12 Best Screamo Metal Bands Of All Time

Infamous masked metallers are celebrating their 25th year as a group in 2020. With a career spanning six albums, the group have gained an incredible ten Grammy nominations, winning the Best Metal Performance award with 2009's 'Before I Forget.' Despite numerous line-up changes, the heavy hitters have showed no signs of slowing down. Their most recent effort “We Are Not Your Kind” released in 2019 to great acclaim.

The story of the masks is less exciting than you may think. The concept has been rumoured to be a comment on the commercialisation of the music industry. Reflecting the view of record companies that artists are simply a number on a spreadsheet, rather than human beings. In actuality, the idea stemmed from Shawn Crahan taking a clown mask to practice in the early days. It didn’t take long before the rest of the group followed suite and just before the release of their self-titled album, the band had their own individual masks and assigned number.

Unsurprisingly, controversy has followed the band throughout their career. Multiple crimes have been linked to the band in one way or another. The most shocking came in 2003, when a Californian couple stabbed their friend to death. During the trial, it came out that they had been listening to ‘Disasterpiece’ beforehand, and allegedly recited lyrics during the attack.

Slipknot’s live shows have been a huge reason for the group’s long-lasting career. During the early days, various members would perform dangerous stunts, climbing lighting rigs and tying fans up with microphone cables. As shows got bigger (and injury lawsuits stacked up), the shows started to focus more on antics on the stage, with impressive contraptions such as the rotating drum cage and impressive pyrotechnics.