Greetings from the suburban wilds! Welcome to 2024. Things have changed drastically in the seven-ish months since my last missive in May: I’ve been gone a cumulative three months and have been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest when I’ve been home and, as I’m sure you noticed, SUBSTANCE plummeted to the bottom of the priority list pretty quickly. That’s not to say that it hasn’t been on my mind, and I’ve occasionally sat and churned out some raw material here and there, I just never quite had the motivation to do anything with any of it. Anyway I started getting the itch again a couple of months ago and could use another healthy mechanism to take the edge off, so here we are again, this time via Beehiiv. Look how fucking professional I look now! Hell yeah. Hoping to foster some discipline and re-establish a regular rhythm for these moving forward, but as always we will see. It’s good to see you again.

I’ve engaged a couple of you about SUBSTANCE and its general fate, and in these conversations a recurring theme has been the desire for more reviews of a given artist’s discography. I agree that these are far and away the most interesting reads, though over the last however-long-it’s-been I feel like every idea I’ve had for a piece has leaned into the absurd just a little too much. For example, I’ve considered doing the entire Black Sabbath discography but always end up having a tough time finding the motivation to sit through thirty-something records. Same for the Jimmy Buffett discography, which seemed like a very funny idea for about ten minutes.

There’s also the matter of actual, you know, substance. Take our last example: given that it’s four or five decades worth of material that’s largely the same, sitting and reviewing the Jimmy Buffett discography feels like a gimmick with no real value. I think if we’re gonna do it, we (or I) should stick to artists that I can actually pull something from. I think a good start would be artists that I grew up with, artists that mattered a great deal at the time. There should be some emotional skin in the game, and I think there’s value in going back and re-appraising the material that was important to me early on in my musical development, especially if there are newer works with which I am unfamiliar. So for our first edition back, I’m going with a well-known yet still hilarious group that was very important to me and has, thankfully, a much smaller pool of releases to comb through: Slipknot.

Much like when we did the Korn re-appraisal, Slipknot likely requires no introduction among the assembled. Appearing in Des Moines in the mid-90s and carrying through to the present day, they are one of the more outrageously gimmicky nu metal bands, with nine members decked out in masks and matching coveralls. My recollection is that they tended to lean on a more metallic edge musically than some of their peers (Korn, Coal Chamber, etc), coming off as more metal and less nu, if that distinction means anything to you.

It has probably been over twenty years since I last sat and unironically consumed one of their albums. Young teenage me was a very big fan of Slipknot and Iowa. I know virtually nothing of their work post-All Hope Is Gone, so this oughta be a hoot.

Welcome back, y’all.

Slipknot (Roadrunner, 1999)

The year is 1999. After a demo and a dense knot (lol) of false starts and lineup changes, Slipknot burst onto the scene with this…thing. I loved this when I was first introduced to it around age eleven. I thought the anger and aggression were so scary and exciting, and I had a ton of fun when listening. Now? Eh.

I guess I’ll say that Slipknot is mildly interesting in how it chooses to go about its thing, which appears to be trying to present itself as a work that justifies the inclusion of nine musicians. That’s the thing that’s ultimately killing it for me: the songs are weird enough that they stand out from the nu metal crowd, but they’re weird because they have to accommodate everybody involved. It’s this having to provide a space for everybody that makes Slipknot come off like a gimmick more than anything else, with an already-packed soundstage having to be augmented with samples or DJ scratches or auxiliary percussion.

Most of the songwriting is trash but the band do strike gold a few times. The intro into ‘(sic)’ hits like a sledgehammer, and ‘Eyeless’ and ‘Surfacing’ still feel as intense as they did 20+ years ago. ‘Only One’ is a surprisingly good burst of prog buried deep on side B. And the hidden track, ‘Eeyore,’ is way more brutal than Slipknot honestly has any right to be, with an honest-to-God blast beat and a great (if rudimentary) opening Slayer-style riff. But most of the record ain’t great. ‘No Life’ sounds like evil alternate universe Incubus, in a not good way. ‘Eyeless’ is brutal but is definitely an excuse to give every musician space to be heard. And Ross Robinson strikes again with the rawest sounding slab of music you’ve ever heard. I am sometimes struck dumb at the success that some of his productions were able to find. You almost can’t tell the auxiliary percussion is there and it always surprised me that there were nine people playing on this record.

There’s also the issue of Corey Taylor, whose vocals grate on me more than those of almost every other vocalist I’ve ever heard. Good god is he insufferable, in content and execution. I used to think this shit was so angry and cool. Adult me wants to cringe endlessly and turn it off. I wonder how different this band could’ve been if they’d gone with someone using death metal growls instead of this garbage.

As we’re all aware, this album blew the band up. It debuted at #51 and has since gone double platinum. It was also tagged as ‘extreme metal’ a lot in the music press, which I’ve got some thoughts about. I’ve always struggled with how Slipknot should be pigeon-holed, even though it’s universally agreed that they’re nu metal. When I think of nu metal, I tend to think of slower, groovier music. I think the reason I get thrown off with Slipknot is the drums. Literally every other component of nu metal is there (INCLUDING A FUCKING DJ), but Mr. Jordison is busy and dexterous, not groovy and pounding a la Korn and others. It’s almost like they took a nu metal band and paired them up with Brann Dailor. I’ll even go as far as to assert that Joey is the real reason that people resonated with and then stuck with the band musically.

Tangentially related but I don’t understand how dudes who are into shit like Deicide end up in bands that sound like this. Joey’s clearly a big fan of, and has got the chops to be playing, death metal. What exactly is he doing in this band? Was this the best he could do in Iowa at the time? Like he’s gotta know this is more cringey than death metal. Although I guess that means I’m now making a value judgment and saying that Slipknot’s brand of nu metal is inferior to death metal. Which, I mean, it is. But like, who am I?

ANYWAY. Not a lot going on here outside of the nostalgia trip for adult me. Coming back to it at 35 years old with all of the music I’ve heard between then and now, this seems unacceptably corny. This is only gonna get worse, isn’t it?

Iowa (Roadrunner, 2001)

I remember being SO excited for this to come out. I had just started playing drums and was a Joey Jordison devotee such that I read and re-read his Modern Drummer interview probably a hundred times in the lead up to this album’s release. As the story goes, the band toured extensively on Slipknot and then most of the members took a break while Paul and Joey got together to start working on material for the follow up. The band’s overnight transformation into metal stars apparently ushered in a dark period for the guys, during which Iowa was recorded.

It definitely sounds a lot darker. My biggest gripe, again, is that I fucking hate Corey Taylor. I know I’m in the minority there, people love Slipknot because of him and 50 million Elvis fans can’t be wrong, but good god is he insufferable. I don’t want to sully this edition with his lyrics but check out ‘Everything Ends’ for the definitive proof. I want to say that it’s a shame that my dislike of him obscures the other musicians, but much like the first record the songs are only good some of the time. ‘Everything Ends,’ in addition to being something of an atrocity exhibition for Mr. Taylor, just kinda isn’t a great song. I very much doubt any other vocalist could save it. “People = Shit’ kicks off with the same noisy intro combo that launched Slipknot to dizzying heights, but after that opening death metal section it just kinda flops (not to mention that the whole schtick of having a separate intro section is something that Slipknot do to the point of exhaustion). ‘My Plague’ rips, though, it’s a dumb riff but it’s hella heavy. ‘Heretic Anthem’ rips and has the Dave Lombardo tribute halfway through the song; the band drops out and Joey does a straight double bass roll for a couple bars a la ‘Angel of Death’ and is on record stating that this was his tribute to Dave and Slayer. I remember loving ‘Left Behind’ and I think it still works as one of the poppier tunes on the album.

The production’s leaps and bounds over the debut. Ross Robinson came back and managed to make everything heavier without losing an ounce of emotion. The aggression is palpable. Say what you will about the material that he’s had a hand in but Ross productions definitely make you feel shit. And sonically Iowa is a huge improvement. You can actually pick out the auxiliary percussion now, and being able to hear it I have a better idea of what they were going for, which is to beef up the rhythmic components when parts call for it. I still think it’s gimmicky and largely useless, but at least you can hear it.

After Iowa came out, the band embarked upon yet another wild touring schedule: they left in May 2001 for the Kill The Industry dates in Europe, then had a week off in June before joining up with Ozzfest stateside (which went until August), and then had a month off before hitting the Pledge of Allegiance dates until early November. The ass-end of November was supposed to start a US tour that was canceled, and then come January they were back to Europe for a couple of months and then Japan for a few weeks. I would’ve lost my mind too. I watched a couple of live videos from this era and the stage setup is insane; I never got to see Slipknot when it would’ve meant something and the sheer scale of the stage production is mind blowing.

Something about grown men making music like this feels simultaneously juvenile and capitalistic.

I understand that I am a product of this particular pipeline but listening to Iowa, it’s very easy to see how a kid who was into Slipknot could potentially find their way into death metal as they got a little older.

Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (Roadrunner, 2004)

Album number three for the band appeared after a hiatus prompted by the band’s exhaustion (mostly with each other) following the whirlwind of the Iowa release and touring cycle. My most vivid memory of anything off of this album is sitting outside Mac’s on route 38 in Tewksbury and hearing somebody blasting ‘Duality’ while driving by (and then making fun of them). I was well out of Slipknot mode by then and am not sure I’ve even heard anything else from this album before now.

This album kicks off with a subdued bit of music that’s in direct contrast to the openers on the previous two albums and is an actual, legit track instead of a noisy intro. It is less immediately apparent that this is a metal band and comes off like a butt rock band trying to do what AFI did on Sing The Sorrow. And indeed, when the first heavy track arrives (‘The Blister Exists’) it has none of the teeth of ‘(sic)’ or ‘People = Shit.’ It sounds boring and lifeless and feels more like it was released because it was in the corporate calendar to have a new record out, which I guess makes some sense because Slipknot were HUGE after Iowa came out.

But as you listen you get small gifts like ‘Three Nil,’ which has a lot of legit death metal parts and is plenty heavy and enjoyable aside from the vocals. And clearly the band had some idea of what was then-popular because they started adding sections that sound like breakdowns, replete with their signature keg hits (though in this case, much like when Judas Priest tried their hand at sounding groovier in the mid-90s, it comes off as the band fighting to remain relevant rather than exploring a new artistic angle). Nothing outside of the singles has any real staying power. They even experiment with VERY quiet material like ‘Circle,’ but it again feels more like an attempt to be relevant rather than exposing a new piece of their musical selves. This whole album feels like it was made by a non-musical committee.

Nu metal had largely had its moment in the sun by the time this came out so I’m not quite sure what to make of this album, nor can I pinpoint the supposed audience. If you had had no contact with heavy music then maybe it was for you? I’m not sure how much this would’ve snapped me up if this was the first Slipknot release I’d heard as an eleven year old. The songs do flow a bit better and there isn’t the component part-stapling of the debut (and, to a lesser extent, Iowa). But the slow bleed of the weirder elements of the earlier material ends up leaving the music with nothing but the more generic components of their sound. In other words, another race to the bottom. I can’t imagine that these are going to get any better.

All Hope Is Gone (Roadrunner, 2008)

Slipknot return after another extended break with new masks and a new album. While the preceding touring wasn’t nearly as insane as that following Iowa, Corey had to get his drinking under control and everybody devoted a ton of time to their various side projects (Stone Sour, Murderdolls, etc). I could not have given any less of a fuck about Slipknot in 2008, but I remember digging ‘Psychosocial.’

It shocks me to say this but All Hope Is Gone is actually great. This was the last work done by the original nine members and is by far their best. The experiments are dialed back, the structures are tightened, tones are heavy, but rather than coming off like a generic ass-kisser like Vol. 3 this album feels so fucking solid. ‘Gematria’ kicked in and I reached over and cranked my car radio; most of that song could’ve been on a mid-period Behemoth album (and has a decent breakdown around 3:45). ‘Psychosocial’ is lame radio butt metal but I kinda love it, same for ‘Dead Memories.’ ‘Vendetta' has a great opening riff. Literally every song is very listenable and enjoyable. I am surprised but not disappointed.

I can’t actually specify why I’m going so hard for this and none of the later stuff, but this is the most fun I’ve had since re-appraising Iowa. I don’t have much more to add and am probably not going to be throwing this on extensively in the future, but it felt good to hear a Slipknot album and not be immediately turned off/nauseated.

As a fun piece of trivia, during the recording of All Hope Is Gone, Sid, Shawn, Corey, and Jim peeled off to go write some “oblique, arty pieces’ on their own. I can’t find any record of this being released anywhere other than a track that appeared on the All Hope Is Gone special edition.

Apparently everyone in the band hated All Hope Is Gone except for Joey, which leads me to believe my heart is in the right place. It’s also the first of their albums to be recorded in Iowa itself, to pay tribute to their home and “avoid the distractions of LA.” My eyes have rolled to the back of my fucking head.

Seriously, though, ignore the vocals and give this one a shot. It’s surprisingly enjoyable.

.5: The Gray Chapter (Roadrunner, 2014)

By 2014, Joey had been kicked out and Paul had been dead for four years. I remember when news broke of Paul’s death, my first thought was that the band was done. Then there was the whole controversy around the fact that they were, in fact, going to continue, and even had a new rhythm section (who were kept anonymous until someone recognized one of Alessandro Venturella’s tattoos). This is the band’s first outing in six years and the first with their new rhythm section.

This is like a lame version of the last two albums with recycled riffs from the first two. It’s got the same quasi-death metal parts, the same quiet songs, etc. It very much feels like Slipknot found the thing that worked and is going to proceed to beat it to death for however long they can get away with it. I can’t bring myself to like anything about .5. A couple of riffs made me bob my head but the vocals are so insufferable that there’s no way for me to enjoy anything about this. It’s also fucking LONG. Who ok’d this thing being over an hour long? Every song starts to sound the same about four songs in. Who is this for?

Personally, I judge the band pretty harshly for attempting to soldier on without arguably the two most important members of the band, seeing as how integral both Paul and Joey were to the writing of those early records. Given some of the controversy still to come out in later years, I’m gonna stand by my feelings there. Anyway you can skip this.

We Are Not Your Kind (Roadrunner, 2019)

We are now down to an eight-man crew, as percussionist Chris Fehn was booted from the band shortly before this album was recorded due to a lawsuit over unpaid royalties (the allegations being that Corey and Shawn had set up shell companies to siphon more money away from the band and into their own pockets). Jim and Shawn wrote the bulk of this record and critics apparently hailed it as one of the best records of their career, so let’s see how this goes.

This sounds exactly like the last record but opens with that dumb choir like they’re the Rolling Stones or something. I wish this fucking band would break up already. The production’s at least got a little teeth now but musically this is another boring Slipknot album. Words truly escape me. I can’t imagine being the kind of person who would enjoy something like this. Again, the music is passable if boring and would maybe be more enjoyable if it weren’t for those vocals. I feel bad that I don’t really have anything insightful to say about any of it.

I have not had any fun at all listening to these last couple albums. I feel like Andy Daly on Review with some of this shit.  Hopefully you, dear reader, are at least having a good time at the thought of me sitting in a dark hotel room, far from home, listening to all of this and being horribly bored. One more to go.

The End, So Far (Roadrunner, 2022)

I’m gonna be real with you. I had such a bad time listening to the last couple of entries that I waited until the absolute last minute to give this a spin. I think it’s gonna suck, honestly. The only good thing is that it’s the last one, and is somehow the band’s shortest record even though it clocks in at a back-breaking 52 minutes good fucking Jesus WHY. It’s astonishing to me that Slipknot is still a going concern. Shawn referred to early versions of this material in an interview as “god music.” Let’s go get this over with.

More strings. Ugh. We can at least say that opener ‘Adderall’ is different. It sounds like the last song on the 18V album Obsession, or like Stone Sour trying to ape Stabbing Westward, or like Slipknot discovered Radiohead. But once ‘The Dying Song (Time to Sing)’ hits, it’s back to the same old Slipknot. How can anybody credibly say that Slipknot is any better or worse across the back half of their discography? They’ve spent the fifteen years since All Hope is Gone re-writing the same album with varying quiet songs to make it sound different. Again, there are a handful of good riffs. 3:17 in ‘Yen’ made me bob my head a bit. The opening of ‘Hive Mind’ ain’t bad. But that’s all, otherwise it’s the same experience. I cannot tell the last three albums apart.

I feel like I should be better about trying for objectivity here but I just can’t do it, folks. This isn’t fun anymore. I hate this. How much of this material did the world need? The scattered blast beats used to make me smirk, now I just cringe. Like there’s only so many ways you can spin the gimmicky elements without sounding drastically different each time out, and I imagine it’s really hard to break the established formula when you’re seven albums deep and have been as successful as Slipknot. So I guess this is it for as long as Slipknot remain active. The weird thing is that an apt comparison to another band continues to elude me. Slipknot only ever sound like themselves and credit where credit is due, not many bands can claim to only sound like themselves.

I guess there’s something to be said for being extremely careful when choosing your niche, because depending on what you decide upon it may be a tall order to keep coming up with listenable, relevant material that doesn’t sound exactly like everything else you’ve released. Look at Korn. Korn usually sounds like Korn, but the ‘Korn sound’ has enough room in it that they can evolve to a degree and give you something different while still being Korn. This is seven albums into the Slipknot discography and it only ever sounds exactly like Slipknot and never in a new or meaningful way. It feels like an excuse to keep business going and less like creativity, if that matters at all.

—

I went into this exercise believing that Slipknot had at least two good albums. From my position on the other side, they’ve got one good album and a handful of good riffs besides. I know I gave a ranked list at the end of the Korn retrospective but I can legitimately say I like Korn. I can’t say I like Slipknot very much after this exercise. Keep the first three tracks off of Slipknot, ‘My Plague,’ and All Hope Is Gone, and burn the rest.

And that’s the show! Giving a retrospective of the back half of 2023 would take a minute and I’m gonna skip it for now but some cool shit happened. On my last trip to Texas I caught the Dallas date of the Sunn O))) Shoshin duo tour and they were excellent. I had tickets to go see Codeseven and Hopesfall in North Carolina but that trip ended up getting cut short so I did not get to go. 2024 is already shaping itself up to be a doozy, but as always we will see what happens.

For our next romp, I’m finally going to get through reviews of the stuff I picked up in Tokyo last April, as well as some localized listening I did whilst traveling. Aiming for a February 1 delivery on the next one, hopefully I will see you then.

Peace and love, talk soon.

Joey