Iowa

Are these guys serious? As if the whole idea of nine guys from Des Moines dressing up as clowns and screaming at us isn’t absurd enough, Slipknot kick it up a few notches with lyrics like, “I wanna slit your throat and fuck the wound,” and a heavier-than-hell metallic horrorcore grind that makes Marilyn Manson sound like Marilyn Quayle. Unfortunately, all indications seem to suggest Slipknot’s comic rage-in-a-cage is not a put-on, which makes it, well, kind of sad. In fairness, their second album, Iowa, is a hundred times more energetic and entertaining than the vast majority of the nü metal crap that’s been foisted on us since Fred Durst was anointed Arbiter of Youth Culture by the TRL generation. Tracks like “Gently” and “Skin Ticket” mark Slipknot clearly as children of the Korn, and there are even some moments of surprising tunefulness (“Left Behind”) poking through all of Iowa’s chaotic noise. Of course, that doesn’t make it any easier to listen to without cracking up.