The year 2000, a girl who is about to turn 9 years old tunes in to a channel that has been gaining her attention for a long time; MTV (LATIN AMERICA). And it is at that moment where all the magic begins... She has always been an introverted girl, different from the rest. Although it may seem cliché, it is true that not all girls wear pink dresses and love stories about princes and princesses... Although she is just a little girl, it is also true that music accompanies her and is with her. She doesn't know it yet, but without her expecting it, she will witness a music video that will change her life forever: ‘Wait and Bleed LIVE’.
Completely astonished but curious, she stares at these grown-up kids wearing masks and playing music that her mother would never approve of (even to this day she detests them). Fascinated by the scenic impression, she lets herself be carried away by curiosity and surprise. She doesn't understand a single word of the song, but she knows that there is something in this band, with an unpronounceable name for a girl of 9, that attracts her and she likes it... This was my first encounter with Slipknot, in the 3rd grade... I still remember it and have been inspired by it to put together this post of tribute and music about the guys from IOWA, USA.
I would say that together with Rage Against the Machine, Deftones, Korn and Limp Bizkit; Slipknot entered the Olympus of New Metal. Definitely, these guys knew how to take advantage of the fusions so typical of those first years of the new millennium and did something completely and utterly different to what we could listen to during that time and even now. The aesthetics and the stressing power of Death Metal but much more melodic and uncomplicated. But Slipknot, at least for me, is more than a review... These guys were my true companions in life. They were with me in my childhood, during my adolescence and they are still here.
So, I think that's the beautiful and lasting thing that music brings to my generation. It really meant something. There was fashion, of course there was. I myself craved and, luckily, had Joey Jordison's Adidas All-Stars and loved to do my nails like Corey Taylor, and on Halloween I had excuses that overcame my mother's limitations, so I could do my face like the masks they wore.... Not to mention their albums.... When I was about to graduate, their 3rd studio album was released: ‘Vol.3’, a total and apotheosic work of art that everyone should listen to, at least once in their life...
25 years (almost) have passed since fortune, and perhaps even fate, brought me and this amazing band together. The only time I tried to learn to play bass was motivated and influenced by Paul Gray. Thanks to songs like ‘Before I Forget’ ‘Duality’ or ‘Vermillion’, I felt I should be like them..... Suffice to say I didn't come close, I don't have what it takes. But I am left with the resources and above all, I am left with their music. Power, rebellion, struggle, being different and that it's okay.... Also, musically, now that I'm older than my childhood and my teenage days, I can honestly tell you that it's still tremendously impactful.
Try to understand what that means.... These guys have combined all the hardcore styles of meta into a more presentable fusion for different audiences. And they've been doing it since 1995 to the present day... 29 years of success and a power that can't be omitted. Personally, they are one of the most influential and transcendent bands I have ever had the luxury of being able to listen to... To this day, if I want to catharsis I go to their more experimental albums and release everything I have inside me. Even the first time I went to Caracas, the capital of my country, it was to buy a T-shirt and two original records. Those were other times, simpler, different, which I will treasure all my life. This short story is because of Slioknot and that they are still in my life. I listen to them often and they still provoke that healthy anger in me; that holy fire, or doesn't it happen to you when you hear the intro of ‘Duality’: ‘I put my fingers into my EYEEEEEEES!’