Review by Russell Eldridge
I was a little hesitant to give Slipknot a chance when they first came onto the scene because of their masks and costumes. A while back, a friend of mine had the Slipknot self-titled debut album and he suggested that I give it a listen. After about five seconds of listening to the song “Sic,” I was an instant fan. The sound was so aggressive and brutal that I didn’t care what they wore.
As things turn out, “Sic” is the first track on disc one from Antennas From Hell, which, for me, is the perfect song to begin an album that arguably contains the best tunes from the past four albums, with song after song of insane percussion, samples and sinister guitar playing.
Throughout each song, the vocals of Corey Taylor are heartfelt and intense. When Taylor sings aggressively, the speakers seem to pulsate from increased blood pressure and adrenalin. Songs like “Spit It Out” and “People=Shit” are not the type of song to soothe the savage beast.
When Taylor chooses to sing with a clearer voice, like in “Dead Memories” and “Snuff,” a more tortured face comes to mind under a skin tight suffocating mask. Corey Taylor said in an interview a while back that his original mask was painful to wear and difficult to sing in, which helped him slip into the proper frame of mind for his part in Slipknot. Who knows if any of the later masks had the same effect on Taylor.
The second disk contains the complete live set from 2009 Download Festival and the third disc is a DVD containing all of Slipknot’s videos and 10 new videos created by Shawn Crahan (Clown.)
You can find Slipknot and Antennas From Hell at http://www.slipknot1.com
