Slipknot
"Iowa"
(Roadrunner Records)
Much like Pantera and Skid Row, when Slipknot prepared for its sophomore album the band decided to turn the metal up to the extreme. It could have spelled career suicide, but the group didn't care. It set out to release an unrelenting metal assault and that's exactly what resulted. The band was interested in touring with Deicide to promote the release, that's how heavy it was. Taylor opened the album with a guttural, death metal wail; the three-piece percussion unit performed like a fine-tuned machine; the guitars and bass traded riffs back and forth at a sometimes breakneck pace. The nine-piece outfit pulled together and unleashed a metal assault like a precision bomb.
The metal anthems ("Left Behind," "My Plague") just gives way to heavier tracks ("New Abortion," "Heretic Anthem") to even heavier fare ("I Am Hated," "Disasterpiece").
Much like a death metal album, apart from a handful of tracks (that ultimately became singles anyway), there wasn't anything that immediately jumped out at you. The beauty of the album is that it begs to be taken as a whole. It's as heavy as an album can get without shifting into a different realm of the genre (think Pantera's "Great Southern Trendkill"). Nothing feels overproduced but everything avoids sounding underdeveloped.
As it turns out, "Iowa" ended up being a completely misunderstood album. It was far too extreme for the masses that had embraced the aggression of "Slipknot." And fans from the heavier side of the tracks chose to shun the album with the impression Slipknot was nothing more than a "Hot Topic" band of the month (read: overly commercialized). But what I see is a classic.
"Iowa" captured a moment in time for Slipknot. The band wanted to make a statement and it did. The album and subsequent tour were so brutal it almost turned out to be the group's swan song. Instead, the members scattered and spent time working on other projects (The Murderdolls, DJ Starscream, Stone Sour, To My Surprise) and were able to regroup with a new appreciation for what Slipknot could become.
"Vol. 3" sees the band more in a different direction with the band exploring other dimensions of its sound and drawing inspiration from various extremes (metal and melody). I don't see the band ever reaching into the depths (of hell) to create "Iowa" part 2, let alone match or further the extreme nature (like I said, you can't get much more heavy without shifting into the death realm). Slipknot is capable of creating another classic, but will never outdo "Iowa."
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