Slipknot - Iowa

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Slipknot - Iowa

From the first few lines of Iowa’s third track, Disaster Piece, you can tell Slipknot has no intention of letting up on their second major album. When lead singer Corey Taylor, a.k.a #8, belts out "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\Cuz the line gets crossed when you don't come clean." you know your definitely not in Kansas…er Iowa anymore.

The nine member heavy metal band out of Des Moines, Iowa, prefers to go by numbers rather than names, and dress the same in the standard issue Slipknot overalls. The band also wears masks, to re-enforce that music is about energy and substance, not the looks of the band members. Most music critics tend to think the opposite, however, and see the uniforms and masks as gimmicks, and thus dismiss the band as a novelty act. I have to admit I was one of those that thought Slipknot was all gimmick and no substance, however I have no problem saying now that if anything this band is underrated. Another trend the band hopes to stop with this album is being lumped in with the likes of Limp Bizkit, Korn, and other rap metal purveyors. Bassist Paul Gray, #2, told Revolver magazine, "We’re not ‘rap metal’ or ‘new metal’, We’re metal metal, we want to be lumped in with bands like Pantera and Slayer." With Iowa I think the band makes another stride in the journey to joining their heavy metal heroes.

The album kicks off with the short, soft, and eerie instrumental "515" which is the area code for where the band grew up in Iowa. The band then launches full force into the furry and pain that is "People = Shit." The phrase people=shit has pretty much become Slipknots unofficial slogan and is pretty self explanatory. The aforementioned "Disaster Piece" follows that before bleeding into the grinding "My Plague". "My Plague" seems to take on every critic of the band with lyrics like "I don't mind being ogled, ridiculed\Made to feel miniscule\If you consider the source, it's kinda pitiful\The only thing you really know about me is\that's all you'll ever know" while "I know why you blame me\

I know why you plague yourself" is repeated in the chorus.

"Everything Ends" is an a detailed account of someone cutting and mutilating oneself and contemplating suicide after the end of a relationship all set to a full on speed metal stomp. "The Heretic Anthem" seems to be taking on everything pop and the bands own place in the mix. It also takes aim with a few barbs at those who have taken pot shots at the band in the media, hmmmm maybe Mr. Fred Durst? (Everybody's so infatuated\

Everybody's so completely sure of what we are\Everybody defamates from miles away\

\But face to face, they haven't got a thing to say.)

"Gently" starts off with some intricate soloing and intertwined acoustic and clean guitar noodling by numbers 4 and 7. Before ripping back into the detuned distorted guitars that make this band heavy metal. Before settling back down to let Taylor sing about his "escape into the relaxing world of pleasure."

"Left Behind" is the first single from the band and sounds remarkable a lot like the bands last successful single "Wait and Bleed" but I’m not complaining, it’s probably the only "radio friendly" song you’ll find on the album, and at some points sounds a lot like the Deftones. "New Abortion" tells both of Taylor’s love for his Maggots, what Slipknot refers to their hard core fans as, and tells the story of other disenchanted youths stuck in small towns and struggling to get out. "Metabolic" tells of Taylor’s fear that he is becoming the father that he never knew. The title track "Iowa" closes out the album. It is anything but a valentine to the bands home state as it slinks, swirls and jerks it’s way through a full fifteen minutes of noise and feed back. "I stripped down naked and cut myself up before recording it" Taylor told Revolver "I’m like naked, bleeding, puking all over the place; there’s glass on the floor I’m stepping on, and wax all over the place from the candles I just broke. And you can feel that vibe man." I’d like to see a Backstreet Boy try to pull that off!

That is the one thing that separates Slipknots from every other band out there aping on the "nu-metal" scene; these guys actually care. They care about what counts the music and the fans. The media adulation, magazines, and kissing MTV’s bloated ass couldn’t be further from these nine guys minds. I think you have to give these guys there due, even if you can‘t understand, or want to understand, what they are screaming about most of the time.


	Steamer Trunk \| home stuff about me \| album reviews \| PS2 game reviews \| pictures \| web watch \| getting in touch Rilo Kiley - Take Offs and Landings \| Slipknot - Iowa \| Ozma - Rock and Roll Part Three \| Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs \| Lit - Atomic \| Garbage - Beautifulgarbage \| The Strokes - Is This It \| Live - V \| Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls \| Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American \| Blink 182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket \| Weezer - The Green Album \| Alkaline Trio From Here to Infirmary \| Alkaline Trio - Hell Yes \| American Hi-Fi \| Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines \| Aerosmith - Just Push Play \| Dave Matthews Band - Everyday \| Blue Meanies - Post Wave \| Weston - The Massed Albert Sounds \| U2 - All That You Cant Leave Behind \| Green Day - Warning \| Offspring - Conspiracy of One \| Everclear - Songs from an American Movie Vol. 2 \| Radiohead - Kid A \| Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water \| Smashing Pumkins - Machina II \| Superdrag - In The Valley Of Dying Stars \| Voodoo Music Festival Slipknot - Iowa From the first few lines of Iowa’s third track, Disaster Piece, you can tell Slipknot has no intention of letting up on their second major album. When lead singer Corey Taylor, a.k.a #8, belts out "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\Cuz the line gets crossed when you don't come clean." you know your definitely not in Kansas…er Iowa anymore. The nine member heavy metal band out of Des Moines, Iowa, prefers to go by numbers rather than names, and dress the same in the standard issue Slipknot overalls. The band also wears masks, to re-enforce that music is about energy and substance, not the looks of the band members. Most music critics tend to think the opposite, however, and see the uniforms and masks as gimmicks, and thus dismiss the band as a novelty act. I have to admit I was one of those that thought Slipknot was all gimmick and no substance, however I have no problem saying now that if anything this band is underrated. Another trend the band hopes to stop with this album is being lumped in with the likes of Limp Bizkit, Korn, and other rap metal purveyors. Bassist Paul Gray, #2, told Revolver magazine, "We’re not ‘rap metal’ or ‘new metal’, We’re metal metal, we want to be lumped in with bands like Pantera and Slayer." With Iowa I think the band makes another stride in the journey to joining their heavy metal heroes. The album kicks off with the short, soft, and eerie instrumental "515" which is the area code for where the band grew up in Iowa. The band then launches full force into the furry and pain that is "People = Shit." The phrase people=shit has pretty much become Slipknots unofficial slogan and is pretty self explanatory. The aforementioned "Disaster Piece" follows that before bleeding into the grinding "My Plague". "My Plague" seems to take on every critic of the band with lyrics like "I don't mind being ogled, ridiculed\Made to feel miniscule\If you consider the source, it's kinda pitiful\The only thing you really know about me is\that's all you'll ever know" while "I know why you blame me\ I know why you plague yourself" is repeated in the chorus. "Everything Ends" is an a detailed account of someone cutting and mutilating oneself and contemplating suicide after the end of a relationship all set to a full on speed metal stomp. "The Heretic Anthem" seems to be taking on everything pop and the bands own place in the mix. It also takes aim with a few barbs at those who have taken pot shots at the band in the media, hmmmm maybe Mr. Fred Durst? (Everybody's so infatuated\ Everybody's so completely sure of what we are\Everybody defamates from miles away\ \But face to face, they haven't got a thing to say.) "Gently" starts off with some intricate soloing and intertwined acoustic and clean guitar noodling by numbers 4 and 7. Before ripping back into the detuned distorted guitars that make this band heavy metal. Before settling back down to let Taylor sing about his "escape into the relaxing world of pleasure." "Left Behind" is the first single from the band and sounds remarkable a lot like the bands last successful single "Wait and Bleed" but I’m not complaining, it’s probably the only "radio friendly" song you’ll find on the album, and at some points sounds a lot like the Deftones. "New Abortion" tells both of Taylor’s love for his Maggots, what Slipknot refers to their hard core fans as, and tells the story of other disenchanted youths stuck in small towns and struggling to get out. "Metabolic" tells of Taylor’s fear that he is becoming the father that he never knew. The title track "Iowa" closes out the album. It is anything but a valentine to the bands home state as it slinks, swirls and jerks it’s way through a full fifteen minutes of noise and feed back. "I stripped down naked and cut myself up before recording it" Taylor told Revolver "I’m like naked, bleeding, puking all over the place; there’s glass on the floor I’m stepping on, and wax all over the place from the candles I just broke. And you can feel that vibe man." I’d like to see a Backstreet Boy try to pull that off! That is the one thing that separates Slipknots from every other band out there aping on the "nu-metal" scene; these guys actually care. They care about what counts the music and the fans. The media adulation, magazines, and kissing MTV’s bloated ass couldn’t be further from these nine guys minds. I think you have to give these guys there due, even if you can‘t understand, or want to understand, what they are screaming about most of the time.