Maybe outside of Linkin Park, Slipknot were the fastest-rising force of the nu metal era. Their anarchic concerts during the 1999 Ozzfest built nationwide hype, which was consolidated when their debut album reached the top of two separate US charts later that year.
Ever since, other bands have been chasing the Iowans’ tail, thirsting for just a drop of their game-changing aesthetic and mainstream relevance. Below we’ve listed the names that have done it best. From Stone Sour to such newcomers as Memorrhage, these are times where artists who weren’t Slipknot wrote a badass Slipknot song.
Stone Sour – Get Inside (Stone Sour, 2002)
Stone Sour are often considered the soft rock counterpart to Slipknot’s more metallic rage. However, on their 2002 debut album, certain songs have bollocks the size of boulders. Chief among them is single Get Inside, where Corey Taylor snarls and raps over hulking percussion and the staccato guitar of ’Knot-mate Jim Root. Factor in that primal hook – “Motherfucker, get inside! Get inside!” – and it’s safe to say The Nine’s fury was still alive in the early days of this more melodic offshoot.
MATT MILLS
Soulfly, feat. Corey Taylor – Jumpdafuckup (Primitive, 2000)
On September 16, 2000, Slipknot released Spit It Out as a single, and thus started Corey Taylor’s campaign to tell every audience he could to “Jump the fuck up!” Just 10 days after that song dropped, the frontman doubled down on his commitment to getting the world leaping, as he was featured on Soulfly’s second album. Jumpdafuckup is another rallying cry for movement in a similar vein to the nonet’s, exploding from calm to fury with cries of, well… “Jump the fuck up!”
MATT MILLS
Machine Head – Bulldozer (Supercharger, 2001)
As nu metal went supernova in the late ’90s, many artists got pulled into its gravitational pull: Sepultura, Slayer, even Vanilla fucking Ice! Arguably the most infamous, though, was Machine Head. The Californians’ early output was game-changing groove metal, so their abrupt switch to heavy music’s next big thing in 1999 was greeted with cynicism. Supercharger is the lamest release in this two-album foray, but Bulldozer remains a banger. Its moody segues and ferocious verses demonstrate nu metal at its cathartic best.
MATT MILLS
The Defiled – The Resurrectionists (Grave Times, 2011)
One of the great what-if bands of the 2010s’ British metal scene, The Defiled’s awesome blend of pummelling industrial metal riffs and polished metalcore hooks should have reached far further than it ultimately did. Still, we’ll always have the music they released in their short time on this Earth; this cut from 2011 debut album Grave Times is pinned around a riff that sounds like it’s straight from Slipknot’s Vol. 3 era, albeit saturated with gothy ambience and mechanical noise.
MERLIN ALDERSLADE
Tetrarch – Negative Noise (Unstable, 2021)
Few young metal bands have channelled unfiltered, unadulterated nu metal vibes as loudly and proudly as Tetrarch in recent years, and 2021’s Unstable was a world-class offering of catchy-as-crabs millennial metal bangers that channelled everyone from Korn and Linkin Park to Adema and Spineshank. Second track Negative Noise, however, is pure Slipknot, from its blastbeat-powered verse to its big, groovy midsection. Throw in the kind of turbo-angsty lyrics that Corey Taylor himself would be proud of and you have pure Maggot fodder.
MERLIN ALDERSLADE
Vended – Ded To Me (2022)
Vended have said they don’t want to be compared to Slipknot, but be reasonable lads. Your singer and your drummer are sons of members from The Nine (Corey Taylor and percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan, respectively), and you play apoplectic nu metal with a masked bassist. Connections were going to be made. Nonetheless, this quartet are one of the most talked-about bands of their genre’s 2020s revival, with tracks like Ded To Me channelling all the anger you’d find on Slipknot and Iowa.
MATT MILLS
Employed To Serve – Universal Chokehold (Conquering, 2021)
Woking’s finest made no secret of the early-00s metal influences that they wove into third album Eternal Forward Motion upon its release in 2019. Its explosive 2021 successor, Conquering, beefed up that extra drizzle of groove and swagger to flex their most impressive collection of songs yet. Propulsive album opener Universal Chokehold packs in chugging, rumbling riffs that Messrs Mick Thomson and Jim Root would be well at home with, opening up into a colossal, bouncing nu metal groove fit to spark arena-sized pits.
MERLIN ALDERSLADE
Red Method – Messiah (For The Sick, 2020)
From frontman Jeremy Gomez’s Corey-like bark to riffs that genuinely sound more Slipknotty than half of Slipknot’s own recent material, not to mention their matching costumes and taste for the theatrical, it’s clear that Londoners Red Method owe more than a little to the influence of the Des Moines Nine. Ultimately, though, when you’re cranking out songs as good as Messiah, taken from their first and, to date, only album in 2020’s For The Sick, who cares?
MERLIN ALDERSLADE
Graphic Nature – Killing Floor (A Mind Waiting To Die, 2023)
Inspired jointly by Slipknot, Korn and drum-and-bass music, Graphic Nature are rising stars of the UK nu metal circuit. Their 2023 debut, A Mind Waiting To Die, attracted fast acclaim, thanks to its series of rampant anthems and vocalist Harvey Freeman’s emphasis on mental health in his lyrics. Standout songs like Killing Floor would be more than worthy of a spot on Iowa given the chance, sprinting forward with harsh percussion and growls, plus layers of savage noise.
MATT MILLS
Memorrhage – Reek (Memorrhage, 2023)
It’s Slipknot… in spaaaaaaaace! Memorrhage are the solo project of Texan musician Garry Brents, whose passion for turn-of-the-millennium nu metal is equalled only by his love of video games and science fiction. As a result, Reek rampages like classic ’Knot, with Sid Wilson-esque scratching and all, yet also weaves a cosmic tale about an android murdering the crew of a spaceship. In fact, if you dig Slipknot and Iowa, just listen to the entire album, OK?
MATT MILLS
Death Killer – You Know Nothing About Metal (Total Destruction Of The Entire Universe, 2024)
Death Killer’s debut album was released in 2024, yet it sounds like something that’s simultaneously from 2002 and the far-distant future. This shadowy Finnish outfit are best likened to Godflesh playing at the speed of Slipknot, assaulting the listener with blasts of percussion, shouting and digitised distortion. Even a 1999 Corey Taylor would probably give this a go and deem it a bit much, but the blend of savagery and meticulousness means you can’t bring yourself to turn it off.
MATT MILLS
