Metal Bastard: The 22nd Best Album of the 90s: Slipknot

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The 22nd Best Album of the 90s: Slipknot - "S/t" (1999)

This album and Machine Head's The Burning Red formed my soundtrack of the fall of 1999, but where as the latter has aged terribly, Slipknot's major label debut still packs one fuck of a punch.

I first heard about them in a tiny blurb in Metal Hammer that summer where a member of the band (probably percussionist and ringleader Shawn "Clown" Crahan) called his band "the metal version of Wu-Tang Clan". I later realised he just meant that both groups had nine members, but at the time I had no idea, I just thought it sounded cool.

Having listened to crappy 30 second RealAudio clips on Amazon, I order the album (the now very rare 19 track digipack version) and was hooked from the moment (sic) kicked in.

Hailing from the inbred plains of Westilldonthavetheinternet, Iowa (Des Moines), Slipknot consisted of members of local bands such Bodypit, Modifidious, Anal Blast and other terrible bands with even more terrible names. Singer Corey Taylor was recruited from Stone Sour. As the story goes he was threatened with an ass kicking if he didn't join Slipknot, but with the band's tendency to stretch the truth at times, I'd take that story with a grain of salt. Taylor replaced former singer and Max Cavalera-wannabe Anders Colsefini who then went on to sing in the abysmal trainwreck known as Painface (what is it with these people and crap band names?).

Other members had come on gone prior to this album, but since the release of S/t the band hasn't switched a single member, which is pretty impressive. The last person to go was guitarist Josh Brainard who was replaced by Taylor's Stone Sour buddy Jim Root after the initial album session. A while later the band recorded Purity and Me Inside, but it's Brainard who plays on the rest of the album.

Built on a foundation of mainly nu metal and death metal, with hints of hiphop, thrash and groove metal, S/t gave my ass a thorough pounding, and it has an intensity the band has never been to top or even match.

It's probably a case of FAS (First Album Syndrome), which is defined by a tangible sense of excitement mixed with desperation and a feeling of "Fuck it, this might be only chance we get".

Let's not forget Slipknot was a band of nobodies from nowhere who were destined to be corn-munching hog farmers for the rest of their lives if the band didn't work out, so it's no wonder they jumped at the chance of going to the big city (Los Angeles) to work in a real studio (Indigo Ranch) with a name producer (Ross Robinson). Of course they held nothing back and poured every drop of sweat and blood they had into it.

This "all or nothing" attitude is so alive on the album you can almost taste it. While the band followed up this album with one that was even heavier and more intense (2001's Iowa), it never felt as genuine as here were all they wanted to do was just for people to take notice and prove they were worth a damn.

Another story is how Joey Jordison recorded all of his drums in two days, and the album consists of first takes only. Again, I don't know if this story is true, but it certainly sounds like it could be true. He plays like his life depended on it, literally. That goes for the rest of the band too for that matter.

Corey Taylor has for example sounded more brutal and guttural on later albums, but his screams here are the best of his career just because of the sheer force and determination. He doesn't care about protecting his vocal chords or even trying to sound a certain way, he just let's it rip and whatever comes out of his throat will do. He sounds like a guy who no one ever really listened to or paid much attention to and who went into the studio with one thought on his mind: "I'll make you fucking listen, motherfucker. I'll scream so fucking loud no one can ignore it".

I've heard tales of Ross Robinson going apeshit during the sessions, taking all his clothes off and nude tackling the band as they were trying to record, threw potted plants at them etc. Whatever he did worked, the album is one long release of nine lifetimes worth of pent-up aggression and frustration.

Man, with all this rambling this is turning into a very long post. And I haven't mentioned the masks, the boiler suits, the masochistic live shows and their "maggot" fans yet. I didn't even bring up the lawsuits that made the band withdraw Frail Limb Nursery and Purity from the album and replace them with Me Inside.

Ah well. I'll save that for another time.