Hi folks. This is a post, looking back on my favourite album by One of my favourite bands, who happen to be Slipknot. They released their highly anticipated second album Iowa exactly 20 years ago. Iowa came out as the band were touring to promote it and while they were further emerging from the success of the self titled debut album. We were promised a heavier and darker album by The Knot and boy… did we get it and it was also very good.
For me, this was a turning point because of how heavy Iowa is, both musically and vocally for singer Corey Taylor. If you have it just listen to how hard he screams on the album and then, listen to his work after that on Stone Sour and later albums by both bands and even his other work, including his solo album from last year. You can hear the evolution in his singing and screaming from Iowa onwards and I think he has it all down to a science. Altho, when performing live his scream has dropped to a Grauel, but not necessarily a death metal Grauel. Think early max Cavalera before he was 20 years old.
What I’m going to do for this post is talk about what I remember and include some videos to give context, to what I am saying. I will also wander off The path, but I will come back and you’ll see what I mean as you read on. Are you ready? I remember the track Heretic Song was released to Radio as a rough mix of The Heretic Anthem, in June 2001. I actually like this version better than the one we get on Iowa, because there are more sounds at the end of it and that is my favourite thing about Slipknot. They weren’t afraid to put in such sounds as groans, grunts and screams just to give the song more energy. On later albums this happens sometimes but not as often as it did on the first two. Just think who they were working with at the time, to produce both albums! After all, Ross Robinson did produced the first two albums by Korn and the debut album by Limp Bizkit, as well as Roots by Sepultura and the sound was just as wild and live as was Slipknot’s sound at the time. Anyway, let’s listen to Heretic Song. Shall we? https://youtu.be/mfKDE-WrKlw
I was waiting all summer for the album to come out and when Left Behind was released as the first radio single, It didn’t bother me at all. Especially considering how comparatively melodic it is. After all, the rest of Iowa is quite heavy compared to it and of course there were other songs I would hear on the radio from The forthcoming album, before it would be unleashed. https://youtu.be/D1jQKpse7Yw
Throughout the summer of 2001, Slipknot toured with Ozzfest and bands like: Black Sabbath, Linken Park, Mudvayne, Papa Roach, Disturbed, Marilyn Manson, Drowning Pool, Crazy Town and other bands on The various stages. There was a live album, which came out on August 14th 2001, with highlights from most of the bands on the tour. Slipknot allowed a new song to be a part of it and The same live version would also show up, on the Australian special edition of Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) in 2004. https://youtu.be/905u6YJU-oE
The songs: People = Shit, Disasterpiece, The Heretic Anthem, The Shape, I Am Hated, Skin Ticket and New Abortion were played on the radio, but not in regular rotation. At the time, radio stations would have shows, dedicated to specific genres with what is called Foreground Programming. Foreground is long-form programming, usually running from 30 minutes to three hours. That’s where a show which plays nothing but metal works nicely. Because of that freedom for program directors and on-air announcers alike, that type of programming allowed me to hear the other songs I had mentioned, along with Left Behind and sometimes, there would be copies of the album given away to listeners. There weren’t many interviews about the album that I heard before it came out but it didn’t matter because I didn’t expect to hear much from the band. They didn’t talk that much and that was fine with me at the time. Now they talk about a lot of stuff from their careers and that’s OK too.
This album is also significant for me in that it was the first one ever, that I actually purchased at midnight, the day of the release. Remember when you actually went to your local record store, to buy an album? The closest we come to that experience today, is searching on iTunes. it Canby an adventure, but not the same as: physically getting up, walking out the door and taking the bus to go downtown, to the local record shop and plunk down some cash. Then, take it home to give it a spin. Compare that to touching, swiping, dictating into a smart phone and poking on the screen, for the new album. There is one bonus of today’s technology, which is being able to pre-order the album and get the first single, or any other singles which you would normally hear only on the radio and have to wait until the album comes out, in order to own it. You will notice that I am not talking about streaming, because all that involves is poking around and doing a search for a band, or an album and not purchasing it through iTunes. The other knock against streaming is that you won’t get the album pushed to your phone and you have to do the work, where as if you had purchased it on iTunes (as a pre-order) you can purchase any of the proceeding singles and get the entire album on your phone, the day it comes out. All you have to do is pre-order the album weeks in advance and the only obligation you have, is to make sure you have enough money in your iTunes account, so that you can be charged for the entire album, when it is released. I actually talked about this in a post at the end of 2015, but I didn’t get into the Discussion about having to make sure that you have enough money in your account, so that you can be charged for the entire album as it is pushed to your iPhone. The idea behind that was to talk about how us music fans and radio can get the album at around the same time, provided that there is a lot of fanfare. Remember when Avenged Sevenfold had released The Stage in 2016 without any lead up to it, except for the first single?
I actually went downtown to HMV at 333 Young St. in Toronto (which is now a pot shop) and bought it at midnight and went home and gave the CD it’s first of many spins, over the past 20 years. I can’t possibly go through the album track by track, so I will talk about as many songs as I can. In the meantime, here is the album and you can listen to it while reading this… or not. https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n58EKRGeKcOlbTEpKGy_98h1vVoJfFo-g&feature=share
The opening track is called 515 and what we here, are screams and sounds from DJ Sid Wilson. His Grandfather had recently died and all the emotion from that came out in that short avant-garde track. That was revealed in the 2011 deluxe version of Iowa, on the DVD and I had no idea about that, because there was no discussion of it, in any sort of depth on Wikipedia because it is an intro track. Strangely, on my diskman when I would pop it in and play the CD, it shook during this track, with the original CD copy I had bought and I don’t know why.
People = Shit opened the album with the first full song, which came at the listener hard and fast, like Death Metal and it is certainly relentless. With fast vocals and intense screams and growls the song pummeled you into submission. It became a fan favourite immediately and is one of my favorites along with the track Eyeless from the first album.
Disasterpiece is much the same but a bit slower, with a slight let up in intensity in the breakdown. There is a bit of melody coming through in the vocals this time but after a reprieve the song goes back to its original high intensity. Much like the previous track it incorporates some elements of Death Metal but I think that Thrash Metal is more what is heard in this song.
My Plague is the second single and one of the few songs with a melodic chorus. However it still is as intense as the previous tracks. The single version has a much less intense lead vocal from Corey but despite that it still retains the same ferocity. It appears on the soundtrack of resident Evil, as well as the deluxe version of Iowa and the 2012 compilation Antennas To Hell.
Everything Ends goes back somewhat, to People = Shit and Disasterpiece but has some of the melody of My Plague in it. This song is more nu metal, than extreme metal, but it still has the same vitriol and there is no lead up in the intensity.
The Heretic Anthem was the first single… sort of, but it was the rough mix that came out first with the slightly different title that I mentioned and provided the video to earlier. When it was played it also became a fan favourite just like People = Shit and Disasterpiece. I think the main reason for this is because of the chorus: “if your five five five then I’m six six six” which Corey would have the croud respond to before going into the song, with the sampled countdown from 8 to 0, with a computer voice which is like an actual robot and not like Siri or Alexa. In fact, my guess is that it came from a software program in the 1980s, design for the blind and visually impaired to be able to use computers. Also, the same thing happened on the song Pulse of the Maggots, with that robot type of voice asking “do you understand?” repeatedly and with Corey responding “yes.”
As I said earlier, I like the rough mix because there was more sound effects at the end of the track like breaking glass and screams and grunts from Corey and I’m so happy, that it is available on YouTube. Thankfully, it’s a great song with or without the extra animalistic noises at the end.
Gently is also another favourite of mine because of how it is structured. It starts off quiet and haunting then it builds to a Slipknot like crescendo at the end. It had been around for a few years, ever since before Corey joined the band and it was recorded for their debut EP Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. which came out in 1996 with original vocalist Anders Colsefani. He later stated that he had no problem with Corey taking over for him and called him a good guy. I’ve met Corey and despite what he is being known for now, (I-E) throwing fans out of Slipknot shows and dowsing people with bottles of water, who are using their smartphones at said concerts I agree. By the way, here is the original version of the song, from the album Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. https://youtu.be/H7iADWQvoxg
Left Behind was the first single for radio but despite it’s melody it didn’t translate well to it. Thus, it was made a fan favourite. The strange thing about the end of the song is that it has a noise, which sounds like an airplane and that was certainly scary For some people to hear that, especially after the September 11 attacks. By the way, here’s another version of Left Behind for you to munch on. https://youtu.be/-TvzRL-8Ac8
I can’t really say too much about: The Shape, I Am Hated, Skin Ticket, New Abortion or Metabolic because there really isn’t that much to say about those songs. All though if I had to talk about any of them, The Shape incorporates a loud quiet dynamic with the quiet verses and of course, the loud choruses. Some people have compared Corey’s vocals in the song, to Jonathan Davis of Korn and I think any comparison of Slipknot to Korn is foolish, despite that Ross Robinson had produced the first 2 albums for both bands. Otherwise, The comparison ends right there.
Skin Ticket does show a slower trippy side to the bands music and that later appears in songs like Iowa and Gehenna from All Hope Is Gone.
The final track Iowa is one that I can speak to because it is also a favourite of mine and I think it should have been released as a single, just to piss off some people if for no other reason then to just shock and annoy, as well as befuddle. After all, the song is about 15 minutes long and has no chorus. It is such a long song with many ebbs and flows within it but it isn’t an easy ride through The number. The song even includes back masking with the words “shit don’t look at me” being heard backwards during the second half of the song. https://youtu.be/xEVUWh0OqfE The only reason I know what Corey is saying (besides the link) is that there are iPhone apps which allow you to listen to your music from Apple Music backwards. I used it on Beatles songs with backward sounds and vocals in them and well… why not Slipknot? Here is Corey talking about recording the song Iowa in his own words. https://youtu.be/pYGmKkbxKWQ
This album is my favourite and is indeed, the quintessential Slipknot album. After all, Iowa was named the greatest album of this century so far, a few years ago. Others are varying degrees of worthy but this one tops them all in the energy and in the musicians developments. The debut album is great too, but there are 2 songs I can do without and they happen to be the singles “Spit It Out” and “Wait and Bleed”… because they aren’t my favorites. I don’t hate them out right, but I don’t exactly look forward to hearing them either. However, I will listen to them because it is slipknot.
As far as Slipknot’s development on Iowa, there may not be any guitar solos on The album, but there is some musical technicalities on it. Just listen to the breakdown of My Plague and you will hear a slint of musical sophistication. Even the guitar riff for Left Behind is a challenging one to listen to, let alone play. It reminds me of The Smashing Pumpkins 1996 single Zero but unlike that song, the riff goes up and down like a roller coaster. Yet, it is a relatively easy riff to play on guitar, if you listen to how it is being played. I won’t get into it here but just trust me on this.
Even the members of the band had look to cull inspiration from this album for future albums with songs from All Hope Is Gone and .5, The Grey Chapter having elements from it on some songs on both albums. The track Goodby is a perfect example of how similar it and Gently are to each other in that they both start off quiet and haunting and build up to being heavy. All though in the case of Goodby, it actually has a melody to it and at the end, it goes into another song entirely, while Gently has a section which brings the song to its close. Even the track Gehenna from All Hope Is Gone sort of picks up where Skin Ticket left off but is much more subdued and trippy, yet still intense. Also, Corey has said that .5, The Grey Chapter would take elements from Iowa and Vol. 3, The Sabliminal Verses which they have done.
Apparently, Slipknot have performed Iowa in its entirety, since my last post on this classic Knot album and I wonder how they had decided to take on the title track. They could have stretched it out, or if they played each song as is (as much as possible) they could have ended it with that long low bass note at the end and Kory saying the line “you’ll live forever”, constantly echoing with vocal delay with that low note feeding back for about a minute or so.
Since then, Slipknot has recorded 4 studio albums, released 2 live albums and 1 compilation album. The studio albums are: Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses), All Hope Is Gone, .5: The Gray Chapter and We Are Not Your Kind. The two live albums are: 9.0 Live and Day of the Gusano (Live), which was complimented by a concert film version of the same album. Oh, I can’t forget about the DVD for Disasterpieces, which was recorded in London England in 2002 and (sic)nesses, which was taken from the Download Festival in 2009. The same performance is also available in audio form, on the deluxe version of Antennas to Hell, which is probably the best of the best-of packages out there, of all time. Don’t get me wrong, I love Queen’s Greatest Hits from 1981, but this is a fans greatest hits, with both singles and fan favourites on it. It’s a perfect playlist for maggots (like myself) who love Slipknot during the era of the first 4 albums. I can listen to the last 2 albums, but I prefer the first 4 and especially, the first 2. They were hungry and out to eat the world and not giving a shit, how people looked at them, or whether those who didn’t get it thought they were a joke. Obviously, they aren’t and I knew that from the very first time I heard Eyeless back in May 1999, with crappy sound quality on a Radio station out of Mohawk College in Hamilton Ontario Canada.
Unfortunately, tragedy has also struck the band in the past 11 years, with bassist Paul Gray passing away in 2010 and former drummer Joey Jordison also no longer sharing oxygen with us, as of July 26, 2021. Percussionist Chris Fehn was fired in 2019, because he sued some members of the band, over business crap. Even more unfortunately, singer Corey Taylor had tested positive for COVID-19, despite being fully vaccinated and being outspoken against those who aren’t. I am fully vaccinated and I agree with him. In his statement on Facebook about this unfortunate turn of events, he sounded rather raspy (which is not unusual) but he said that he was very sick and thankfully, he is recovering. Of course, I wish him well and I hope he can get back out on the road as soon as possible. https://www.nme.com/news/music/corey-taylor-has-tested-positive-for-covid-19-im-very-very-sick-3025153 also, here is another link to a similar article from a YouTube channel which I am subscribed to. https://youtu.be/_0vTNCvRgOs
To me, this was a third punch to the gut as three of my favourite singers over the past 29 years had tested positive in the past 18 months of this pandemic: Maynard James Keenan of Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, Jonathan Davis of Korn and now Corey Taylor, whom I’ve actually met in 2002, while he was touring with Stone Sour on the debut album. You know? The one with Bother on it?
Corey was at a Radio station doing an interview live on the air in Toronto. I had heard that he would be doing it and because it was in a store-front studio, I had decided to go down to see the show that night at a now demolished venue called Kool Haus and before that, my first stop was the radio station. I had met Corey, with Slipknot back on April 7 of 2000 and this time was on December 5, 2002. We actually talked and had coffee together. We had Tim Hortons coffee, as I had a double double and he had his Coffee black. What surprised me was that he actually reacted to the fact that The coffee was… hot. I was thinking that this is the same man who plays in Slipknot, who jumps around on stage or falls off stage and sometimes hurts himself and he is breathing through his teeth, because the coffee is hot? Like I said, this was running through my head and me being the quiet shy guy I am, it didn’t come out of my mouth. Besides, Corey was a good guy and I was told, that he got out of bed at the hotel, to come down and do the interview. It also allowed me to try and catch up with some mutual friends I had, with the DJ, or at least try to do so. Anyway, I digress.
If I may, I would like to address the topic of masks for a second. As we know, during this pandemic we’ve all had to wear masks and as we also know, slipknot wears masks as a part of the stage garb, along with coveralls. Unfortunately, the masks we have been able to sport are nothing more than in efficient face coverings, which allow air in and out and do not protect us completely from Covid. However, if we wore the following masks: kabuki mask, pig mask, death masks (Like they ware when they Play the song Vermilion live), clown mask or any of the masks which members of slipknot have worn over the years, I think we would all be better off and actually better protected from Covid. You see, I don’t mind masks and I’m not an anti-mask her, but I am an anti-these masks that we have available to us because they suck. They’re disposable, unlike the masks which members of slipknot sport and wouldn’t it be more economical, for us all to get masks which we can clean and use again and again, over a number of months to a year or more? Slipknot does and so should we. Having said all that, I do hope the day comes that we can make wearing masks optional. Anyway, I digress.
Back to the album and some trivia! Iowa is one of four albums by slipknot, which have been released in the summer. The debut album was released on June 29th 1999, All Hope Is Gone was issued on August 26th 2008 and We Are Not Your Kind, was unleashed on the world August 9th 2019. Of course, Vol. 3 and .5, The Grey Chapter were released in the spring and fall respectively. I mention this because of Slipknot being a dark band and releasing music in the summer, is a rather jarring juxtaposition, even if the idea was to have new music out in time for festivals and such.
Like I said, Iowa is my favourite album by one of my favourite bands and I know I and other fans have been clamouring for them to do a repeat of the album. Simply, they can’t because of who they are now, compared to who they were then. They have experimented since then and it wouldn’t make sense to go back and do a strait heavy album, without any other genres creeping in. Slipknot has done folk and even a power ballad over the years and it’s all because of outside influences from each other and bands they have played with, when not in the Knot.
Also, Corey screamed really hard on Iowa and on that tour, to the point of sounding like his throat was torn to shreds, when he would growl. Just listen to the song Liberate on the Disasterpieces DVD and pay attention to when he growls “yeah”… repeatedly at the end, before he does his final roar to end the song. He had admitted to having damaged his throat and had to change his scream, to something higher and without blowing his voice out. Thankfully, he has found a way to drop it lower and it has been like that, since 2008 and when he sings, he has mostly sang with clear vocals and very little rasp. So, I don’t think it would be practical to try and do an Iowa Part 2, just like the original, as Corey screamed really hard and could risk ruining his voice for good.
Will there be a 20th anniversary reissue of Iowa? I hope so, because I would like to hear all the songs I’ve put into this post, especially the Heretic Song on an album for the first time. It would be good to have more rare stuff which was issued as B-sides and bonus tracks over the Iowa record cycle, including any live tracks. Either way, I hope they do something for the 20th anniversary of this classic and quintessential album by the nine headed wrecking crew, otherwise known as Slipknot. Oh, I should also mention this good news from Corey about his COVID and I’ll let him tell us all Stay safe and stay sic. https://youtu.be/FRUTuufewZU
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