10 Metal Bands That Changed Their Sound

When Slipknot went in to create a new album, there was nowhere else to really take their heaviness. Iowa has basically been the peak of the more disgusting sides of their sound, and there was no way they were going to try and outdo those kind of horrors again, especially when they were trying to clean up their acts. When they set up shop in the Houdini mansion though, they realized that they didn't need to stay heavy...they could do whatever they wanted.

While Vol. III may have been the most radio-centric Slipknot album up until this point, that's not a bad thing at all when you have tracks as strong as these. As much as songs like Duality have shout along choruses behind them, they are balanced out perfectly by the pure pain behind a song like Pulse of the Maggots or even the dark ballads that turn up on the back end of the project like Circle and Danger Keep Away.

There are even some influences that feel far removed from metal entirely, like the drum performance on Before I Forget almost having some jazz fills in the mix and Corey Taylor channeling a band like Nine Inch Nails on The Blister Exists. Slipknot may have been flirting with a little bit more melody this time around, but it doesn't matter how commercial you sound as long as you still have that fire lit inside you.