16 years ago, speculations and doubts were being thrown at the band as they were about to work on their third album. The band’s state was regressing after their second album entitled ‘Iowa’ was released; despite all living together under one roof in their mansion studio located in Los Angeles, conversations and interactions were minimal. Due to the tensions arising, members of the band were either trying to distract themselves with side projects and turning to vices of drugs and alcohol.
Vocalist Corey Taylor was almost this close to quitting the bad as a result of the deteriorating situation of his band and the unspoken disintegration of his marriage. Luckily, it did not push through, thanks to Shawn “Clown” Crahan, the percussionist of the band. Later on, they got together and decided to create another album built on previous albums and also projected into new musical directions.
Slipknot was able to bag a Grammy award and placed second in the United States charts for their third album, Vol 3: (The Subliminal Verses) which was released in May 2004. Despite creative differences between Taylor and producer Rick Rubin, the album was still a success. The success was also acknowledged to have been caused by Taylor’s choice of avoiding strong language after being criticized that he was unable to produce good music without it. Oddly enough, even with the success of the album, Taylor regards the album as his second least-favorite release. He stated that the album and the people involved were great, but him personally going through a tough time had manipulated his view on their own album.
Despite the adversities and criticisms they had received, Slipknot pushed through and rose from the ashes. Slipknot had proven that they were a force not to be reckoned with. It also ended their association with the “nu-metal” label.