Ten years ago today the infamous nu-metallers Slipknot released their self-titled debut and changed the face of metal music forever. As well as selling millions of copies and reaching double-platinum status, the album created a worldwide movement of ‘maggots’ who are still present today.

Arguably Slipknot’s best album, it contains some of the most ferocious and brutal metal which are still crowdpleasers at your local rock club. Tracks such as Wait And Bleed, Eyeless and Spit It Out are now synonymous with metal and sit proudly on any metallers iPod.

After the success of their debut many thought their second release would be toned down and cater to the tastes of more people, but the sceptics were wrong. Iowa is Slipknot’s heaviest release to date and even put off some Slipknot fans by how heavy and it was. However the album reached #1 in the UK charts and Slipknot’s worldwide domination continued with force.

Today Slipknot are still one of the biggest metal bands in the world. After headlining Download Festival earlier this month as well as other festivals around the globe, the band keep going from strength to strength. Still touring on the release of their fourth studio album and talks of a new album next year, the Iowan nine don’t seem to show any signs of stopping just yet.

Listen to the album here (requires Spotify): http://open.spotify.com/album/67hickofVQYuBmHH7XY7sS

Get Spotify: http://www.spotify.com/

Via: Thrash Hits

This blog entry is about a band that is probably in the list of my Top 5 favorite bands. That band is called Slipknot.

Slipknot formed in the late nineties in Des Moines, Iowa, and it eventually had 9 members, each who wore a specific mask while performing at concerts and in music videos for their songs.

They have released 4 studio albums and 1 live album. Those albums are:

• Slipknot (studio)
• Iowa (studio)
• Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (studio)
• 9.0: Live
• All Hope Is Gone (studio)

Basically, I like Slipknot’s material from all of their albums although every time a new studio album comes out, the masks are different and the music style and lyrical content changes somehow.

As a DJ for WCUR 91.7 FM The Curve, the album by Slipknot which is true airplay (clean versions of course for respective songs) is their self-titled one. The self-titled Slipknot album contained hits such as Wait and Bleed, Surfacing, and Spit It Out. Wait and Bleed made VH1’s Top 40 list of the greatest metal songs. Plus, Wait and Bleed mixes subtle melodic vocals in addition to harsh screams. Basically, the message of Slipknot’s self-titled album was that of anger, especially in youths. For example, the song Eyeless I believe is about Corey Taylor never meeting his father (a while after this album was released he finally met him), and how he feels that he was basically left with nothing, thanks to his father ignoring that he had a son who needed somebody for guidance.

I am a fan of the album that Slipknot released after their debut self-titled release, Iowa. However, I do not feel that any of the songs from Iowa are radio material, even though the material is excellent in some people’s standards. Iowa focuses a greater deal on drifting away from the norm than their previous album which was all about hate and neglect. The Heretic Anthem, which is from Iowa, mentions the lyrics “If you’re 5-5-5, then I’m 6-6-6!” repeatedly. Basically, the point of the album was that if one person is living in a way that is getting repetitive and old, then I’m going to start something new and be satisfied as a result of differing from the norm.

The album that Slipknot released after Iowa was Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses. This album drastically changes from Iowa. It changes in the sense that the musical style is more experimental than what Slipknot released before. The album involves the concept of pain and doom, similar to a person who describes themself as “emo”. This is highly apparent in the acoustic songs “Circle” and “Vermilion Pt. 2″. Yet, even though most of the songs from the album focus on emo-like attitudes, there are songs that were drastically recognized. For example, the song “Before I Forget” won a Grammy award during the 2000s at one point. Duality also was a major hit from the album.

Anyways, a live album came out about a year after The Subliminal Verses, and it was good. There really is nothing to reflect on for a live album, especially this one, because they are performing all the songs that they have released prior to releasing the live album.

At the end of the summer season in 2008, Slipknot released their fourth studio album All Hope Is Gone. This album experiments even further than the previous album The Subliminal Verses. However, the song Psychosocial is a true hard rocker, but Psychosocial should only be played on the radio when people request the song or if that DJ is doing a specialty heavy metal/hard rock show. I personally was a fan of the songs which involved more singing on All Hope Is Gone, specifically Dead Memories. I loved the video for Dead Memories, just because I think the concept of the video is elaborate, and it is one of the best music videos to be made in recent times. But in Dead Memories, 98 – 99% of the song involves melodic singing rather than loud growls. There are still heavy guitar whammies, but the combination of the heavy guitar whammies and lead singer Corey Taylor’s melodic vocals makes a true hard rock sound to me. Dead Memories is a Slipknot classic.

Anyways, that is my reflection (although it went on for quite a bit of time) on one of the best, and obviously one of the most creative bands to ever exist. Maggot (Slipknot fan) for life!

This blog entry focuses on three of my favorite songs in recent days:

1. REMEDY BY SEETHER
I have listened to Seether’s Remedy 12 times entirely in the past 2 weeks. I love Seether, just because they are what a hard rock band should be. I can even say that for their most recent album Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, even though that album’s musical style is slightly different from their previous albums. But the album that Remedy is on is Karma and Effect. Karma and Effect, in my opinion, is Seether’s best album. It contains songs such as Remedy, Truth, and The Gift. Many people seem to enjoy Seether other than me. Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz uses Remedy as the music that plays at Citizens Bank Park when he steps up to the plate. When I was at a game with a friend this summer, he asked me if that was Nirvana. I told him I wasn’t sure but that it sure sounded like them a little. Several days after that game, I looked up on WikiAnswers.com the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies at-bat music, and the article said that Carlos Ruiz’s entrance music is Remedy by Seether. My point is that Seether’s lead vocalist Shaun Morgan has a voice that resembles deceased Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s voice. Even though their voices are similar, Nirvana and Seether are rock bands that should be classified as two separate rock subgenres. Nirvana is grunge and Seether is post-grunge or hard rock. Post-grunge is basically a genre of music that sounds totally different from grunge.
2. SILENT WARS BY ARCH ENEMY
I have listened to Silent Wars by Arch Enemy 11 times in the last 2 weeks. For those who are unfamiliar with the band Arch Enemy, let me inform me about them. Arch Enemy is a melodic death metal band from Europe, and they have some influences from other heavy metal subgenres, specifically thrash metal. What really isolates Arch Enemy along with some other death metal bands are that the lead vocalist is a woman. I’m not being sexist; I’m just saying that most bands in death metal are usually fronted by men. Nonetheless, I think it really helps to diversify the type of heavy metal music that is released today by having different types of people in bands and such. Some examples of bands that are diverse, and which I think makes an enormous, yet positive difference on the world of music:
• Sepultura – consists of African-American lead vocalist Derrick Green and the remaining members of which are Brazilian
• Alice in Chains – the new Alice in Chains consists of African-American lead singer William DuVall.
• Arch Enemy
• Cradle of Filth – the keyboardist is a woman
• Evanescence – the lead vocalist is a woman (Amy Lee is her name)
• Godsmack – some or all of the members are Paganists
• Judas Priest – the lead vocalist Rob Halford is an open homosexual. In my opinion, Rob Halford’s being gay influenced heavy metal bands after Judas Priest, simply because of the way Halford dressed (leather and studs, etc).
• Killswitch Engage – the new Killswitch Engage consists of an African-American lead singer whose name is Howard Jones.
• Lacuna Coil – the entire band is from Italy, and the band consists of female-frontwoman Cristina Scabbia.
• Metallica – lead guitarist Kirk Hammett has Pacific Islander ethnicity.
• Otep – the lead vocalist Otep Shamaya is an open lesbian.
• Soulfly – the lead vocalist is a Brazilian whose name is Max Cavalera. He is the former lead vocalist of Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.
• System of a Down – although the band settled in California, all of its members are either from the Middle East or Armenia.
WAIT AND BLEED BY SLIPKNOT
Slipknot, a band that hails from Des Moines, Iowa, started out with a goal that they still try to gain to this day. That goal is to make music for people who need guidance in their lives, especially disgruntled teenagers. To this day, Slipknot has released 4 studio albums in addition to 1 live album. The song that is the heading for this section of the blog entry is from Slipknot’s first album, which was self-titled. Songs from Slipknot’s self-titled album that I highly enjoy include Wait and Bleed of course, Sic, Eyeless, Surfacing, and Spit It Out, even though I love listening to the entire album all the way through at times. But Wait and Bleed really caught my attention. The song has a really catchy sound with excellent vocals in it. To this day, I have tried to decipher the meaning of Wait and Bleed. I assume it has something to do with dying a slow death, because one waits and bleeds and murdered in a way that the pain is slow before death. Additionally, I am not the only individual that believes that Wait and Bleed is an awesome song. VH1 ranked Wait and Bleed as the 36th best metal song.

If anybody has comments or such, feel free to post a response to this blog entry. I love hearing opinions. I actually like to improve what I do from opinions I hear from people.

Pour Slipknot, j’avais un peu perdu espoir. Leur dernier album, Vol.3 The Subliminal Verses, était bon, mais sans plus. J’avais entendu des rumeurs que c’était leur dernier album et c’était ok avec moi.

All hope is gone semblait un titre approprié pour un groupe qui semblait avoir fait le tour de leurs capacités créatrices.

Slipknot

 Mais notre bande de bizzaroides masqués préférés sont de retour avec un album assez surprenant. Je n’avais pas l’intention de l’acheté mais après une brève écoute j’ai été convaincu. Ya plein de riffs death metal pour ceux qui comme moi croyaient que Slipknot était devenu un band de feluettes. Presque aucun moment où on s’ennuie.. En somme, un excellent retour pour ces légendes du métal.

En passant, la version avec DVD vaut pas vraiment la peine. c’est juste un petit film fucké de trente minutes.