Roadrunner US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: After their monumental rise from mask-sporting weirdos to forefathers of a new generation of mainstream metal, many wondered how or if Slipknot would manage to top their blistering self-titled debut, and its malevolent follow-up, 'Iowa.'

Hindsight paints doubts in curious colours, as 'Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses' is now regarded as one of the nine's most expansive, dynamic, and universally acclaimed works.

From the caustic anthem, 'Duality' to the surprisingly accessible 'Before I Forget', the collective managed the impressive feat of honing their craft to appeal to a wider audience while sacrificing little of the unbridled angst of their earlier projects.

Hearing frontman Corey Taylor let his guard down for gentle and hypnotic cuts like 'Circle' and 'Vermillion, Pt. 2', offered entirely new insights into a group known for their brutal intensity and little else. There's still plenty of that on display, with the venomous ode to their fanbase, 'Pulse Of The Maggots', ringing true with its abrasive composition.

Finally reissued alongside its predecessors, there's never been a more ideal time to finally lock down this seminal trilogy that would introduce, shock and cement Slipknot as legends of their own kind for decades to come.

Review: Continuing the onslaught of Slipknot back catalogue reissues, '0.5: The Gray Chapter', saw the collective channel the shared grief and inner turmoil of losing their bassist Paul Gray, into a dynamic, vicious fifth full-length that served as a twisted follow up to 2008's global success, 'All Hope Is Gone.' Harboring some of their darkest singles in over a decade, such as the blistering, 'The Devil In I', or the claustrophobic assault of, 'Custer', many may consider the project to be the outlier within the 9's canon, but with drummer Joey Jordison's last recorded performance, and before the rebirth of 'We Are Not Your Kind', this work served as a complicated reflection of artists lost in a deep state of bewilderment and trauma; utilising their connection and artform to process and heal in ugly, chaotic abandon.