Iowa

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As if answering the challenge of those who dismiss them as a cartoonish joke, Slipknot 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 up ourselves and fester in the f***ing hurt". And right from the introductory shriek and grind "of (515)", you know they're deadly serious. Iowa is immediately intimidating in its unforgiving heaviness. Produced to cruel perfection by wonderboy Ross Robinson, it takes the best of Slayer as its starting-point and moves on. "People=Shit", "The Heretic Anthem" and "New Abortion" are relentless and wholly brutal. But this is no mere thrash. "Disasterpiece" features a weird, hypnotic riff, while "Left Behind" is like a duet between Alice in Chains' Layne Staley and Slayer's Tom Araya. "Gently" (an old track here re-recorded) builds slowly from industrial atmospherics to a punishing explosion of noise, and the title track (also old and formerly known as "Killers Are Quiet") is a heavy metal "Midnight Rambler", deeply unsettling. Frontman Corey Taylor claims to have performed it naked and bleeding from self-inflicted wounds, and that's not hard to believe. The whole album, though masterfully constructed, is painfully raw and utterly compelling. --Dominic Wills