‘Iowa’ – Slipknot’s Stunning, Savage Disasterpiece (25 Year Anniversary)
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On 28th August 2001, Slipknot released their brutal second album, ‘Iowa‘. Defying all expectations, they managed to pull off the seemingly impossible: blowing their debut out of the water.
“When we did ‘Iowa’, we hated each other. We hated the world. The world hated us.”
Shawn Crahan, 2008
Formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1995, Slipknot burst onto the global metal scene in 1999. Produced by “Godfather of Nu Metal” Ross Robinson, ‘Slipknot‘ completely redefined the genre’s possibilities.
The hip-hop influences and detuned alt-metal riffs exemplified by Korn and Limp Bizkit were there, certainly. However, Slipknot cranked up the tempo as well as the brutality. Between drummer Joey Jordison’s blast beats and the throat-searing screams of Corey Taylor, this was as close to death metal as it was nu metal.
The album was accompanied by a year-long touring cycle, beginning with Ozzfest and continuing through 2000 with the World Domination Tour. The band’s transgressive nature was evident in more than just the music. Injuries and fistfights were frequent, fires were set, and pigs’ heads on stakes adorned the stage. By the time it was all over, Slipknot were the biggest metal band on the planet. The question on everyone’s lips was, “How could they possibly top that?”.
After the carnage of their first world tour, most of the band’s nine members were ready for a break. But while they went home to lick their wounds, Jordison and founding bassist Paul Gray went right back to work. Guitarist Jim Root, who had only joined towards the end of the debut’s recording, soon got the call to join them.
Within a few months, the rest of the band – vocalist Taylor, percussionists Shawn Crahan and Chris Fehn, lead guitarist Mick Thomson, sampler Craig Jones, turntablist Sid Wilson – had reconvened with Robinson at Sound City to record ‘Iowa‘. Addiction and personal issues were rife among the band. Out of all the turmoil and chaos came the heaviest album ever made.
The album’s introduction, ‘(515)‘, sets the tone. After a few seconds of discordant synthesiser noise, the listener is greeted by blood-curdling screams, still haunting twenty-five years later.
This first voice we hear on the record is not Taylor, but Sid Wilson. As he told Loudwire in 2011:
“My grandfather got really sick and it was right at the end of the recording cycle, there were only like 2 or 3 days left so I was planning to get my parts done quick and then fly out immediately to see him, he was in the hospital. It got up to the last day in the studio and he passed away. I didn’t make it out there, needless to say. I went into the studio and was like ‘Turn it on, turn this s**t on and record.’ There wasn’t any music or anything, I just went in and let it all go.”
Naturally, Slipknot deemed this uncomfortable expression of personal grief the perfect way to open ‘Iowa’. It might seem distasteful to some, but they had a point. Wilson’s screams of genuine agony are just a taste of the desolation in store over the album’s sixty-six minutes.
Not content to let the audience recover after that introduction, Slipknot unleashes the blistering one-two punch of ‘People = S**t‘ and ‘Disasterpiece‘.
The former opens proceedings with a barrage of blast beats, drop-tuned riffs, and layers of multi-tracked screams. As the band settles into a crushingly heavy groove, Taylor’s opening message is suitably profane: “Here we go again, motherf****r“. The chorus – primarily consisting of the song’s title, delivered in a delirious gang vocal – is absurdly catchy. While there are hints of the darkness to come, it’s an exercise in joyful misanthropy.
‘Disasterpiece‘ is decidedly more sinister, with Thomson’s squalling, now-iconic guitar leading Slipknot into what might be their most brutal song. Taylor’s lyrics depict somebody at the very depths of depravity, self-loathing, and megalomania. “Everything around me is mine / Can’t see through the sties in my eyes / I’m not supposed to be here / I’m not supposed to be”
A huge part of why this album feels so uniquely heavy is its production. Slipknot recorded ‘Iowa‘ to analog tape, seemingly without a metronome, just like their debut album. The band recorded the percussion live. Primary drummer Jordison tracked simultaneously with Crahan and Fehn.
This old-school, analog methodology paid off; each song is bursting with vitality. Moreover, tracks like ‘Everything Ends‘ and ‘Metabolic‘ have the momentum of a runaway train. Sometimes Jordison’s excitably hurried tempo threatens to derail the whole thing.
Taylor’s vocals are equally raw. Apart from some sparingly deployed doubling and effects on the album’s few real melodies, his contributions are unvarnished. The absence of any overly polished production only makes his tortured screams even more chilling.
The manic energy of these unfiltered performances gives ‘Iowa‘ an intensity that can’t be captured with Pro Tools and plug-ins. In every single second, the record feels like a living, breathing, malevolent organism. In summary, Slipknot utilised each of their nine members. They each cover the sonic space in grime, filth, and blood.
This visceral aesthetic culminates in the album’s finest moment. Further to this, the final, titular track opens with an appropriately disturbing soundscape: a crowd screaming, distant machine-gun fire.
Built around Crahan’s ominous drum tattoo, the band joins in one by one, patiently building the tension to unbearable levels. The bass and percussion become increasingly insistent before Taylor’s wordless scream heralds the dam finally bursting.
The lyrics – which the vocalist recorded naked, bleeding, and under the influence – are perhaps his darkest. He matches them with his performance: breathy and seductive in the first two verses, before unleashing his most harrowing growl for the finale. While people overly mythologise his “method” approach, the results speak for themselves.
When all is said and done, ‘Iowa‘ is a sprawling, fifteen-minute masterpiece. Like the rest of its parent album, it shows Slipknot at the peak of their powers. As the album winds down, we are left with Paul Gray’s rumbling bassline and Corey Taylor’s prophetic whisper.
“You’ll live forever.”
Slipknot is on Instagram, X, Threads, and TikTok. ‘Iowa‘ is available to stream below. You can read more anniversaries pieces here, including ‘.5: The Gray Chapter‘.
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