. The singers voice comes in and fits the mood of the music, it's an amelodic 3 minute onslaught of noise, a great starter for the album.
Next comes Eyeless, which starts off with DJ scratching which wouldn't sound unfamiliar at any sort of local club, after such a heavy onslaught in the first track, it certainly throws the listener off track again, but sure enough, in come the death metal style drumming again, it's blast-beast, angry and furious. The song is impressively song by Corey, it's performed at an extremely fast pace(especially in the chorus) and even includes a turntable solo, the drumming in the song is also extremely impressive, and something that wouldn't sound out of place in a death metal band. Unfortunately, the lack of guitar work let this track down, they really aren't used much, which a shame, as although this a strong track, an innovative riff or solo could've made this a masterpiece.
As the third track starts, the listener is again thrown off track, as it starts off with Corey melodically singing 'I've felt the hate rise up in me, kneel down and clear the stone of leaves, I wander out where you can't see, inside my shell I wait and bleed' - unsurprisingly for such an album, it's not the most cheerful song in the world, but again, the listener doesn't know what to expect. It's a very strong start for Slipknot's self-titled album. The choruses are screamed full-pelt at a fast pace, almost to the point of rapping them. The song is very catchy, and utilises melodic and screamed vocals very well, the drumming is less prominent in this song, and again guitars do little more than do their job. It's fairly good for what it is, a catchy nu-metal song which uses the generic style of the genre to full effect.
The next track is Surfacing, which starts off with creepy (and annoyingly reptitive) turntables scratching, and again, the mediocre guitar work comes in. Corey's vocals are actually fairly good in this track though, his screams are powerful and his voice sounds like he's going to kill someone. The chorus of '*** it all, *** this world, *** everything that you stand for' are hardly unique to Slipknot, and are fairly typical nu-metal lyrics. Fairly dissapointing.
Next comes Spit It Out, where, unexpectdely, Corey raps the intro, it's an interesting listen in the context of the album, and the lyrics fit with the nonsensical, angry style that has already been potrayed. It is however, a fairly typical nu-metal song. The hybrid of rapping, turntable scratches, screaming and even hints of melodic singing are all done in a fairly typical nu-metal fashion. Fairly fun to listen to, but don't expect a masterpiece.
The next song is something completely different, it starts off with a horror show sampling and jittery turntables. It's at a much slower pace to the other songs, and favours a much creepier style, as opposed to all the angst and anger that was favoured in the previous tracks. The scratching and sampling are used as the backing throughout the song, until the last minute or so, where down tuned guitars come in, just as the listener thinks he's getting to grips with the album, this track again kind of throws them off. Impressive sampling and scratching to create this sound, which is well accompanied by Corey's vocal style, the guitars again do little more than they need to.
Me Inside is not entirely dissimilar to the previous track, Corey's vocals go from whispering, to sounding like he's on the verge of crying, to intense screams as heard previously on the album, as well as fairly impressively sung melodic chorus.
Unfortunately, the next track seems to go back into a much more nu-metally sound, it starts off with a fairly generic guitar riff as Corey raps the verses and screams the chorus, albeit a much heavier nu-metal sound, the drumming remains impressive and quick, and Corey's screams are fairly impressive. All in all though, it's not something that is particularly memorable, or that the listener would be begging to hear again.
No Life is something fairly similar to Liberate, although with much more emphasis focused on his rapping, the opening guitar work is fairly predictable, although some decent bass work is shown during the the first verse, the drumming, unsurprisingly is the most impressive thing in this song. This song though is unfortunately, aside from the drumming, nothing but predictable nu-metal with a rawer, more angry, less commerical sound.
The next song is something different though, it starts off with snare drums, with a then fuzzing, creepy sampling noise in the background, as samples of two high pitched screams follow. The song is almost progressive. The vocals are distorted, and almost whispered, which match the dark nature of the lyrics, Corey then goes in to scream the chorus 'ah, ***ing you will be mine!', the song is very raw with snare drumming and creepy sampling throughout. 'All the doors are locked, all the windows shut, keep in my mind, I watch you' - Prosthetics shows a much darker, creepier side to this band more than ever before. A strong point of the album, and a hugely underrated song in my opinion.
Diluted continues with this trend, the drumming is again a strong point of the track, in additon to the creepy turntables and samples, as well as Corey's whipsered vocals, which again transcend into some powerful screams, the pre-chourses are screamed/rapped very quickly, it's a very good track, another with a creepy sound.
Only One is a strange track, it starts off with creepy DJ scratching, then going into death metal drumming, and down tuned guitars, then Corey shows that he is actually, a very good rapper, as well as some decent bass work to compliment it in the background, this soon transcends into screaming, and much quicker drumming, as the bass becomes inaudible. So with rapped and screamed vocals, turntables, and bass work you'd expect this to be a typical nu-metal song, right? Well.. not really, it has a strange structure, and it's a fairly well put together, unique song.
Scissors/Eeyore is a brilliant finish to the album, quite expectedly, it's a creepy song, showing off fantastic drumming, a mixture of Corey's whispering vocals and hearty screams, and by the end of the album sounds like he's going to burst into tears.
