Musical and Lyrical Themes
The musical style of Slipknot is a contested issue due to the variety of genres their music covers. Sources usually group Slipknot within nu metal while also showing influences from other genres, such as rap metal and alternative metal. Prior to its release, band members promised a much darker and heavier album than Slipknot, and many sources praised the band for achieving this – effectively fulfilling their promises. During an interview in 2008, percussionist Shawn Crahan retrospectively evaluated their time creating the album, proclaiming that they owe their overtly darker sound to their state of mind during that period: "When we did Iowa, we hated each other. We hated the world; the world hated us." Iowa, unlike its predecessor, saw Robinson capturing the band's technicality as opposed to the raw energy for which Slipknot is known. The band was also praised for its use of an extended line-up consisting of additional percussionists and electronics. NME stated that "every possible space is covered in scrawl and cymbals: guitars, percussion, electronic squall, subhuman screaming." Although Iowa is widely regarded as the band's heaviest album to date, some tracks do include melody, most apparent in "Everything Ends" and "Left Behind"; however these tracks are still considered heavy when compared to the likes of "Circle", "Danger-Keep Away", "Snuff", "Vermilion" or "Dead Memories".
Iowa follows the lyrical style that vocalist Corey Taylor established on Slipknot's debut album; it includes strong use of metaphors to describe overtly dark themes including misanthropy, solipsism, disgust, anger, disaffection, psychosis and rejection. The album also includes many expletives; David Fricke of the Rolling Stone magazine said "there isn't much shock value left in the words fuck and shit, which Taylor uses in some variation more than forty times in Iowa's sixty-six minutes." Fricke went on to praise Taylor's performance on the track "Iowa", comparing it to a "vivid evocation of a makeshift-cornfield grave at midnight."
Read more about this topic: Iowa (album)
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