At the tender age of eleven I was looking for something musically different to all of the recycled rubbish that the kids at school seemed to be listening to. Quite by chance, on the day that Sky was first installed in the house, I discovered the eighteen legged groove machine from Iowa that was Slipknot and the vivid video for “Left Behind” simply left me in awe. Here was my new favourite band.

I don’t quite know what it was that exactly that attracted me to Slipknot, was it their slightly grotesque masks? Was it their sound - something which I had never come across before? Or was it just the fact that they played excellent metal? To this day I still don’t know! One thing I do remember though was the size of the “parental advisory” sticker that actually covered the box of the CD. Surely that was a sign that what I had in my hands was going to be good!

Opening the album was “(515)”, a selection of weird screams, before the majestic “People = Shit” kicked in which strapped you in for the long haul. This was an album that was going to be something very good indeed. Breakneck drum speeds, coarse vocals and dual guitars all combined with a selection of scratching and samples courtesy of Sid Wilson. 

By the time the eerie opening riff of “Disasterpiece” starts your neck is broken, your ears bleeding and you think you can take no more but, with the sequence of “My Plague”, “Everything Ends” and “The Heretic Anthem”, you’re pulled back to your feet by the noise merchants and given another shot to join in. 

Though Iowa is made up mainly of heavy, in your face songs, rounded off with “Left Behind”, “New Abortion” and “Metabolic”, it also features quite a lot of ambient noise style tracks that showcase the experimentation the band utilized throughout the CD, something that was mostly ignored on the following effort “Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses”. However if you were looking for this experimentation it's there in abundance on Iowa. “Gently”, “The Shape” and finally on the under rated masterpiece, the title track “Iowa”. 

Iowa was, and still is, one of my all time favourite albums, and certainly the favourite of the three ‘Knot releases. Possibly this is because the subsequent tour, with In Flames, One Minute Silence and American Head Charge, saw me go to my first metal gig. Though many people prefer the other albums or Stone Sour, “Iowa” has a strong place in my heart simply because it is so damn weird, it's amazing!

Let us know your views on Iowa

Track Listing

(515)
People = Shit
Disasterpiece
My Plague
Everything Ends
The Heretic Anthem
Gently
Left Behind
The Shape
I Am Hated
Skin Ticket
New Abortion
Metabolic
Iowa

Line Up

Corey Taylor - Vocals
Mick Thomson - Guitar
Shawn Crahan - Percussion
Craig Jones - Samples/Keyboards
James Root - Guitar
Chris Fehn - Percussion
Paul Gray - Bass
Joey Jordison - Drums
Sid Wilson - Turntables