Slipknot Album: “Iowa [Japan Bonus Track]”

Slipknot's second major label debut is one of the most anticipated modern & extreme metal releases of the year & an important step foward for the band who exploded onto the heavy music scene in 1999, following their rare & independant mate, feed, kill, repeat album, with the brutal, complex & aggressive assault of their self titled LP. Iowa treads similar ground to the debut, though it is undoubtably heavier, faster & thrashier then the first album, while losing the minimal hip-hop influence present on the debut, & still incorporating a strong sense of melody. the guitaring is an improvement from the debut & the brilliant double bass onslaught & blast beats from drummer Joey Jordison once again has helped established him as one of the world's best drumming talents. Corey's vocals are again a standout with the diversity & aggression of his vocals shining through & dripping with conviction, that some anti-slipknot fans have claimed he doesn't possess. Corey is also assisted with some impressive backing vocals from the two percussionists. Scratches & samples add an eerie & subtle atmosphere to the music though they are not incorporated on this album as much as they were on the debut. The production is again first class from Ross Robinson, with the help of the slipknot crew. In my opinion the best tracks are People=S**t, Disasterpiece, New Abortion, Heretic Anthem, I am Hated & The shape. Left Behind displays good use of melody while the remakes of Gently & the 15 minute long atmospheric album closer Iowa are also impressive. The only song that hasn't as yet grabbed my attention is Everything Ends. Overall an awesome follow-up to the debut LP, with slipknot's death metal influences more prominant then ever without allowing the band to be classed as purely Death metal. Check out lamb of God, Soilent Green, Acid Bath & Australian metal bands Alchemist, Damaged & Blood Duster.

first of all, i'm no kid. i'm 22. did this so i dont register. This is one long review, so guys and gals, take careful notes.

1. why the hell is this album being compared to death metal? Does anyone know what death metal is?! Listen to nile, six feet under, cannibal corpse, death, opeth... i could go on and on. then, compare those bands to this. Boy, what a difference, eh?! i bet you will all feel stupid.

2. People should not judge a band because the wear some stupid masks. If you took masks and put them on pantera or metalllica, they wouldn't suck. What someone wears or doesn't wear does NOT affect ones musicianship. this is just a lame-ass excuse for hating something.

3. a band like this get awards because the so-called "real metal bands" just stay where they are, and don't promote anything. Yeah i hate mtv too, but there are many other ways of doing this. and most of you wouldn't want a band like opeth or nile to do. no matter which of these two a band does, people STILL complain, so quit complaining that bands like this get the awards, because you are only contradicting youselves.

4. People shouldn't say that a band is just noise, because in reality, all music is noise anyway. if anything were pure noise, it would never be signed to an important record label. a producer and engineer cannot risk all that money on a band that can't do sH*t.

5. lyrics themselves don't make a great song, you idiots.

6. one shouldn't ever hate a band because they sold out. all bands sell out at some point in their career. all the great bands people love (including myself have sold out or are on the border line). metallica sold out, pantera was on the border line when they split, megadeth sold out, korn sold out, even napalm death sold out! just move on with you lives and don't make such a big deal out of something that is so natural in the music business.

7. one shouldn't claim that a band is bad because of what they play. just because they play something you don't like or they play something that is bad doesn't mean they can't play. Munky from korn can give you some amazing solos he doesn't play when he's with the othre band members. one's musicianship is NEVER limited to the group.

8. People should also think before they write the reviews on this or any other site. people here claim that people that listen to this are "posers" or "wannabes". did any of you people ever come to the conclusion that most of these people (including myself) listen to other bands and OTHER TYPES of music? I myself have already mentioned some of my favorite bands (pantera, metalllica, megadeth, opeth, nile, napalm death, death, six feet under, korn) i bet you some people hear listen to at least one of those (besides korn)

9. one shouldn't waste their time writing pointless reviews for an almbum or band they could f#cking care less about. You are wasting your own time and energy trying to come up with excuses as to why a certain style of music or band suck. Plus, nobody gives a rat's ass about what others think. nobody can tell you what is good music and what isn't.

11. Who cares if something is "nu-metal"?! i don't listen to this music much (except korn and some of slipknot's songs). nu-metal is a style of heavy metal. both styles or a style of rock. rock music is rock whether it's elvis, or as i lay dying.

10. if you are a real music lover, you will appreciate all music. for the music you hate, you should see what IS good in it. a real music lover appreciates all music.

My point is:

-opinions don't change facst.

-Have a nice day.

After the Slipknot debut which was treated as a "revelation" when in fact it was simply pointless noise complete with silly shock tactics (clown masks and "serial-killer" attire as if there's such a thing) but mostly sub-zero talent, you can't blame the group for going on with this recipe since they found out that, indeed, trash sells.

Not only does trash sell, but Slipknot grasped that the more complicated you make trash to appear the more it becomes appealing. Example: if you were to search a garbage can in hope for something valuable in it, would you search a can which contains only one type of garbage in it, or, would you rather search one where the garbage is nicely mixed and your illusion of actually finding something worthwhile increases?

In reality of course, one might indeed find something worthy in a trash can, but in Slipknot's case you sadly come away only with trash.

For a band that numbers nine people the odds that noone would have any type of talent would be -one would think- small, yet this is exactly the case with this group. What you get is, a couple of screamers (and trust me on this, there's LOADS of people who can scream, watch any horror b-movie for evidence), then a coupla guitarists who spend most of their playing time butchering their guitar chords, a coupla drummers who treat drumming the way a would-be doctor with no licence would treat a patient on the operating table, a guy at the turntables who yawns his way to his paychecks since he doesnt have much to do, and well, all in all, that's about it.

Oh wait. There's of course, the "music" this band produces. Actually, you could obtain the same results musically -if not better- right at the comfort of your own home, without spending busloads of $$$ at studios and media promotion (the latter was 98% of Slpiknot's budget). All you gotta do is follow my advice and if you get lucky enough to be promoted you'll be hailed as the next best thing to noise pollution:

-take a lawnmower, not necessarily a new one, in fact the older and more run-down the better, and get it started near a recording device.

Tape the whole thing and send it to some labels. I understand that it sounds far-fetched that you'd get a record deal, but hey, Slipknot did...

Although this is an improvement from their first cd, this still is not very good. So why is it bad? Let's start with the vocals. Corey's scream/growl is nothing special and I think he could probably do better if he wanted, and his clean voice is weak and makes him sound like a rapper at many parts. And when he doesn't sound like a rapper he just sounds whiny and annoying. Next come the guitarists. These riffs are incredibly simplistic and easy to play (trust me on that one, I play guitar). I realize that they were trying to write catchy riffs that are good for moshing, but they could have thrown in some more technical stuff, and some guitar solos would make the songs way cooler too, but they don't have any of those things. I can't say much about the bass because the guitars are tuned down so low that you can hardly hear it. It's like the bassist isn't even there. Next is the drummer (the main drummer, I think his name is Joey). This is the only person in this band that has any talent (which is one of the reasons I gave this cd a 2 instead of a 1). He's extremely fast and an all around good drummer. Well, I think I've covered everyone in the band that actually does anything, so now I'm left with the other 4 members that are completely useless. The extra drummers don't do anything, they just run around the stage and come back to randomly bang their drum set whenever they feel like it (I've seen this band live, and that's all they did). Finally we come to the keyboards, which are used for ten or twenty seconds in only a couple of songs and add nothing extra to the music at all. If they are going to have a keyboard player they should at least use him enough to add to the music and give more of a feeling to it like most black metal bands do. As far as songwriting goes, these guys really haven't done anything clever or memorable, they are just trying to be as heavy and aggressive as they can be (which still isn't very heavy) so they can scare people and make them think that they are crazy (which is the same reason they wear the masks). The sad thing about that is that it actually worked. The lyrics are just pretty much your basic f**k the world I hate everything type stuff most of the time, and sometimes switch to the my life sucks and I hate myself type lyrics. I don't have a problem with lyrics like that, I just think that they could have figured out more clever ways to say those things. On the upper hand, the first few times I listened to this there were a few catchy parts that stuck in my head for a while, then on the lower hand again they got boring pretty quickly. Overall, if you are looking for some MTV heaviness that's simple and moshpit-friendly, look no further. But if you are like me and like more skillfully played and well written metal, I strongly suggest that you avoid this.

Iowa is an album that was recorded by masterminds! The music is much heavier, faster, melodic, and better than their self titled debut which is still very good and is selling! Iowa shows a different side of the band with the vocals on songs like Gently, Iowa, and New Abortion. In those songs Slipknot have brought a new element with them! Corey8Taylor sings more but, has also brought a kind of sadness to the lyrics. This band is a heavy hitter that just will not stop! They are not for the weak so all you preps stay away from this nine man freak show which consist of Sid0Wilson, Joey1Jordison, Paul2Gray, Chris3Fehn, James4Root, Craig5Jones, Shawn6Crahan, Mick7Thompson, and Corey8Tatlor. If you are new to Slipknot then you are probably thinking "Who needs nine people to run a band?" Well this is the think so many people put this band down because, they can't stand them or they think that they have no talent at all. Well if you saw them on stage then you would know how much talent this band has! Sid0Wilson is the D.J. and he does a hell of a job at it on the song Spit It Out on their self titled debut! When he doesn't play a part in a song he will crowd surf all the time jumping from anywhere! He even jumped off of a twenty foot balcony once trying to crowd surf but, he missed the crowd and landed on a guard rail breaking two of his ribs. Joey1Jordison is one of the best new drummers that you will ever see! He invents stuff that you haven't even heard before that works out great with the guitars! Paul2Gray is one of the members of the band that doesn't look like he is much of a talker but, he will quickly reinvent himself with his killer distorted bass riffs! Chris3Fehn is probably one of the coolest guys in the band because, just watching him move around is a thrill! He is funny lookin with that mask but, he will bang his head and that nose will flop! He is a percussionist so he gives a heavy beat to the songs. James4Root on guitar is pretty cool! He looks like Leather Face from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Craig5Jones is on sampler! He is one of the biggest members of the band because, he invents some stuff that you have never I mean even once in your life heard before! He does some scary stuff. Shawn6Crahan is crazy! He is a percussionist just like Chris but, he Bangs his head on everything! Mick7Thompson I think is one the best new guitar players on the metal scene right now! His work in the songs Gently, Iowa, and Everything Ends I couldn't believe it! I had no idea that he could do something that great! Corey8Taylor is a different kind of vocalist! Using all kinds of tones he does some things that no other new bands have done. If you really want to get into Slipknot then I think that you should get their debut first because, in this album they do alot of different things. If you are a fan of Slipknot then you are another maggot. I hope Slipknot are still going to be around for a couple of years so we can see if they have more to contribute to rock! Don't forget their reign of terror has just begun!