Slipknot are a band who hardly require an introduction considering that their self-titled '99 I AM/Roadrunner debut managed to single-handedly change the face of modern metal as we know it. In fact, few groups can come along and completely flip the scene on its ear like this costumed and extremely intense 9 piece wrecking crew from Iowa did and as such all eyes point to this, their third outing. Has the wide spread success and the platinum sales of their past outing changed them and pushed them to "sellout" like so many before them? The answer is thankfully a resounding NO. Rather than drift off into experimental territory or mellow out, Slipknot have bucked the trend, scaled down their sound and compacted it into a 2 ton aural spear that tears a gaping hole through anything in its path. For the most part this album is still deeply entrenched within the battlefields the band waged war upon with their past effort, except this time around the weaponry has changed as they now have a more prevalent inclusion of death metal influences, a stronger use of dynamics and less hip-hop inspired song structuring.

Band frontman Corey Taylor has really begun to come into his own and though he still heavily traverses through the throaty aggro exorcisms we have come to know him for, this album also finds him embracing a decidedly contrasting use of melody, as documented on the handful of dynamic tracks like "Left Behind" and "My Plague". His vocals are also profusely emphatic, teeming with more sullen emotional vulnerability than ever before. However, this slightly softer side isn't there just for commercial means, as his tortured rants drip with pure conviction, belting and gasping out each of his disturbing words as though they were his dying breath. The guitar work is definitely a lot leaner here and as such has also become more fiery, drawing heavy inspiration from grindcore and death metal to inject the music with a lethally distorted edge that relies much less upon the new metal stylings that guitarists James Root/#4 and Mick Thompson/#7 once thrived upon in the past to instead progress forward with a more traditional extreme metal approach. Bass wise the album is consistent and satisfyingly downtuned, but tends to be more of a proverbial glue put in place to support the shredding vitriolic guitar parts rather than vie for a spotlight of its own. Meanwhile, the percussive performance captured on "IOWA" is another aspect of the sound which has unquestionably taken a note from the death metal/grindcore genre as riotous and pummeling outbursts of crushing hits take shape in the vein of restrained blast-beats rather than the unrelenting tribal feel they possessed before. Impacting like strategically planned wave upon wave of mortar shells, the heavy double kick and rib cage crushing outbursts of drummer Joey Jordison/#1 and percussionists Shawn Crahan/#6 and Chris Fehn/#3 exhibit a more concentrated focus that really compounds the unforgiving assault that is Slipknot. Of course the final pieces of the bands line-up are sampler/programmer Craig Jones/#5 and turntablist Sid Wilson/#0 who seem to only provide an occasional storm of stirring ambiance and chaotic noise here, rather than the fairly prevalent work they did before. Sure there's still the frequent careering bass drop and some frenzied scratching, but its nowhere near as vivid as it was in the past, allowing it to become more of an exciting subtlety rather than a tiring saturation of sonic feedback.

The craftsmanship of the songs is perhaps this albums most noticeable improvement when compared to their past work. They are now a more rounded band, effortlessly able to slow things down to eerie, looming dirges that violently explode in all the right places, rather than keep things consistently going full throttle through each song. There is also a lot more musical maturity present as the group are seemingly becoming quite song structure driven, rather than running only on pure intensity. Another thing that deserves mention is the lyrical content of "IOWA", which is substantially more personal, choosing to deal with the dark secrets of Corey's past and outlook on life rather than the call to arms anthems against society and "normality" that their self-titled opus contained. However, it is perhaps the deeper involvement of melodic singing and the broader range of highs and lows, coupled with an even more infuriated sense of aggression that really take the band up to the next level in terms of ability and ferocity. Yet still, though there's no question that this a devastating outing, the bulk of tracks on it are honestly not too far distanced from that of the bands previous work and suggests that they took a streamlined approach in favor of trying to further themselves and incorporate creative new ideas. In fact, "IOWA" sounds a lot like they were more intent on honing their style into a sharp point rather than evolving on to the next plateau and this is something which may dishearten those who were hoping to see them go on to break new ground. Unfortunately, there's also a tendency for the songs to sound a bit rushed and not yet fully realized, something which could probably be attributed to the bands hectic touring schedule and the short amount of time they took to write this album. That being said, "IOWA" is still an album that will disappoint very few and unquestionably go on to establish Slipknot at the forefront of modern metal for the new millennium. Its brutal, uncompromising and attacks from all angles making it pretty much everything they've promised and more. Without a doubt, Iowa is now firmly back on the map.