894. Slipknot - Slipknot

I last heard this album about 17 years ago, soon after it came out. I bought it as friends' reviews were positive, but I never really got it. Wait and Bleed aside, it was all a bit too intense and loud. Given that I was very much the target demographic (teenage), and I am not so much now, I thought this would bypass me somewhat in a flurry of drums and screaming.

Slipknot either created, rode, or went beyond the nu-metal wave that broke in the late 90s, depending on whose opinion you trust. Whilst certainly heavier than Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit, their use of scratching DJs and the inherent teenage angst, and anger, of their songs made comparisons inevitable. Their large size also makes for quite the stage presence, with three drummers, two guitarists, a bassist, keyboard player, DJ, and vocalist. Their debut album, released in 1999, went on to sell over two million copies, the band's reputation having been forged on tours and particularly from their 28 appearances at Ozzfest across the US. Given how far outside the mainstream the group pitched themselves, to end up with all their albums going at least platinum, and with ten Grammy nominations, indicates a band with quite the following, both commercially and critically. 

(sic) introduces the album, following an unnecessary answerphone recording of a far from impressed woman, with a brutal display of drumming, and some slightly dated-sounding scratching. The relentless nature of the vocals and guitar make it a powerful manifesto for what is to come. Some of the lyrics "you can't kill me 'cos I'm already inside you" make Trent Reznor look like Leonard Cohen. Eyeless is a drum and bass song transposed into a Spartan war-cry, complete with incomprehensive lyrics. It is better than that makes it sound, but a bit too "everything-turned-to-11" for me. Wait and Bleed demonstrates that Corey Taylor is a pretty good singer, and uses the classic combination of slow-fast-slow-fast that is at the bedrock of the best metal, in my opinion. This track is the most accessible on the album, yet still sounds edgy; the drumming drives everything forwards with breathtaking speed, and the onslaught of guitars work well together. Surfacing starts like a siren before taking things up a notch, and has one of the catchier choruses on the album - a sort of Killing in the Name-esque breakdown, but even angrier and much faster. Spit It Out was the other single off the album, and again combines some unambiguously rage-filled lyrics with waves of distorted guitar and scratching. The call and response style chorus would work better if the response wasn't quite so whiny. Tattered & Torn, also the name of the band's clothing line, is more a series of sound effects overlaying a slightly lost-sounding guitar and drums combo. Purity adds some variety with a much slower, in many ways darker, song. The harmonies are spot on when they appear, and really make you wish there was more conventional singing on the album. Liberate is actually fairly conventional, the harsh vocal delivery aside, and Prosthetics shows the variation that the group are capable of, with a more stripped-back yet claustrophobic sound.  The song builds to the chorus, with a desperation in Taylor's voice that pushes the main emotion from anger to regret - until near the end of the song at least. No Life is a pretty forthright account of how the band view the world, delivered in a strong, straightforward track, whereas Diluted didn't really stand out for me at all over the week. Only One is the closest to a Korn track, with an almost rap-like delivery for much of the song. This doesn't work too well, but the chorus is pretty rousing. Scissors is the band's closest attempt at progressive or industrial metal, and is interesting in that regard, although it lacks the direction so apparent in their other songs.

Part of music's role is to capture and convey emotions. Whilst the majority of music focuses on emotions relating to love, or at least a variation of that, this is focused much more on anger. Now anger is a perfectly valid emotion, and we all experience it, so having an artistic response to it is reasonable, as long as it's done well. And this album is done well - indeed very well in places. I am not a particularly angry person, so I can find the intensity of it all a bit OTT, but I do enjoy the impressive technical performances alongside such a raw display of overt emotion, especially given the nature of young-ish men as emotional clams. If it helps people to experience, and to some extent have a positive experience of, feelings in all their forms, then that is to be applauded. I just wish they said 'fuck' fewer times.

Chloe's album rating: 5

Chloe's favourite track: 6. Spit it Out

Olly's album rating: 7

Olly's favourite track: 10. Prosthetics

Next week is 35. Live at the Apollo by James Brown from 1963; get on up indeed.