Slipknot - Nu-metal in a mask

There are those who love them unconditionally, and those who hate them on principle: Iowa's Slipknot, within the whole so-called nu-metal scene, have been and still are one of the most discussed and controversial acts around – but also one of the most successful. They represent the movement's most extreme wing and have often flirted with groove, thrash and death-metal sounds. Despite these influences, the most purist extreme-metal audience has often rejected the band, not always with coherent or substantive criticism. Most Slipknot fans, instead, come from an alternative background.

The band has often broken free of the standard nu-metal mold, at least compared with most bands in the genre, to give vent to an inspiration that, in the members' personal listening habits, draws now from the most brutal and violent metal, now from alternative rock or post-grunge. Slipknot are able to pursue maximum violence and then open up to emotional digressions, write melodic ballads, veer into groove, and reinvent themselves by edging closer to a more traditional sound; they're capable of swinging from thrilling moments to mediocre ones with sheer nonchalance, sometimes within the same album. All of this comes wrapped in an image designed to shock and provoke, one that has sparked endless debate, for better or worse.

The band's members don't go by first and last names, but by numbers, and above all they all wear grotesque masks (clown masks, serial-killer masks with spikes, or monster masks). One could see all this as a commercial gimmick to sell records to kids, but it's also a message rejecting common social norms and the music industry's conventions. It's effectively a way of dehumanizing the band's members, provocatively underlining that in showbiz you're a "product" regardless, and of diverting attention away from the individuals so that it falls on the music instead. They're meant to astonish, to shock – and it's no coincidence that there's a term for bands who pair their music, of whatever kind, with disguises, costumes and outlandish onstage behavior: shock rock.

The Iowa musicians were neither the first nor will they be the last to indulge in this kind of onstage provocation. In the '70s there were Alice Cooper and Kiss, for instance, in the '80s Gwar and King Diamond, in the '90s Marilyn Manson, and in the 2000s Slipknot. At one point the band's fans got into a feud with fans of alternative-metal act Mushroomhead, who accused the former of having copied the latter's masks (Mushroomhead formed and released music a year before Slipknot). After a while Mushroomhead cooled the audience's tempers by openly stating that masks, makeup and disguises certainly weren't invented by them, that plenty of others had used them before, and that others still would follow (for example, the very earliest Mudvayne, who drew direct inspiration from Slipknot).

Aside from a few cosmetic updates, the band has kept the same basic concept for the masks and the same "staged" characters over the years. The masks also proved useful for preserving a bit of privacy: in a 2005 interview, percussionist Chris Fehn even called them "a blessing" for the band's members, since they allowed them to go unrecognized in public. Off stage and outside the recording studio, Slipknot generally behave like anti-stars.

Naturally, there are those who have judged them solely on the masks, either snubbing them outright or finding them appealing purely for that reason, without separating the image from the music.

There are a full 9 (!) official members: besides the classic lineup of singer, two guitarists, bassist and drummer, the official roster also includes a scratcher, a sampling specialist, and two percussionists backing up the drummer. Plenty of other bands actually feature similarly sized lineups, only in those cases whoever handles effects, sampling, turntablism or additional percussion isn't considered a full member of the group but is credited among the album's contributors, on par with other guests, the producer, or the mixing engineer. In Slipknot, by contrast, they're treated as permanent, stable members. Some have argued this is pure calculated marketing, with members easily replaceable by the label thanks to the masks: yet for nearly fifteen years Slipknot's lineup remained extremely stable, from their official debut to today, changing only due to personal tragedies, proving far more close-knit than countless other bands that overhaul their line-up almost with every record.

The band's initial core came together in 1993, when various musical outfits spanning death-metal and funk swapped members and held various jam sessions in the underground scene of Des Moines. It was at these gatherings that the members began planning joint ventures. After several lineup changes, the band officially formed in 1995 on the initiative of Shawn Crahan (percussion), Andrew Row, aka Anders Colsefni (vocals), and Paul Gray (bass). The three were quickly joined by Joey Jordison (drums, though he'd already played unofficially with the other three before), Craig Jones (keyboards and sampling), and guitarists Donnie Steele and Josh Brainard. The former was replaced shortly after by Mick Thomson, though his name would resurface later. The fact that most members came from Des Moines, and more broadly from Iowa, would come to define the band in a distinctive way, becoming a trademark of theirs, a source of inspiration both thematically and in attitude – as well as a way of linking the band's image to the state, so that it's hard to mention Iowa today without also thinking of Slipknot. And yet, the albums that made them famous weren't even recorded in Iowa...

After the early demos, Slipknot brought in, in place of Colsefni, frontman Corey Taylor, a versatile singer capable of unleashing a fierce, unhinged roar-like vocal, often a genuine growl aiming to sound alienated and alienating, almost sick; yet he's equally at ease with pristine clean vocal lines, even veering into near-rapped verses. He has a precedent in Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber, a band of the same generation as Slipknot who offered similar sounds but more influenced by Deftones and darkwave, and would find a successor in Chad Gray of Mudvayne, who directly evolved the Slipknot-style sound in a prog/math direction. Born into poverty in a multiethnic family, Corey Taylor never knew his father (who abandoned his mother as soon as he learned of the pregnancy) and grew up in what he described as "a hole in the ground with buildings around it." For a time he was forced into homelessness (he talks about it in "Left Behind") and had to make many sacrifices to climb out of his situation. It was his grandmother who introduced him to rock music as a child, showing him her collection of Elvis Presley records, while his fascination with masks and horror was born from seeing a trailer for the film "Halloween." Soon after, the young Taylor began listening to Black Sabbath (he compared his house to the cover of their first album), Faith No More ("if it weren't for Mike Patton I wouldn't be here now"), Death ("Chuck's music was really important to me growing up, it was so intricate and interesting"), but he was also sexually abused by a 16-year-old neighbor. His teenage years were extremely difficult, he became addicted to cocaine and attempted suicide by overdose right after turning eighteen. His grandmother took custody of him and allowed him to finish school and buy his first instruments. He founded Stone Sour in 1992, but has been part of Slipknot since 1997.

His lyrics express a great deal of unease, resentment and frustration. Compared with the godfather of nu-metal subject matter, Jonathan Davis of Korn, the songs he writes don't always hold up lyrically, often coming across as unrefined outbursts that overuse swear words as if they were some magic ingredient, alternating between genuinely lived, substantial intensity and outright banality, lacking the psychological depth and characterization typical of Korn. Many parents' associations have accused Slipknot of inciting violence, and Taylor was shaken when, following certain brutal crimes, the perpetrators (as has happened with video games) claimed to have been inspired by this or that song. Taylor has always insisted that the message he wants to convey is a positive one, about resilience and redemption. On stage and at promotional appearances where he wears the costume, he's wild, displaying a formidable stage presence combined with vulgarity and theatricality; but once the mask comes off, he always turns out to be calm, kind and humble. He's also the first to show up when there's a party to be had at some venue and a toast to be made. Unfortunately, though, his struggles with alcoholism have taken a toll on his life.

Be that as it may, the one who really stands out in Slipknot's music is drummer Joey Jordison, who is incidentally the band's foremost extreme-metal (and beyond) aficionado. He often distinguishes himself through sheer speed and violence of execution, but it's above all the rhythmic combinations and technical tricks he devises together with the two percussionists that give the songs their vital spark. He's an excellent drummer, versatile and overpowering. He's also a rather humble person with a deep knowledge of rock and metal: in interviews, he cites among his favorite drummers names of the caliber of John Bonham, Neil Peart, Danny Heifetz, Hellhammer, Brann Dailor, Keith Moon, and above all Dave Lombardo, who is a hero to him; for all of them he tips his hat, offering deep words of esteem and respect ("These are dudes that I still look up to, and I still practice along to them even though there's no way I can get close to their majesty"). His performances have often in the past been generally underrated by extreme-metal listeners (again out of prejudice, since the band is "nu") and, conversely, overrated by nu-metal listeners (in cases where they don't know of other drummers who are even more brutal and technical, and believe he's the one and only, the ultimate). In recent years, however, thanks to the pervasiveness of the Internet and music's ability to spread much faster than before and be openly discussed, there's been a well-deserved reassessment of him, and it's not uncommon to find admirers of Jordison even among listeners who mainly favor more traditional metal. Unfortunately, in 2016 he revealed he suffers from a rare disease, transverse myelitis, in which the spinal cord becomes inflamed, impairing motor function, and this brought his career to an end.

Unknown to most early fans (at least before the Internet pervaded everything), the band's actual first album is titled Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. and was released in 1996. Officially, though, the band considers it a demo, so much so that the style isn't yet the one that would become established in later work, even though several of its ingredients are already present; Taylor isn't on vocals yet, Colsefni is. Above all, it isn't cohesive or unified, but rather a collection of different, seemingly disconnected episodes. The album essentially starts from a thrash/death-metal base onto which it grafts crossover, alternative-metal and industrial elements, forming an unsettling hybrid with generally claustrophobic atmospheres that are nonetheless capable of flipping completely right afterward into something playful and sarcastic.

The first track, which shares its title with the band's name, aims to be representative of the band itself: craggy, rotten riffs, a measured pace, dark atmospheres, a chilling solo. Colsefni delivers a phlegmy, detached growl. "Gently," on the other hand, starts out as a hallucinatory acoustic piece before evolving into distorted, macabre death-metal. For the most extreme side of Slipknot's music, the main points of reference seem to be above all Morbid Angel, Obituary, early Sepultura (the "Morbid Visions," "Beneath The Remains," and partly "Arise" era), and also the very earliest Fear Factory ("Soul Of A New Machine" and "Concrete"). There's also an industrial element, marked by the harrowing, alienating sounds of Godflesh, with Killing Joke constituting another important influence.

The tracks quickly change course, though, with "Do Nothing/Bitchslap," a bizarre mix of funk, death-metal and fusion, punctuated by slapped basslines, by an alternation of growled or near-rapped vocals, and by unusual funky interludes amid the distortion that forcefully break up the brutality. "Only One" carries on along these same lines, placing greater emphasis on the rap sections (close to Mike Patton in tone, but also to Body Count in how they're paired with abrasive guitars). Here one finds more of a distorted, transfigured influence from Primus and also Mr. Bungle, especially in the bass playing. To a lesser extent, there's also a hint of the legacy of the self-titled debut by Korn, who effectively founded nu-metal, again in terms of rhythms and atmospheres, though the genre's typical syncopated riffing hasn't yet found its place in Slipknot's music.

"Tattered & Tom" brings this latter influence out more clearly in some hallucinogenic guitar sounds, while "Confessions" is an interlude entirely steeped in Latin-tinged funk-rock. It's fair to say Slipknot don't exactly blend into the crowd. What's more, in these tracks the solos give way to an approach more focused on rhythmic cadence; there's no real song-form to speak of either, since the band avoids choruses or catchy melodies (except in the funky inserts, which are deliberately made to sound bizarre and out of place). "Some Feel" returns to more extreme metal sounds, before the closing suite "Killers Are Quiet/Dogfish Rising", a grueling, sustained industrial-ambient march that eventually dissolves into a series of samples. In intent, it's practically an answer to Korn's "Daddy", though far less groundbreaking.

After the album's release, and the lukewarm response from labels and radio stations, the band pulled the mic from Colsefni because they felt his vocal performance was too "bestial", comparing him to early Max Cavalera (Sepultura), and went looking for someone more versatile to land more radio airplay. On top of that, Colsefni didn't wear a mask like his bandmates, instead sporting a mix of face-painting, insulating tape and fur, and the others didn't appreciate this since it undermined the band's image. The choice fell on Taylor, who was playing with Stone Sour at the time but felt he had better odds of success with Slipknot. Colsefni initially stayed on for backing vocals and percussion support, but quickly grew tired of it and announced his departure. Josh Brainard also left over artistic differences, and his role as guitarist was taken over by Jim Root, a friend of Taylor's who played with him in Stone Sour. Chris Fehn joined on percussion and Sid Wilson on turntables, bringing the lineup to a full nine members. The Americans then decided to wipe the slate clean and start over, with a new debut and new plans.

In 1999 came the official debut, Slipknot. This time the band used the nu-metal template laid down by Korn, with its syncopated, down-tuned riffing, as a starting point, and transfigured it by speeding it up, making it heavier, turning it schizoid and hallucinated, through the addition of a strong groove-metal component (inspired above all by Sepultura and early Machine Head) and occasional outbursts drawing on death metal (both in buzzing riffs and in blastbeats inserted deliberately at specific points). Compared to extreme metal, though, the approach here is that of an iconoclastic, unconventional record. Production was handled by Ross Robinson, the guru of the nu-metal sound, with the explicit aim of achieving that raw, uncompromising sonic signature.

With 15 tracks plus various bonus tracks, it's also a record with a lot on its plate: "(sic)" is overwhelming and devastating, "Surfacing" is an explosive, harrowing avalanche, "Spit It Out" is almost rap-metal and is among the tracks conceptually closest to the original demo. "Scissors" continues the concept behind "Killers Are Quiet", representing a track of self-psychoanalysis through which Corey Taylor tries to exorcise his inner demons. Here Corey Taylor truly sounds unhinged at the mic, and his performance is overwhelming, caught between ferocious growls and manic whispered parts.

Compositionally, the album proves compact, with a connecting thread running through the songs rather than coming across as a collection of ideas thrown together, as its predecessor sometimes did. Jordison is the soul of the record, driving it forward with his compelling ideas and the propulsive drive he manages to instill in the songs, all of them hard-charging and strongly built around rhythm. There's also a scratched/electronic component, in the form of accompanying fills, often deployed in an anti-melodic way to sound darker and more alienating instead.

Indeed, the record manages to sound engaging and catchy even while pursuing stylistic choices that are, in intent, meant to steer clear of melody. There are still industrial elements woven into the mix (for instance the chilling industrial/nu-metal of "Liberate" or the nightmarish sounds of "Prosthetics"), though unfortunately they aren't developed much further. At the same time, the funkier, more playful elements of the previous album have been stripped away, yet Slipknot proves more innovative for two main reasons. First, the way it pushes nu-metal to a mad, maximalist extreme (though it probably shouldn't even be considered nu-metal outright, but rather a deranged version of groove-metal updated to the sounds and era of nu-metal, with a strong rhythmic character and no room for solos). And second, for its ability to offer an alternative, in terms of violence and brutality, both to nu-metal (which was meanwhile growing more melodic in the mainstream) and to the conventions of most extreme metal in general — a stylistically unorthodox operation, open to cross-contamination that would make the most hardline traditionalists cry "betrayal".

The record achieves phenomenal success, beyond all expectations: among late-90s American youth it perfectly captures the need to let off steam and the audience's craving for heaviness, making violence accessible and meeting the musical tastes of the time, instead of rehashing the old-school tropes of thrash and death metal yet again. In Europe, however, success is more modest. The media buzz the band generates, especially among younger listeners — helped along by its provocative image and the spectacular stunts staged at concerts (for instance, rotating mobile platforms that lift the drum kit and flip it upside down, with Jordison strapped in continuing to play as if nothing were happening) — makes it unpopular with the traditional metal audience, who dismiss it as commercial "fake metal". Traditionalist media, meanwhile, worry about the bad influence these nine Iowa troublemakers might have on American youth.

In the meantime, a brief musical/historical contextualization. We can divide the nu-metal wave into three phases: the first is the initial one, led by Korn, Deftones and their immediate clones, which introduced the genre in 1994/1995; the second arrives in 1997/1998 and, alongside the genre's commercial explosion, sees a decisive incorporation of hip-hop elements, previously only hinted at sporadically and now an integral part of the sound of many bands debuting in this period, exemplified by Limp Bizkit; finally, in 2000/2001, the genre reaches its peak of commercialization, but also of trivialization and submission to mainstream taste, foregrounding its more "pop" side before imploding in the years immediately after and giving way to new musical trends. Symbolically, Slipknot, despite featuring scratching and a few nearly-rapped verses, sets itself apart from these trends by exploring the most extreme traits nu-metal can take on.

Its follow-up Iowa, released in 2001, symbolically positions itself against this latest trend, and does so even more decisively and explicitly, ending up practically the sonic antithesis of what bands like Linkin Park are offering the mainstream at the time. Their "Hybrid Theory" comes out that very same year, but a record like Iowa is its polar opposite in sound, attitude, intent and atmosphere. None of the members of Slipknot have any interest in being mistaken for a nu-metal band, so much so that in interviews they ironically describe themselves as "metal metal" and claim the band was only ever linked to the genre by sheer coincidence of timing.

Iowa represents an expansion and a further radicalization of the traits found on Slipknot, as well as the definitive evolution of their sound, blending a personal mix of nu-metal, groove-metal and death metal with even more alienating sounds, even more violent drumming, and even more aggressive lyrics (sometimes effective, sometimes trite). It's darker, heavier and more technical than its predecessor. Moving in this direction, it manages to find a more cohesive and well-defined catchiness, with some truly compelling tracks in terms of riffing and rhythm, ones that never indulge in Linkin Park's pop/radio-friendly tricks.

At the same time, its deranged, unbalanced sound occasionally makes the songwriting seem a bit muddled. "Left Behind" and "My Plague" even earned Grammy nominations, but the record's biggest hits are "Disasterpiece" (deeply unhinged and alienating) and "The Heretic Anthem" (a tribute to Dave Lombardo's double bass drumming). The title track continues the self-psychoanalytical intent of "Scissors" and "Killers Are Quiet". As already noted, it remains a significant record within the nu-metal context, and it's been hotly debated, for better or worse, sparking fierce arguments. The photo of the black goat on the cover seems to suggest anti-conformist, misanthropic intentions.

Shawn Crahan reportedly described the recording sessions this way: "When we made Iowa, we hated each other. We hated the world; the world hated us." These were very harsh, troubled sessions, made worse by clashes with Robinson, Taylor's struggles with alcohol and the other members' struggles with drugs. Christian and parental groups accused the band of corrupting young people and pushing them toward satanism and violence. The traditionalist metal audience, meanwhile, read this record and image as an attempt to play at being metalheads, being heavy for heaviness's sake rather than adhering to the sonic standards of "true metal", while appropriating its iconography. In short, they accused Slipknot of being posers. This reading is misleading and misses the point of the band's context: love them or hate them, there's no denying that with these two records Slipknot forged an original, distinctive, personal approach.

There are also those who picked up the lesson and managed to offer a new, creative variation on it, surpassing the Iowa ensemble on every front: Mudvayne, in their first two albums released in 2000 and 2002, start from the Slipknot-style sound and enrich it with technical flourishes and math-rock, funk-rock and progressive-metal influences, thanks also to a formidable rhythm section that has little to envy in Jordison and co. Unfortunately, their later work would prove less inspired.

In 2002 Corey Taylor reformed Stone Sour together with the band's old members, after being invited by guitarist Joel Ekman to a reunion: the result is a self-titled debut. The record offers some interesting ideas but lacks personality: the band settles into post-grunge territory, moving between more aggressive, metallic moments where the Slipknot influence is clear, more melodic hard-rock moments, and even the odd mellow ballad.

Far more mature and distinctive is the follow-up, Come What[ever] May, from 2006, which finds a personal approach and stands as an example of how post-grunge can be radio-friendly and still substantial, unlike many other bands (such as Nickelback or Creed) who dilute their sound far too much into prepackaged hard-pop-rock clichés. Unfortunately, with Audio Secrecy in 2010 Stone Sour would slip into exactly that tendency. But let's get back to Slipknot.

In a reciprocal way, just as Stone Sour's debut shows some Slipknot influence, the influence of Stone Sour peeks through on Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses, the new Slipknot installment released in 2004. This is an album that definitively places the band on a plane distinct from mere nu-metal (which in the meantime had evolved in entirely different directions and imploded, leaving the charts to the trends of melodic metalcore and emo). Production this time is entrusted to Rick Rubin, who rarely shows up in the studio and charges a steep price for it, causing friction within the band.

Right from the opening one-two punch ("Prelude 3.0" and "The Blister Exists") there's a marked opening toward sounds closer to alternative rock, blended with nu-metal and extreme leanings. The following "Three Nil" centers on a groove-metal foundation roughed up with death-metal via tremolo-picking and blastbeats, allowing itself a melodic opening in the middle section. "Duality" and "Welcome" mix industrial-rock and nu-metal, while in the choruses Taylor's vocal lines edge closer to various pop/grunge acts. The latter is cited more explicitly on "Before I Forget"; "Vermilion" is a power ballad that transfigures post-grunge into an anguished, dark version of itself, while "Circle" and "Vermilion pt. 2" are melodramatic acoustic ballads, quite surprising within the context of Slipknot's discography.

"Pulse Of The Maggots" is a bizarre, paranoid electro-nu-metal track, elevated by a wildly frenzied solo. "The Virus of Life" is anguished but repetitive industrial/death. The closing "Danger" is a hushed, pensive keyboard coda. Overall, the whole album jumps around between groovy riffs, death-metal openings, midtempo slowdowns, double-pedal outbursts, melodic arpeggios, syncopated sequences more typically nu, and radio-friendly power chords. All this makes the record varied, but also quite disjointed and inconsistent, preventing it from finding a real connecting thread. The impression is of a collection of scattered ideas that haven't been properly developed. Many riffs come across as bland, and the arrangements feel simplified relative to their potential. Taylor delivers an interesting vocal performance here, sounding more mature and controlled, but also far less furious and unsettling. Jordison, on the other hand, turns in some of the best performances of his career.

Vol.3 is inevitably a transitional album, one meant to experiment with new sounds grafted onto the band's own style, trying to absorb and refine them. A work that doesn't fully come together, but one with several arrows left in its quiver.

All Hope Is Gone (2008) was conceived with the intent of distancing itself from what Vol. 3 had shown, pinning the more melodic digressions solely on Rubin and promising a much heavier, more metallic record. Indeed, it is a very metal work in the traditional sense of the genre. "Gematria" is a furious trailblazer, mixing groove-metal riffs, thrash attacks, a highly technical solo, and the usual enraged drumming. The thoroughly successful title track that closes the album alternates buzzing death-metal riffs with others that are more caustic and hammering, closer to thrash, while the solo is furious and razor-sharp, and the blastbeats overwhelming. However, it brings a greater melodic openness in its energetic, impactful chorus: this is the main point of contact with the previous album, the pervasiveness of melodic choruses.

The single "Psychosocial" rests on mechanical riffs reminiscent of Rammstein, before veering into a groove/industrial style in the vein of Fear Factory, while in the chorus the guitars turn into a wall of sound to support the melodies delivered by Taylor's clean vocals; finally, the solo, after starting off mannered, echoing the macabre speed of certain death albums, suddenly turns into a sway of catchy, engaging notes. "Dead Memories" is softer and flows directly into an enveloping, emotional chorus.

"Gehenna" (one of the best tracks) is a groove/death nightmare anchored by its midtempo pace and violent outbursts, while in the chorus Taylor pulls an unsettling falsetto out of his hat. "Sulfur" blends death-metal and alternative-rock (with scratching inserts), "This Cold Black" is a mix of nu-metal and death-metal, "Wherein Lies Continue" has a terrifying rhythm section contrasted with a highly melodic, pop-oriented chorus, while "Snuff" is actually a melodic ballad in pure Stone Sour style, all too close to that band's aesthetic: it's practically a rip-off of "Bother".

Unfortunately, the rest of the tracks are flat, tired, and far too derivative. Despite its intentions, the band creates a meeting point between the most unhinged, extreme moments typical of the first two albums and the broader melodic openings of Vol. 3, trying to personalize it with greater influences from '90s extreme metal. What's missing from the former, unfortunately, is the original stylistic approach and the psychological unease (the songwriting doesn't say much different from countless groove-metal and deathcore bands), while what's missing from the latter is the variety (it was less focused but certainly bolder and more eclectic).

Once again the result is uneven: several compelling, gripping tracks sit alongside others whose structure is monotonous, whose more aggressive riffs sound all too familiar, and whose melodic choruses are too bland. The length of the tracklist doesn't help, making it clear that a number of filler tracks could have been avoided. The album falls short of expectations, which had promised a devastating monolith, and turns out, for the second time, to be a transitional album, one from which to pick the best moments while discarding the rest. Production is handled by Dave Portman (Mudvayne, Otep, Evanescence), and for the first time the recording sessions take place in Des Moines.

Could all this be the foundation for a rebirth and a new beginning? Unfortunately, in 2010 Paul Gray dies of a morphine overdose. The band emerges morally devastated and, for the first time, appears without masks at a press conference and at a tribute concert (live, his role is temporarily filled by former guitarist Donnie Steele).

In December 2013, however, the band's website suddenly announces that Joey Jordison has left the band for unspecified "personal reasons". Jordison, however, responds that he did not leave Slipknot and that he was shocked by the news. With two pillars of the lineup gone, the band's future is highly uncertain.

I won’t let you disappear

I will keep your soul alive

if I can’t keep you here

It takes another 4 years for Slipknot to enter the studio, with Alessandro Venturella as the new bassist (alternating with Donnie Steele and other band members) and Jay Weinberg as the new drummer: .5: The Gray Chapter reshuffles the stylistic hallmarks the band has explored throughout its discography and amounts to something of a summary of its career, drawing especially on the more caustic tones of the early records, with some more groove/thrash and melodic openings from later works (though without overdoing it), and thick, lightly distorted tones close to Stone Sour. The guitars generally find more room, sounding above all like a halfway point between the early albums and Stone Sour. The atmospheres are dark, but not oppressive. Weinberg does a solid job on drums for the essential duties, standing out for his heaviness, but he lacks Jordison's overwhelming, unpredictable percussive variety; as a result, the album feels far less dynamic than it could be. Among the best tracks are "AOV" and "The Devil in I", which blend nu-metal, melodic death-metal and thrash-metal, the dark near-ballad "Killpop", the hallucinated, visceral nu-death-metal of "The Negative One", and the intense groove-metal of "Nomadic". The latter, along with "The One That Kills the Least", offers two of the most interesting Slipknot-style solos of their career (given how rare they are, whenever they include one it's already noteworthy in itself).

The dark-rock ballad “Goodbye” offers enveloping atmospheric passages, but when these are broken up by bursts of distortion and heavy drumming, the overall result feels a bit off. The rest of the album shows no particular spark either, and once again sounds inconsistent, a mix of good tracks alternating with more insipid ones.

The album gets a mixed response from both fans and critics. Once again, despite the years that have passed since the previous album — or perhaps precisely because of them — there's no sense of the original, rule-breaking drive of the band's early days. If anything, the feeling is that without Gray's contribution the group has run out of innovative ideas, and so can do little more than look to the past and settle into well-worn stylistic patterns. Even the scratching inserts feel more clichéd. The absence of Jordison is also felt, as he used to give the rhythm section its vital energy and personality.

Despite everything, The Gray Chapter remains a more spontaneous, heartfelt and visceral work than many thrash/death bands that simply recycle stylistic tropes from 30 years earlier, or melodic-metalcore bands that never go beyond mere photocopying. The weakest side is Taylor's lyrics, which are really too bland: for this particular occasion (the tribute to Paul Gray) one would have hoped for something more substantial, but by now there's nothing else to expect on that front.

In 2016, the problem behind Jordison's departure finally comes to light: a diagnosis of transverse myelitis.

Slipknot's latest album is preceded by a dispute with percussionist Chris Fehn, who in March sues the band, accusing them of not having paid him; a few days later he leaves the group, closing out a 20-year run together.

With the internal rift behind them, the band goes into the studio and records We Are Not Your Kind, a title that serves as a manifesto (perhaps not a very original one) of an alternative, nonconformist spirit.

Even before the recording sessions, in October 2018 the band had released the single “Solway Firth”, a classic piece of groove-metal influenced by early Machine Head. Following on from the previous record, this album too shows a sincere, nostalgic devotion to the past, specifically to the band's early period, adding a few melodic openings (especially in the choruses) more typical of Vol. 3, doing so in a more clear-cut and explicit way, with more direct refrains and without any solos, but above all with more inspired songwriting. There are no real novelties or surprises to expect: down-tuned riffing hybridizing nu-metal, groove-metal and death-metal, furious and impetuous drumming, oppressive atmospheres, aggressive vocal lines still capable of clean melodic intonations, and the occasional (ever rarer) scratching. The album's strongest point is its ability to stay consistent throughout its entire length, without filler or overly erratic tracks. Slipknot manage to put together their most mature and inspired album in many years. It's also a step forward compared to other classic nu-metal acts whose returns to their old sound have proven uneven, mixing good songs with mediocre ones (just think of Korn). At first glance one might criticize the lack of the innovative drive of the early days, but that impression is softened by two factors. The first is the meticulous care put into the effects and production, with electronic and acoustic touches and other melodic details scattered here and there to enrich the work, which doesn't sound merely bludgeoning but relatively refined. The second is a new matter of context, exactly as happened with Slipknot or Iowa, which at the time represented an alternative, another, more extreme, furious and psychotic way of responding to the mainstream nu-metal trend of that period, which had become radio-friendly and poppy (exemplified by Linkin Park). In recent years there's been a revival of that very trend, with various new acts drawing inspiration precisely from the coordinates and clichés set by Linkin Park and their immediate clones. Alternatively, numerous bands have sprung up blending that nu-metal with 2000s melodic-metalcore, producing the so-called "nu-metalcore", not always genuine.

We Are Not Your Kind thus positions itself as a more essential alternative to these trends, "back to the roots", fierce and in some ways expressive and visceral.

(Contributions by Matthias Stepancich and Giuseppe Dalicante)

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