Looking Back in Anger at Slipknot's "Iowa"

 Their 2001 sophomore album found the big turn into one of the biggest metal bands in the world, but is it any good? How has it held up over time? It's better than I remembered, though I walked out of the store with both this album and System of a Down's "Toxicity" album the same day, and System of a Down proved to be the better band that day. "My Plague" grooves more than I remembered. When this came out I thought they were just being heavy for the sake of it. Now I can hear how this album influenced a great deal of what we call metal core. Now I am not sure if that is something to be proud of , but I can hear it. "Everything Ends" is a collision course of sound with some heavy death metal influenced riffs powering the onslaught. I like how angry at the world they are here. This is the best song on the front end of the album for sure. 

"the Heretic Anthem" was the first single released from this album. They hammer at you with rabid riff and Taylor yelling about 666. Which at the time is one of the issues I had with this album as they were trying to drape the lyrics in Satanic imagery when that is not who they are. I have never heard these guys say anything about the occult then their label puts goats and pentagram all over their merch. "Gently" I appreciate they let more melody and dynamics in but it's not until "Left Behind" that they are fucking around and writing a good song. You can hear how this influenced where their songs would end up years later. "the Shape" is what we now expect from Slipknot , but it was pretty new for them at this point as it was not a bouncing Korn grooving. 

"I am Hatred" is one of the few songs that dips into the same flavor nu-metal as their first album. "Skin Ticket" finds them going in a creepier direction. It crashes and bangs you back into the more familiar sonic places when it builds up. "New Abortion" is another that moves in a more death metal direction. It sounds like the prototype for "Pulse of the Maggots". "Metabolic" is another unhinged outburst, while I appreciate this is a darker and angrier album, some nuance might make this more effective. The lore around the title track that closes the album is Corey was naked, vomiting on himself and cutting himself with glass, all to get into a place to give his best performance. His drinking was also spiraling so that might have helped put it into play. There is a really slow burn into get into the song, He goes into the song with more of whispered mumble. It goes off into a droning jam heavy on mood and ambiance. I will give this album a 9, despite what fans might think it's not their best but I understand the nostalgia attached to it.