Slipknot's Heavy Harvest
by C.J. Cain

Having served a lifelong sentence in "The Tall Corn State," I must say that I'm happier than a pig in sh** that the debauchers from Des Moines (c'mon, YOU try to come up with a good alliteration using "Urbandale"), have reaped a platinum harvest of sales with their self-titled debut, and will assuredly reap the rich bounty that the future holds. I tip my John Deere cap to 'em.

Practically every writer, myself included, has talked about how unlikely it was for any band to rise out of Iowa, when they had to had to compete against tractor pulls and church-sponsored BINGO nights. The fact that they played their own music, AND that the music is the most successfully experimental to fuel a mosh pit in years, is remarkable.

Just as remarkable, is that they have come up with a foolproof method of assuring longevity. While the band has been quick to explain the concept of the coveralls and masks as "the band is about our music and not how we look," the fact that we don't know how they look will keep their music believable. I am a HUGE fan of Judas Priest, but I have to laugh when I hear these "seasoned" metal veterans sing about "Parental Guidance." If they were a band of 17-year-olds, maybe. How about porked-up rockers who are ripping the seams of their leather while the stage lights gleam off the tops of their domes? If I were blind, I would still love metal, but I'm not, so the visuals play a part in my enjoyment of a band.

Slipknot's Heavy Harvest Page 2