Artist: Slipknot
Album: Iowa
Genre:
Death Metal
Lyrics: 80/100, Vocals 93/100, instrumental 96/100
This
happens to be the heaviest album on my list/ It’s not the heaviest album I have
ever heard. However, my CDs don’t get a whole lot heavier than this one. At least
not the albums I like.
Everything
about this album is heavy. The lyrics are dark and disturbing. The instrumentals
are distorted and violent-sounding. To top it off, Corey Taylor’s vocals full-out
reside in my nightmares. This album was clearly made when they were all at
angry/hateful points in their lives. This album embraces everything they’re
feeling, including their hometown, Iowa.
The
starting track, like their debut, is called “515” and it is creepy, eerie… a soundtrack that immediately puts you on
edge. All you can hear is Corey screaming something awful, (turns out to be
“death” which is fitting, considering he sounds as though he’s being slowly murdered.)
The
following track is “People = Shit” – a song that adequately fits the title. The
band sings about why they hate the human condition. The song which comes after
this tune is “Disasterpiece” which is the heaviest song and on the album (and
also my favourite Slipknot song) bar none. The opening of this song is the
coolest – Corey yelling at the top of his lungs. “Hold on to something!!!.”
Then song then slides into a huge instrumental breakdown with some of the best
riffing I have ever heard. This is pure Death Metal bliss, at its finest. This
is what one needs to turn on when one is angry with the world. The opening
lyrics sum up the entire emotional mood of this album, so if you are looking for
pretty melodies and you don’t like the lyrics you’ve read thus far… well, I
suggest you never listen to this album. For example, if you were to read on you'd come across, “I wanna
slit your throat and fuck the wound. I wanna push my face in and feel the
swoon. I wanna dig inside, find a little bit of me, cause the lines get crossed
when you don’t come clean.”
Another
song on the album worth discussing is, “I am Hated”. Believe it or not, this
song is fun to listen to. Corey’s vocals are once again very raspy and he spits
out his lines so fast, it almost comes across as rapping. I love every second.
My biggest album
complaint would be that the song “Iowa” is 15:04 minutes long! Other than that,
it’s a classic and would probably be in my top 5 or 6. That long, boring, and tedious
“Iowa” song affected an otherwise superb and well-put-together Death Metal
album.
Other than that, I consider this an above-average
Death Metal album. The lyrics throughout the album are good, but nothing special.
What makes the lyrics appear outstanding is the application of Corey's raw,
emotional, hate-filled pipes. And the vocals aren’t even the attention-grabber.
By far, the instrumentals are what put the album into my top ten. I would
classify the album’s music as ‘organized chaos’. Joey’s drumming is
exceptional, especially on the songs “Disasterpiece”, “People=Shit”, and “Left
Behind”.
A fun fact I recently learned about the album is
that it peaked at #1 in Canada. (No surprise, really, as Canadians have always
had good taste.) If you are a music lover who is into ‘heavier’ music, I highly
suggest you purchase the CD, “Iowa” by Slipknot. It truly kicks ass.
Songs to
check out: Disasterpeice, I Am Hated, My Plague, The Heretic Album
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