10 Best Metal Ballads Of All Time
3. Snuff - Slipknot
The very idea of having a ballad for a group as scary as Slipknot almost feels wrong. Considering the amount of horror imagery that comes with their delivery along with the terrifying masks, how the hell are you expected to put a tearjerker song in the middle of things? Well, considering All Hope is Gone is considered a misfire in the 9's catalog, they did score at least one great one with Snuff.
Up until this point, this was one of the most downtempo songs we'd ever heard from Slipknot, especially coming off of rage fests like Iowa. Though the seeds of a song like Snuff were planted on Vol. III: The Subliminal Verses, this is about as pure a heartache ballad gets, with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and Corey's voice carrying the entire track. Using a vocal range normally reserved for Stone Sour, Corey comes through with one of the most pained vocals of his career, as he sings about letting go of someone who he has lost his faith in.
Though you can tell he still has feelings for this person, it's clear that Corey will never really make peace with himself for this relationship going sour. This also ended up taking on a whole new meaning when founding member Paul Gray passed away, with many tributes coming out playing this song in his memory. While you can say that Slipknot was too poppy on this outing, it takes guts to play a song this close to the chest.