Slipknot

In late 1998, Slipknot entered the recording studio to work on their debut album.In the early new year, guitarist Brainard decided to leave the band due to personal reasons.His replacement, Jim Root, left the band with the line-up they retain.Recording finished in early 1999, with "Me Inside" and "Purity",and the band attended the Ozzfest which began in March.On June 29, 1999, the band released their eponymous album Slipknot.Regarding the album, Rick Anderson of Allmusic wrote "You thought Limp Bizkit was heavy? They're The Osmonds. Slipknot is something else entirely."The band performed in the Livin La Vida Loco tour in support of Slipknot.

Slipknot included variations of previously released songs, including "(sic)"; a version of the previous song "Slipknot". These versions were faster than their previous recordings and this shift in intensity was welcomed by old fans.In the same year, Slipknot released their first home video Welcome to Our Neighborhood (which was later released on DVD in 2003).In early 2000, Slipknot was certified platinum, a first for an album released by Roadrunner Records.In July 2001, Q named Slipknot as one of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time".The band has stated that their primary influences include Kiss, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Judas Priest, Korn, White Zombie, Led Zeppelin and Beastie Boys.Death metal, black metal and heavy metal have been mentioned as a key influence on the band's musical direction alongside nu metal, the category the band is generally listed as.They have also stated that they are influenced by industrial bands like Head of David, Godflesh and Skinny Puppy as well as Neurosis and jungle music like Roni Size.

Slipknot are seen as pioneers of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. They can be compared with groups such as Pantera, Machine Head, Biohazard, Life of Agony, and Prong and are known for often chaotic and energetic live shows.The extreme performance style provided by their large line-up featuring a typical heavily down-tuned guitar set-up (lead, rhythm, and bass guitars), two percussionists in addition to the primary drummer, and electronics (samplers and turntables).Robert Cherry of Rolling Stone compared the band's sound to "a threshing machine devouring a military drum corps".

Their early work hosted a diverse range of vocal styles, ranging from growled vocals, rapping and occasional melodic.In more recent work, this vocal style remains present, but now includes more melodic singing as well as less rapping.The lyrics generally follow a very aggressive tone and feature themes such as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, love, misanthropy and psychosis.Rick Anderson of Allmusic regards the group's lyrics as "not generally quotable on a family website".There has been controversy surrounding Slipknot's lyrics, including a case in which a pair of young killers blamed the lyrics from the song "Disasterpiece" for their vicious crime and a case in 2006 in which lyrics from the song "Surfacing" were found at the site of a grave robbing.