The follow up to 2001’ s Iowa from the nine men in the masks, Vol. 3: (Subliminal Verses) sees them join forces with producer Rick Rubin and the partnership has the band revealing a deeper (if not darker) layer.
’Prelude 3.0’ is an intriguing way to open because it also serves as the final chapter of their career to date. It’ s an announcement that the Slipknot of old are gone, a salute to the past. Track two is a declaration of intent: ‘Blister Exists’ attacks the senses at approximately 200mph with a thudding marching band-style percussion that sounds like a heavy metal army on its way to war.
Rubin’s involvement provides both positives and negatives. ‘Three Nil’, ‘Opium Of The People’ and ‘Pulse Of The Maggots’ should be vintage Slipknot but have somehow lost the untamed viciousness that set them apart, as though the corners have been knocked off their edginess. But ‘Duality’ , ‘Vermilion’ and ‘Circle’ show the producer’ s constructive involvement as the raging harmonies, awesome sampling and biting riffs are heightened by an infinitely better sound quality.
Rubin’s impact also manifests itself in a slightly different way with his reputedly haunted mansion, where the album was recorded, serving to elicit an added creepiness to the record’ s recurring themes of stalking and obsession.
Subliminal Verses is either the prickly calm before the impending storm or the sound of carnage on the battlefield – only Slipknot know which.