10 Perfect Albums That Defined The 2000s

The arrival of Slipknot in the nu metal scene seemed to be a little too much for even the seasoned metalheads to take in. While we had gotten used to a band like KISS or even Marilyn Manson playing with theatrics, here was a band of lunatics that wore matching boiler suits and looked like they were about to unleash hell every time they took to the stage. This may have seemed like a gimmick, but the Knot were deadly serious once they went in on the second record.

Looking to amplify the scary moments of their debut, Ross Robinson ended up putting the band through their paces on Iowa, encouraging them to make their sound even heavier than what they had done before. Though the masks were still a touch ridiculous, songs like Left Behind is where it stopped being a novelty, with Corey Taylor shrieking his guts out and the drums sounding like they're about to stomp you to death.

And by all accounts, it actually managed to win over the mainstream, becoming one of the heaviest records in existence to actually reach the top of the Billboard album charts. As time has gone on though, Clown has said that the record brought out some rough tendencies in the band, which led to them getting more and more fractured as the production went on. So this kind of record might not be worth repeating for Slipknot, but it's a musical gift from Hell that we got something like this at least once.