Just when the meditative 'Circles' threatens to keel over from melodrama, in sputters strings of damaged electronics and percussion to lead it into 'Welcome,' which sounds like Helmet covering Relapse Records' entire catalog at once. 3's various portions in wildly different ways. Rubin is integral to the album's power - his cataclysmic vocal filters and arrays of unidentifiable squiggle and squelch unite Vol. 'Blister Exists,' 'Three Nil,' and 'Opium of the People' are all standouts, strafing soft underbellies with rhythmic (occasionally melodic) vocals, stuttering, quadruple-helix percussion, and muted grindcore guitar. The seething anger and preoccupation with pain is valid because it's componential to the group's uniquely branded havoc. 3 tick is the dedication to making it a Slipknot album, and not just another flashy alt-metal billboard. But unlike so many, the band's sound rarely disassembles into genre building blocks: riff + glowering vocal + throaty chorus = Ozzfest acceptance. Lines like 'I've screamed until my veins collapsed' and 'Push my fingers into my eyes/It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache' (from the otherwise strong 'Duality') aren't unique to this cult. 3 shares its lyrical themes of anger, disaffection, and psychosis with most of Slipknot's nu-metal peers. Working with famously bearded helmer Rick Rubin - aka He Who Smites Bullsh*t - Slipknot pour the shrill accessibility of their self-titled debut down Iowa's dark sieve, and the result is flinty, angry, and rewardingly restless. Had they grown fat on their thrones? Probably. Still, after the gothic nausea of 2001's Iowa, Slipknot's vitality dissipated in clouds of gaseous hype and individual indulgence. But they also deployed an agitprop campaign of masks, smocks, and bar codes that helped scare parents (like good metal should) and transform Slipknot fans into faithful 'maggots.' The Midwestern origin of all this craziness is genius, as the band's marrow-draining metal and twisted, fibrous mythology is antithetical to the region's milquetoast rep. The former is a personal favourite, not least because I can remember the video premiere like it happened yesterday.Slipknot set out to construct the ultimate metal music flamethrower, ever since their genesis in a Des Moines, IA, basement.

‘Pulse Of The Maggots’ is a call to arms and a tribute to Slipknot’s fans, and it’s hard as fuck.Įvery Slipknot album has its big hitters, in this case ‘Before I Forget’ and ‘Duality’. ‘Opium Of The People’ is a storming, stomping singalong, ‘Welcome’ its mosh-ready bedfellow. The quality of the songs on this record is out of this world even if we set aside the big singles for the sake of argument. 3 is a riffing masterclass topped off with Taylor’s typically excellent vocals – he doesn’t agree – and a bottlerocket of a performance from drummer Joey Jordison and Slipknot’s percussion duo. Their powerful groove is indicative of what’s to follow. It tees up the monolithic combination of ‘The Blister Exists’ and ‘Three Nil’ and, even now, I’m hooked all over again. ‘Prelude 3.0’ is one of the most effective opening tracks in metal, almost four minutes of intro constructed around mood and mood alone. 2’ this album boasts what was, in effect, a whole new ‘knot. In ‘Circle’, ‘Danger (Keep Away)’ and the phenomenal ‘Vermilion Pt. In others it just crackles away, always dark but more introspective, slower and more expansive. In places it’s explosive with the archetypal frenzied Slipknot rage. Their third record proper burns like a fire. If friction begets great art, Slipknot friction creates genius. Corey Taylor’s problems at the time led to a new vocal approach and some lessons were learned about working with producer Rick Rubin along the way. 3 is, by any measure, an astounding work. Seduced by the chaos of Slipknot and then happily walloped right in the face by Iowa, by 2004 I was no position to properly absorb a record like this – and that’s putting it mildly. Yet, through no fault of its own, it’s comfortably the one of the first three official albums with which I initially connected least. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), that rightful place is often said to be at the very top of the pile. Some reviewers aren’t keen but they average out at seven or eight out of ten before eventually finding their rightful place in the band’s pantheon. Slipknot albums typically enjoy the same review cycle.

Vol3 the subliminal verses