CHAOS!
That is the only word that can describe this band. Nine costumed freaks from Des Moines have managed to take the anger of metal to the next evolutionary level. If you were impressed with both Korn's and Limp Bizkit's first efforts, than this is the album for you.

Blending the aggro rap-rock of Korn, Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit with the heaviness and brutality of death metal bands familiar to the record label (Roadrunner), Slipknot's self-titled album lays down viscious slabs of arranged madness. While you can't say that any song on this album is "commercially viable", a number of them are catchy enough to be enjoyable. Among the easier to pick up are: Wait and Bleed, Surfacing, and No Life. Some of the disturbed songs include Purity and Liberate. The final track, Scissors, is disturbing in it's drug-induced lyrics that deteriorate into a rant of "Biding my time until the time is right."

While the album feels like it's on full-blast from start to end, there's enough change and variety to keep it from getting stale. Inclusion of percussions along with samples and scratches easily lifts this album out of the "common metal mold".

Preaching not a message of hate but of attitude, Slipknot doesn't weight you down with cheesy teen angst anthems, but delivers the fed-up-with-this-world message that many jilted people are still looking to capture. With a variety of songs ranging from hip-hop/metal to industrial-meshed aggro, any listener interested can find a track that they'll wish to hold onto as their own. Don't mistake this as a Korn knock-off. If Korn is a "Freak on a Leash" and Limp Bizkit is a Pimp, then Slipknot is a midwestern serial killer.

-- Vane