You think you know Slipknot? Forget everything you've heard about them because the Slipknot you know is another band compared to the one which delivers you this masterpiece. Different singer, different guitar players, different style. Everything has changed. To the good or to the bad you?ve to decide. In my opinion they changed to the bad. Why? I will explain.
What you hear on this record are 8 songs with an overflow on differentes styles. Every single song could be from a different band and that?s what I miss in the music scene of today. The band puts more creativity and variation into this record than other bands in their whole career. They wanted to create something that the world has never seen and they didn?t fail.
Line Up:
Anders Colsefni - Vocals
Donnie Steele - Guitars
Josh Brainardt - Guitars
Paul Gray - Bass
Shawn Crahan - Percussion
Craig Jones - Samples/Keyboards - joined few weeks before the realease
Joey Jordison - Drums
The album starts with the song which they named their band after(also included on the selftitled, called Sic). It was written on the basement session in 1995 which contains the first 5 songs they ever wrote and set the cornerstone for their style. The song starts with 1 minute factory noises until the bass comes in and plays the main riff. On the 2 minute mark the factory noise stops and the guitars follow the simple but effective bassline. Then Anders comes in with aggressive singing and lyrics which are heavily inspired by the cardgame "Rage" which all ends up in a really fast and genious solo. After the solo everything gets slower and at the same time heavier which leads into a little breakout. The song ends with the riff which brought the bridge in and the last tone of the lead guitar leads into the next song ... 5/5
Gently? Ahhh... the song on Iowa, but guitar harmonies? Yes and they are heavily inspired by Metallica songs like "Welcome Home" or "Fade To Black". The harmonies bring something I missed on the Iowa version, and that's the right atmosphere. After a minute the other guitar breaks in with an e-chord and then Joey changes the beat and plays something slow and calm on the toms along with Paul who plays the bassline like it?s on the Iowa version. Then Anders comes in with his CLEAN voice what sounds very sad but still nice. And then ... he gets angry, starts to scream and the whole band changes the mood. They play the main riff the heaviest way they can and after that part they change their whole tune with a heavy riff on which Joey plays a mid-tempo beat and later sets in the double-bass the first time until the end of the song. 5/5
After these two songs I?m already impressed and it doesn't break up. Do Nothing/Bitchslap is the next song called and on this song their on top of their game. It?s insane, it starts with a slaped bassline which could introduce me a funksong but then heavy guitars break in. And then ... what the ***? Jazz? A metal band offers me jazz? They are courageous and I like it. They present me 3 different music styles in the first 30 seconds which fit perfectly togheter. I?ve one word left for this and this word is amazing. Heavy verse with the only bad vocal performance on this record by Anders. After that the jazz part comes in again. And then ... funk with disco sound? I'm totally blown away. I don?t like funk that much but that?s just incredible. Without warning heavy guitars come in again and stop the funk to repeat the verse which ends up in a chaos on which everybody plays his instrument for hiself. Amazing song, amazing rating. 5/5
Only One? Oh ... already heard on the selftitled but it's still different than that version. It starts with the main riff like on the self titled and leads into ... pure rap sung by Anders? The man with the ultimative power growls? *** ... and again they surprised me with something unexpected. The verse goes on and the funky guitars set in. I've NEVER heard someone rap along with funky guitars. That's art, dude. The verse leads into a heavy chorus which is not that memorable cause of the unexpected and overwhelming verse. And then the bridge and outro comes in with the memorable singing line "Only One Of Us Walks Away"
Short but good song. 4/5
The next song you'll also know. This Tattered And Torn is almost the same like the one on the selftitled. Only difference, the psychadelic melody what is played over the whole song is not from the Dj but from the guitar which sounds better in my opinion. Not that great like the songs before but it's still very creative. 3/5
A nice bassline to chill on to starts which changes it's face and turns to a fast one. And then again ... funky guitars. At first Anders sings and then he raps not as good as on Only One but still great. I've never heard such a melodic and catchy refrain from slipknot like on this song. A further highlight. After the chorus Paul plays a little but impressive bass solo which shows his true skills on his instrument. After a little bass solo comes a rather slow guitar solo but it fits perfectly and sets a new level in this song. This fine solo says more than thousand words. =) And then it slows a bit down and you will notice the percussionists the first time. A second little bass solo comes in which leads into the chorus. And then comes the craziest funk tune I've ever heard which could be written by the old Red Hot Chili Peppers. Without doubt, this is the highlight of the album. 5/5
Every record has it's low point. In this case it's the song Some Feel which has nothing special except of a striking bassline and a part which is sung by another band member but I actually don't know by whom it's sung. This song is okay but not really interesting to hear. 2.5/5
"Killers Are Quiet". The name sounds cool but what's behind the name? A very interesting lyrical topic which explains that the instinct to kill is in everyone of us. Musically it?s not what I thought this name stands for. It starts very calm and bulids up a sad, mysterious and very evil mood which Anders also follows. It's calm, then a bit heavier, again calm and then ... the band does her most powerful performance(but not the fastest) on the whole playtime including Anders with an very intensive eruption. After his eruption you can still hear him breathe heavily cause of the anger he feels. The percussions overtake the drumpart and Joey plays some fills which absolutely do not fit into this. It's like he would want to show us what he's able to play but after a short time he stops and plays some easy tom fills which fit definitely better. Everything fades out slowly until there is only silence. A great way to finish a masterpiece. This song got famous when they re-wrote it and named it Iowa. 5/5
It's sad that this record was only printed 1000 times and never got the attention that the Selftitled, Iowa and Vol. 3 got. The mentoined are not bad but the current line up will never reach the quality, creativity and variety of the line up before.
Slipknot in 1997 R.I.P.
This is my first review. I hope you enjoyed reading it and didn't find too much mistakes. =)
