SlipKnot Merch, current albums and new releases

Located in the heart of the Midwestern United States and with a population of approximately 215,000 Des Moines, Iowa is best known locally for insurance companies. But it was in Des Moines of all places, that the young musicians Paul Gray, Shawn Crahan and Joey Jordison hung out at a local Sinclair gas station in the mid-90s. Back then nobody expected that in 1995 these guys would form one of the greatest metal bands of all time : SlipKnot.

SlipKnot: 9 personalities, 9 stories …. and 9 masks! Masks and overalls are, without question, SlipKnot's trademark. Incidentally, the idea for the masks came from the first SlipKnot rehearsal when percussionist Shawn Crahan showed up wearing a clown mask. The idea was a hit and quickly declared as an integral part of the band.

On October 31, 1996 the demo tape "Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat" was recorded and it shaped the sound of the band like no other release. The intro "SlipKnot" can be found on the debut album as "(Sic)" and songs "Gently" and "Killers are Quiet" also made the second studio album “Iowa”.

The demo tape is still one of the most popular SlipKnot collectibles. No wonder: After all, there are only 1000 original copies of the demo and even the band members do not own a copy.

Slipknot's Story - From Debut to We Are Not Your Kind

With just $ 40,000 in their back pocket, the debut album "SlipKnot" was recorded and finally released on June 29, 1999 via Roadrunner Records. To this day, the debut album represents one of the most important milestones in the Nu-Metal scene and songs like “(sic)”, “Wait and Bleed” and “Spit It Out” are still regularly played at live shows.

Within a very short time the boys from Des Moines had gained international fame. What Paul Gray and Co. could only dream of during the 1992 Basement sessions had finally come true. The first major tours followed and soon the band were playing at huge festivals.

After such a success, SlipKnot then faced a huge challenge because the expectations of their fans were quite high. But SlipKnot just kept going and added more album successes to their career. You can find merchandise from all the albums including the debut title, in our EMP SlipKnot Merch Shop.

Iowa

The second album " Iowa " shot to number 1 on the British album charts and number 3 on the Billboard Magazine album charts shortly after its release. Definitely one of the best Nu-Metal releases of all time for us. You can get SlipKnot shirts, CDs, records and much more from EMP to match the “Iowa” album.

After “Iowa”, the gentlemen took a creative break initially. Side projects were taken care of, such as Stone Sour and Murderdolls - although Stone Sour wasn't really supposed to be a side project. It was launched before SlipKnot but the success of the band pushed the career of Stone Sour into the background for a while.

Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)

Eventually Corey Taylor , Chris Fehn, Mick Thomson , Sid Wilson , Craig Jones , Shawn Crahan, James Root , Joey Jordison and Paul Gray reunited in late 2003 to record the third album. With “Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses) “SlipKnot have partly reinvented themselves and for the first time, quieter songs like “Circle” or “Vermilion Pt. 2“ made it onto an album. The album was well received amongst critics and the band even received a Grammy Award for best metal performance for the song "Before I Forget"

All hope is gone

At the end of 2007, after huge headline tours all over the world, the band began to work on the fourth album "All Hope Is Gone". Released on August 20, 2008 the album reverted to the harder side of SlipKnot again but catchy songs like“Psychosocial” made it onto the album as well. SlipKnot just can't seem to write a disappointing album - great job!

5. The Gray Chapter

In 2010 Slipknot suffered a major setback when bassist Paul Gray was found dead in an Iowa hotel. For the band members, their world collapsed after Gray's death and James Root announced a break of at least two years. In September 2010 Slipknot released the "(sic) ness" DVD as an unofficial legacy to Gray.

We Are Not Your Kind

We had to wait almost five years for a new SlipKnot album after “The Gray Chapter” was released in 2014. On August 9, 2019 Corey Taylor and Co. came back with “ We Are Not Your Kind” and we can't wait to see the new album hit the stages around the world. Because not only is music a big part of SlipKnot, but also the live stage shows and a whole new show awaits us to match the “We Are Not Your Kind” album. There is also a new band member! We don't know the name yet, and the Maggots only call him Tortilla Man!

SlipKnot in transition

In December 2013 SlipKnot finally announced that drummer Joey Jordison had left the band - no further reasons were given. A short time later, however, Jordison emphasized that he would never leave SlipKnot and that he was kicked out of the band. How exactly the breakup came about, probably only the band members themselves know. What we do know is that SlipKnot continued. Joey Jordison was replaced with Jay Weinberg and Alessandro Venturella has been playing the bass since 2014.

The official legacy of Paul Gray then followed with the album "5th The Gray Chapter". When the first single "The Negative One" was released in early August 2014, it quickly became clear that SlipKnot had found their way back to their old strength and the song could easily have been on “Iowa” without any problems. Even the very last ‘Maggot’ could also be won over with the video “Devil in I”.

The entire album was released on October 17, 2014. RIP Paul!

Slipknot merch and much more

EMP has followed the history of Slipknot from the start and look forward to every release with great anticipation. In our SlipKnot online shop you will find everything that makes a Maggot pulse soar. In addition to the entire SlipKnot discography, you will find a good load of SlipKnot merchandise such as SlipKnot T-Shirts, SlipKnot Jackets and much more. Of course you can also find SlipKnot CDs and vinyl's from SlipKnot here.