... Instead, the 18-legged Iowa Hate Machine decided to release an album that ups the ante considerably. It’s faster and heavier in place than the last album, but also more measured in places.
“[515]” is first up; there’s not much to say here, it’s a minute of ... Read review
Iowa - Slipknot
As if answering the challenge of those who dismiss them as a cartoonish joke, Slipknot ... more
claim that Iowa is a statement of intent, a real heavy-metal album. As percussionist Shawn Crahan puts it: "We're able to cut into the wound, crawl inside, stitch it...
Iowa - Slipknot
As if answering the challenge of those who dismiss them as a cartoonish joke, Slipknot ... more
claim thatIowais a statement of intent, a real heavy-metal album. As percussionist Shawn Crahan puts it: "We're able to cut into the wound, crawl inside, stitch it u...
A review by DJWally on Iowa [PA] - Slipknot September 13th, 2001
Author's product rating:
Originality
Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics
Mediocre
Quality and consistency of tracks
Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Advantages:
Good extreme metal moments, combined with some strong radio - friendly tunes .
Disadvantages:
Silly bloody lyrics .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Ok, My attempt at irony in the title aside, I have to confess I enjoyed this album. Before I go into a description of the album, I suppose I’d better introduce the band. Slipknot are currently the biggest Metal Band on the planet. Their self-titled second album was released in 1999 and has sold millions of copies. The band appear live in matching boiler suits, their faces covered by fright masks, and musically, they play an intense, angst-ridden variation of the popular Nu-Metal Sound.
Given the massive commercial success of their self-titled last album, it would have been easy for Slipknot to “do a Metallica” and release a more mainstream, but less satisfying album. Instead, the 18-legged Iowa Hate Machine decided to release an album that ups the ante considerably. It’s faster and heavier in place than the last album, but also more measured in places.
“[515]” is first up; there’s not much to say here, it’s a minute of screaming set to a dull electronic throb. It goes on for just long enough that, as you reach for the skip button on your CD player, the next track begins. Track 2, “People = Sh*t” is where the album proper begins. Opening with more anguished screaming and blast-beats that belong more on a Cradle Of Filth record, Vocalist Corey Taylor’s first utterance sums up the track perfectly: “Here we go again, motherf***er!” Brutal and focussed, you really couldn’t ask for a better opening salvo.
After that song, track three “Disasterpeice” would have to work hard to maintain that pace. It tries, but ultimately fails, although it has a certain frenetic charm. “My Plague” follows, Corey pulling off a half-whispered, half-screamed rap over down-tuned riffs. He then tries to sing the chorus in the standard Nu Metal “I’m not screaming so I must be singing” manner. Not bad, but nothing special.
“Everything Ends” seems to be a diatribe about an ex-partner, with a hook line I’m sure all the kids will be copying: “You’re Wrong, F***ed and Overrated, I think I’m gonna be sick and it’s all your fault.” We’ve all been there, right? This actually highlights my biggest problem, with this album, and a lot of the “Nu Metal” Genre. Musically amazing though the band are; lyrically there is too much reliance on angst-rock clichés and pseudo-deep pop psychology. It tends to spoil re-listenings when you’re trying to stop from laughing at the misunderstood alpha male.
“The Heretic Anthem” is another good example. It’s an amazingly arranged, intense piece of metal, but lyrically, it mines a well of meaningless cod-satanic rhetoric. Which annoys me, because the music is really good, updating the Slayer template for this millennium. After that we have “Gently”, which, whilst it is slower, it in no way lives up to the rest of its name. A brooding, slow-paced track, it makes a welcome, if unsettling, change from all the mid-to-fast paced tunes so far.
With “Left Behind” however, we’re back on more familiar territory. A catch, mid-paced tune with a strong chorus, it’s going to be the first single from this album and it may see the band bothering the charts some more. “The Shape” borrows from the grunge “quiet verse, loud chorus” template, before breaking down in an entirely predictable fashion, then going back into the chorus. It’s good, just nothing surprising or interesting.
“I Am Hated” is a fast-paced, verbose little assault mining the “Us vs the world” mentality central to so much of Slipknot’s lyrics. Follow-up “Skin Ticket” is the exact opposite. Almost 7 minutes of slowly building repeated psychobabble over tribal drumming, it picks up at the halfway point, but by that point many will have lost interest.
“New Abortion” is next, a mid-paced, unremarkable rant, about how the “kids” are being exploited. The musicians try to make things interesting, but they just aren’t given the room required. “Metabolic” follows. It’s faster paced, in the vein of “People=…” and “Heretic…”, but sadly not as interesting as either of these tracks.
After that we have the title track “Iowa”. Fifteen minutes of slow, brooding build-ups and let downs. I honestly can’t give a review of this track, simply because I’ve never been that conscious when it’s on. There’s certainly nothing immediate about it, strangely enough.
To recap, Slipknot have released an album with contains some accessible tunes, as well as some of the most extreme music you’re likely to hear on a mainstream metal album. Whilst it’s not the all-out blitzkrieg it was hyped as, it’s still, musically a really good album. If the lyrics are annoying, then I suppose that, in their way, they’re no sillier than some of the subject matter in more traditional forms of metal.
As a postscript, I recently heard that it went straight in at No.1 on the Album charts on the week of its release, beating off the boy band 5ive. It’s strangely heartening that a band that is capable of such musical extremity can release an album like this.
Advantages: Lots of bangers Disadvantages: Nothing specific
Taking its name from the band’s home state, “Iowa” came as the second album from the Alternative Metal band SlipKnot in 2001. The band, who had a largely unchanged line-up this time when compared to what was seen with their 1999 debut, come with more hardcore Nu-Metal, and do so during the peak years of the sub-genres duration in the Alternative Metal game. 1. “(515)” (Intro) 2. “People = S**t” After a rather dark, scream-filled introduction, we ... ...is bound to excite their fans as they come out with a burst of Rap metal that is seen to be a bit of a development from where they began things with their debut as they take on additional influences in order to help to put their message across in a manner that seems to fit in with the rage that they come out with in their music. **Five Stars** 3. “Disasterpiece” The pace is lifted, along with the intensity, and I felt that it was nice to give a relevant ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Some excellent songs, should satisfy most fans Disadvantages: Too many rap songs, too many 'hip' rhymes
Iowa is, in the world of nu-metal, probably the most anticipated album of the entire year. Slipknot’s second, self-titled album, released in 1999 was a huge success and an important moment in rock history. This is not because of Slipknot’s apparently shocking stage behaviour, involving the smelling of decomposing birds to induce vomiting, the punching of their own fans, the coin toss to decide whether the clown mask or the gas mask gets ... ...us to the present. Iowa.
Iowa is where the band grew up and handily doubles up as their idea of hell. It’s easier to write about hell when you’ve been (Eh, Slayer?), so you’d think this would be another great album. Kerrang called Iowa the best thing to happen to heavy music this year. Producer Ross Robinson said that it resembled death metal. Corey said to expect blastbeats, grindcore and lots of black metal sickness. All were ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: great album,Great drumming by Joey,Great Guitar rifts and of course great singing by Corey! Disadvantages: Disadvantages???????
This albulm is absolutly mind blowing!I got my copy the second i could get my hands on it(i ran down stairs when the postman was due waiting by the letter box!), and i was so so suprised to find how much more serius this album actually is the album seems so much more professional than there first self titled album! **The highlights of this album have to be "the shape" "People=Shit" and left behind these are my personall faviorites alought i can reassure ... ...album! There is a track on it self titled "IOWA" which lasts 15 minutes and is an impressive re-make of "killers are quiet" from the first album! 1.(515)-This is the first track on the album and it is very wierd in deed just like the start on the other album it features screaming! 2. People = Shit-This in my opinion is one of the better tracks on the album with the heavy guitars and the heavy drum beats of Joey it really is a hot track and of course ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Amazing DJ and a band the roduce a unique sound Disadvantages: very very very repetitive
...and they all come from Iowa in America.
The Album:
Well since their last album slipknot really have improved. In this album there is actual singing Aswell as plenty of screaming, which is a definite improvement on the last album! and the tracks actual seem to have a half decent beat to them. Compared to the last album the members all play the music synchronised together, and they don’t just all make as much noise as possible. All the guitaring ... ...very skilled there is no doubt about it, and the way they play the guitars together makes a very unique sound. However in some parts of the album the sound of guitars does become somewhat overwhelming. The guitarists themselves could not improve as they are all very good, although they could properly improve the way in which they play together in certain parts of the album.
The vocalists are not always what I would describe as talented. I mean anyone ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Heavy, Hardcore, Lyrics inside cover, Slipknot Disadvantages: Explicit Content, Freaky Intro, Some poor parts
Although I don't usually buy albums this...'freakish', this album had been recommended by all my friends. After putting the cd into the drive, I started to regret buying the disc, men making strange shouts and grunts wasn't my idea of music, but luckily the next track was People = Sh*t, which is a great song, it's let down a little by the chorus, it's more shouting than music. After that, it's disasterpiece, it conforms to Slipknot's usual standard ... ...as good as the previous track. The next to tracks are great, Everything Ends and The Heretic Anthem fu<king rule they are second and third best songs on the CD, beaten only by Left Behind, which is my favourite Slipknot song.
Gently is track 7, a song which I didnt like because of it's slow, quiet start, rather boring compared to Slipknot's usual. Left Behind is the best track on the CD, it has to be one of my favourite songs at the moment, great ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Album Notes: Slipknot: Corey (vocals); Mick, James (guitar); Paul (bass); Joey (drums); Shawn, Chris (percussion); Craig (samples); Sid (DJ). Recorded at Sound City and Sound Image, Van Nuys, California. "Left Behind" was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. The two most anticipated hard rock/heavy metal releases of 2001 were unquestionable Tool's LATERALUS and Slipknot's sophomore effort, IOWA. The nine-piece masked band has returned with another platter of bile-spitting, hate-filled rage rock, certain to please fans of their self-titled 1999 debut. Despite the debut instantly making the band a promising metal contender (going platinum with absolutely no radio or MTV play), the intensity level hasn't dipped in the slightest on their second platter. Producer Ross Robinson is once again back on board, and IOWA delivers from beginning to end, as evidenced by such angst-filled, explosive tracks as "People = Shit," "The Heretic Anthem," and "Left Behind," to name but a few. IOWA is surely destined to be the album that catapults Slipknot to the top of the heavy metal heap. It serves as the perfect soundtrack for disaffected teenage metalheads the world over.
Album Reviews: NME (12/29/01, p.59) - Ranked #6 in NME's 50 "Albums Of the Year 2001". Rolling Stone (10/11/01, p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Next to IOWA's hell-hop polydrumming and nail-bomb showers of soprano-drone guitar and sampled squeal, nearly everything else in modern doom rock sounds banal....With IOWA Slipknot go to the head of the slag heap, the new kings of extreme..." Q (10/01, p.130) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A punk pipebomb pointed at the mainstream and ready to blow..." Alternative Press (9/01, p.75) - 7 out of 10 - "...Like having a plastic bag taped over your head for an hour while Satan uses your scrotum as a speedbag....[It] is over the top...you're going to be left in stitches..." NME (8/25/01, p.49) - 8 out of 10 - "...Exhilarating, brutal and good....Like the art of the insane, every possible space is covered in scrawl and cymbals..." Uncut (11/01, p.120) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "...The barely relenting, tumbling noise attack marshalled by nu-metal uber-producer Ross Robinson is expert..." CMJ (10/1/01, p.13) - "...Brutal, unrelenting, scorching..."
Titles on disc 1
1.: 515
2.: People = Shit
3.: Disasterpiece
4.: My Plague
5.: Everything Ends
6.: Heretic Anthem
7.: Gently
8.: Left Behind
9.: Shape
10.: Skin Ticket
11.: I Am Hated
12.: New Abortion
13.: Metabolic
14.: Iowa
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since : 27/08/2001
Compare Iowa [PA] - Slipknot to other similar Hardcore, Punk & Heavy Metal
![Iowa [PA] - Slipknot](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/normal/885/product-5170885.jpg)
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
![Greatest Hits Vol.1 (Parental Advisory) [PA] - Korn](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/605/Greatest_Hits_Vol_1_Parental_Advisory_PA_Korn__5878605.jpg)
