My First Time Listening to Iowa by Slipknot | My Reaction 

Love this reaction. Great job as usual. So the story behind 515, the album opener. Right when the band went into the studio to start recording the album, their DJ, Sid Wilson's grandfather passed away. So he made the music of the track and they gave him a microphone and he just let out all his emotions. That's the screaming you hear.

This album is rage and pain personified. Theres something about Corey's voice that just captures the sound of someone pushed to the brink, and then a little further. And the way they keep in coreys wheezing and manic laugher just adds to the ambiance. And instrumentally hits just as hard. Not a lot of albums can make you FEEL the emotions of the band, like, the vocals for '515' belong to the bands DJ, Sid Wilson, after his grandfather died. So they put him in a booth to let it out and he just screamed "death" over and over again. IOWA is a monument to catharsis.

I've always felt this is Slipknot's best album. It's just so raw and emotional. I think the loud and crunchy mixing does a lot to accentuate it.

These Slipknot albums are so engrained into my brain, it's hard to imagine someone never hearing them before and not knowing every note and minor vocal change I wish I could listen to them for the first time again 😭😭

This album and Korn’s Self Titled album probably are two of the most influential metal albums to come out of the genre. The impact these two albums had on metal were insane. This album was hell to make for the band: 505 is a recording of one of the band members had a mental breakdown. The closer to Iowa, Corey Taylor recorded his vocals, drunk, naked and cutting himself with glass. If you like this, you’ll love Suicide Silence’s ‘The Black Crown’. The Deathcore scene has some incredible talent and energy to it

Just some context, in case no one else has said it yet; The Heretic Anthem was written after an incident toward the end of the band's tour cycle for their first album. A man, as Corey described him, wearing a suit and looking like an official from a record company, approached Corey at the end of a show and basically said that if they could write an entire album of "Wait and Bleeds," the band would become huge. Corey had some very not-nice words for the man and went on to write The Heretic Anthem. The song is a huge double-fisted middle finger to the music industry. "If you're 555 then I'm 666" means that if you (the music industry) want me to be one way, I'm going in the completely opposite direction, because we (Slipknot) do what we want, not what you say. If you look back at the lyrics, it's full of references to how they want to be and how they want their music to be, versus how lots of other bands are. Iowa (the song) is another interesting one with some strange facts. Corey has said, and I'm paraphrasing, that Iowa, "is about taking a corpse and doing very fucked up things to it." The producer told Corey to go to a place in his mind he had never been to before, and Corey went there. He did the vocals for the entire song in two takes, and actually stripped naked, broke every piece of glass he could find in the booth, and started cutting himself as he was doing the vocals. He says if you listen to the background noises, you can hear him screaming with every cut, and vomiting from the pain and shock. He definitely went the extra mile for that song. Anyway, I just wanted to give you some context of some songs you had questions about. I hope this helped!!

Of course it had to be this one! Slipknot's greatest album (in my opinion).

On 515 the screams and cries are from the DJ Sid Wilson when he got the news that his grandfather had just passed away and he could not be there cause they were recording the album, he was secretely recorded by sampler/keyboardist Craig Jones.

This is one of my favorite Slipknot albums. I guarantee you will enjoy .5 The Gray Chapter and Vol. 3. Also Untitled and See You On The Other Side by Korn.

The turntables on this record have a couple really interesting samples that were scratched and layed, a lot of them being these metallic cages rattling and female vocal screams and shrills that are scratched in those sections with that wirling vibrato to them, sid is a brilliant turntablist and really allows the instrument to stand on its own in the sense of darker and heavy music as a whole.

Fact about this record: Corey during the title track “Iowa” cut himself with shards of glass in the vocal booth to give the most authentic screams. In the opening “515” intro, the “DEATH” screaming is DJ Sid screaming and crying because his grandfather just died. Absolutely authentic.

Love the detailed genuine reactions ❤️

Heya Molly. I was waiting very patiently for this one lol. The first track 515 has a very sad story behind it. Sid, who does the turntables for Slipknot had just(literally got the phone call) lost his grandfather of whom he was very very close with. When he entered the studio he was gutted and music being his outlet he got on the mic. He just let it all pour our screaming and crying one word multiple times. Death. It was never supposed to be on the album but it got mixed and some of the screams reversed to just make it sound crazy. Supposedly the original uncut is way to hard to handle. Thanks for these listens and reactions. They are great!

FINALLY!!!!! I've listened to this album like 5 times a year since it came out and it never gets old. Everything Ends isn't just my favorite Slipknot song but a top 5 of my favorite metal songs of all time. Left Behind and My Plague are absolute bangers as well. Again, props to producer Ross Robinson, guitarists Mick Thompson and Jim Root came into their own on each track, and as always shout out to bassist Paul Grey (R.I.P.) and drummer Joey Jordison for writing a majority of the music. Loved your reactions to this sooo much. Can't wait for you to hear Vol. 3 (aka mature Slipknot). Keep up the great work Molly!

It truly is a fantastic record. I'm so excited to see your take on Vol 3 now. Such a drastic turn that showed people they couldn't be held down. Also, just saw these guys live after two decades of being in love with them and it was every bit the experience it was built up to be! Highly recommend checking em out if they come near your city. Corey makes the crowd feel so special ☺️

I absolutely love how your analysis is so accurate. By far the best slipknot reaction RU-vidr.

This album meant so much to me as a kid. You can feel the sincerity from everyone on it, especially Joey. So happy to hear you also get chills listening to it.

love these reactions, keep em coming! looking forward to the next one.

One of my all time favorite albums, so glad you did this one!!

She is my favorite reviewer (by far!) Honest, heartfelt reactions which are always articulated incredibly well. Love this channel :)

I came across "Iowa" at a really difficult time in my life. I remember feeling really disturbed and almost frightened to listen to it at some points. In fact, I don't I've sat down and listened to it all the way through. Your review has helped me see how dynamic of an album it is. There's a lot of standouts on "Iowa," personally, "My Plague," (It was featured on the 'Resident Evil' movie soundtrack), "Left Behind," "I Am Hated," and I remember liking "Metabolic" a lot, too. I've always admired Slipknot for the way they infuse all of their various elements into one unique sound. My personal favorite member is Craig...the sample guy with giant nails coming out of his head! Haha... Cool review, Molly! Looking forward to the next one!

great as always! cant wait for vol.3!

Great reaction, you have a very calming demeanor, it's refreshing! First time watching you reaction. Your vocabulary was very nice and kept me interested! Definitely gonna check out more of your videos! Keep it up! Have a great one.

Cool reaction vid! Got into a Slipknot nostalgia mood and came across this vid. Thank you for your effort in analyzing each track!

Stoked seeing you enjoy all this crazy music.

Love seeing you enjoy these albums! This album got me through middle and high school

Great reaction. I've been listening to this album since it came out and I still get goosebumps everytime.

loved the reaction! i can’t wait for u to get to Vol.3, its really different but its my personal fav album by slipknot.

Love seeing someone experience my favorite album for the first time, which I wish I could. Fun fact you can't really see with modern music distribution: The liner notes that have the lyrics contain lyrics for every song EXCEPT Iowa. Iowa is physically on the disc itself. 515 is also the area code for Des Moines. They did the entire album live in 2016 at Knotfest and it was the most surreal experience seeing Iowa in its entirety in a live setting. Love these reactions!

Even though it’s poppier and not as heavy, Corey’s work with Stone Sour is really good too.

this is simply amazing, Molly... purely brutal but still a game changer and very authentic at the time as a big fan of their whole discography, this is by far my favorite

hope you react to vol 3 soon! the first two are easily my favorites but it will be interesting for you to see how slipknot changed their sound from iowa to vol 3 also the backup vocalists throughout the album are the two percussionists Chris (guy with long nose mask) and Clown

Dynamite reaction and review! I really enjoy your insight and choice of words…you’re giving proper attention to the whole of the song, including the production…that’s both rare and rad!👍😎

I listen to this álbum since i was 15, im 34 now and i still enjoy it so much...im glad that people Still find and enjoy this masterpieces...thank you for what youre doing, great great reaction. I hope you complete your Slipknot Journey , in my opinion Iowa is the best of them but there are amazing albums they made after that one and i hope you react to them. Greetings from Colombia 🇨🇴👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Class review. I think this channel is going to explode, or at least I hope it does! Well done!

love watching you hear this for the first time! on my first listen i had to pull over on the side of the highway lol was numb from head to toe;) goosebumps means the magic is working this is definately music to use to your advantage well done!

Fantastic reaction!! Definitely my favorite so far! Now on to Vol. 3 the subliminal verses. Which is a completely different album from the last two. Corey changes his vocal style, the production is different, and there are even acoustic tracks on it. Make sure you react to the extended version with the tracks “don’t get close” and “scream”.

Your reaction is spot -on! I remember the run up to this release, I used to stay up till 1am on a school night to listen to this rock show that finished at 3am (Also heard AHC first time on this show I think), it's where I heard 'Heretic anthem' for the first time, as a taste of the new album to come and they had a interview with someone from the band to promote the coming release and tour etc and I remember the track blowing my mind, it was so much heavier than the debute in terms of guitar but retained that aggression, I recall the sheer excitement it gave me, I couldn't wait to get the album and see them Live. The self titled will always be my favourite maybe because it was my introduction, but Iowa objectively is their masterpiece, it just crushes on every level! My first listen if my memory serves me well, I just remember being blown away, it was everything I hoped for and more as a followup to the selftitled. I can't say the 3rd release met my expectations at first listen, but it's a grower I think.

Just stumbled onto your channel. Love the way you react to these albums. Very concise without feeling impersonal.

Amazing! No one else does whole album reactions. I dig it. Please, more! Más más!

I'm older, in my 30's. Slipknot was my gateway into exploration I feel like...both myself, society, art. I was only in 6th grade when I heard the original Self-Titled album. I loved how raw and aggressive they were. This album came out when I was in 8th grade and I was already by that time very obsessed with them. As far as I can remember the only band I ever obsessed over. When I was at home I was likely listening to them or exploring, now dead and gone, forums about them. They were such a mystery to us all back then. This was when their faces didn't really surface much and people were mostly guessing who was who based on the few candid images of them floating around. Then all that mystery started going away after this album, when they took a break from eachother. 'Iowa' was an exhausting album for them and from what I understood they didn't exactly all get along that well during it. Then they started working more on other projects like Stone Sour or Murderdolls. Showing their faces more through those projects.

Kickass album. Love your reactions! Glad to see you react to it and enjoy it so much! Fun fact, Slipknot members admit that this album was the gnarliest process they ever went through and will never relive. Their debut album rocketed them into success so suddenly that other bands moved them into headlining gigs because they couldn’t follow up a powerhouse live act like Slipknot. Due to not being ready for their success the members all slipped into drug use, alcoholism, mental health crisis, violence, etc, and those negative aspects are what fueled the making of this record. It’s why it’s so brutal. Can’t wait for you to get into the 3rd record, Volume 3!

There are few bands in this world who leave it all on the table like slipknot! They are completely honest with themselves and with their fans and hold nothing back! Every album every track every live show they leave it all on the table and regret nothing I love it!!! Great reaction can’t wait to see more.

Finally! 😃 Thanks for the Reaction Molly! Greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭

Man, I am so excited for Vol. 3, but I am so glad you listened to this album, it is definitely a must for any heavy metal fan. My favorite on this album would probably be People= Shit, Gently, Left Behind, and New Abortion.

Like I said on the static-X video I just got here, and your already onto Iowa! Your unstoppable Molly!, just like this album. The authenticity, power, and groove of Iowa's lyrics, vocals, guitars, percussions and samples all blend to be the peak of Metal for this era. To me, its the one Album to rule them all.

Great vid! you are so charismatic! can't wait for the next Slipknot reaction

My favorite songs from this album are "My Plague" and "Everything Ends". I enjoy how you review albums, giving good inputs. Thanks.

"Iowa" is THE Slipknot album. Absolute masterpiece.

Great reaction! Easily one of the darkest albums ever made, but also arguably one of the greatest imo. From beginning to end, this album never lets up. From Sid’s distorted and quite horrific screams in 515, to the very end with Iowa, which has to be one of the darkest and most disturbing songs ever written, in both lyrics and tone. For those who don’t know, Iowa’s lyrics are about a guy who kills a girl and then falls in love with her corpse, and also does some not so very nice things to it… that song is so disturbing, yet manages to be so incredible. The slow melodic bass tone that carries you through the whole song, which is intercut with the screams and moans of Corey as when he was recording this, he was naked, drunk, and cutting himself with shards of glass. It’s a horrific, yet also beautiful album at the same time, and I think it’s an essential album that every metal head should listen to at some point.

You are going to really enjoy Vol.3. As for this reaction, your look into the camera at 8.21 and the sheer amount of goosebumps you had says it all :D

This is one of my favorite metal albums ever! Almost every track is a banger and it also includes possibly my all time favorite Slipknot song with Disasterpiece and also two other songs that I love so very much (Metabolic and Gently). Not to mention one of the most fascinating songs I've ever listened to in Iowa (song), not just musically, but the backstory is haunting. I would recommend that if you do listen to all their albums, you listen to them in release order to really see how much they've changed over the years. Also, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses is VERY different than the first two, and I really love it! I'm really liking these analyses and reviews so far; keep it up!

One of the darkest, most viscerally heavy albums I grew up with. Got into Slipknot when they dropped their first album, and while their first will always be my favourite for nostalgia reasons, this album is right up there too. Pure, raw, dark emotion from the band on this one. IMO they've yet to come close to this and their first album since, though I still love all their music.

Man can’t wait for you to see the 2 newer ones my personal favorites

Next album Vol.3 is very different, it's more "artistic" and somehow "poppy", but it's still so amazing, this was their top creative form...

Can't wait for the continuation of this Slipknot trip. Cool to see you hearing how they evolve their sound. IMO they made the biggest leap between Iowa and Vol. 3, sound wise

This is one my favorite albums off all time. From beginning to end amazing tracks

I've been waiting for this since you reacted to their debut album. DID NOT DISSAPOINT! Amazing content as always!

Another great video Molly! Well done 🤘

With 515, the screaming is actually Sid Wilson who came in the day after his grandmother passed, he told them to just put on something and he needed to yell. They thought that it worked fine as its own separate track and put it on the album as a tribute to Sid's grandma.

I really was waiting this video, thank u so muuuuch, I love u

Well done! Looking forward for more Slipknot, but this one has never been topped 😈

i’ve been excited for this!

YEAHH YOU DID IOWA!!!! I love how much you enjoyed it and you could see how much you were liking it. Thanks Molly!

Great reaction Molly! This will show my age a bit, first time I saw Slipknot was at Ozzfest when this album dropped. Riding their hydraulic barrels, shit was nuts. Next album up is my personal favorite, Subliminal Verses! Also anyone else notice Molly's starting to make the stink face y'all! 🤘

I've probably watched Heretic Anthem on Conan about 500 times, it's just so brutal even without the extra percussion. I love the guitars on this album so much.

My favorite from the Slipknot collection, but the evolution of the band in later albums always worth the listen. Your reviews are awesome with Slipknot. I love you doing straight up music aspect of this band. Slipknot does give a little more than just music. They has some of most wild stage shows and just knowing that it took multiple albums to get a peep of what they look like under the masks. I also get goose bumps with this album. Since you reviewed this album you should get a look at " disasterpieces" the DVD. Its a live show with 1999 slipknot and 2001 Iowa albums.

Omgggg I’ve been watching your videos and you’re so cute! It’s great to see someone with that open mind. Keep the great work!!

For me this album is a masterpiece! It’s so evil, so dark, so dangerous and so awesome! You just got my sub🖤

man i wish i could experience this album for the first time again. awesome informative review as always. 🤘🏾🤘🏾

Really great stuff. I appreciate your perceptiveness. Keep up the good work.

This is exactly what I needed to watch right now 🔥👐

This is not an album. This is a lifestyle. This is a message. This is a statement. This is a piece of art. This is everlasting and legendary. This is a womb to a brand new generation.

Sick reaction, plenty of riff faces pulled 🤣 exactly how I feel when listening to knot

"Slipknot - Volume 3: The Subliminal Verses" is next! Cannot wait! Amazing aaaaamazing reaction again! Thank you so much!

This album was absolutely perfect! I've just started getting into Slipknot and have listened to their demo and their first two records so far, I can't wait to see what's ahead

I MISSED THIS WHEN IT CAME OUT BUT I WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO REQUESTED THIS !! I LOVE THIS ALBUM SO MUCH

"Iowa" is my favourite Slipknot. You're always killing it with these reactions. It'd be awesome to see you dig into Pantera's 90s albums, a band that influenced a lot of the nu-metal and 2000s bands, and were just legends in their time.

Still such an impeccable record! Im loving your reactions and can't wait for you to react to the rest of their discography! Also as part of that, you should listen to their demo album Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. It's quite different than what they would become, and even had a different singer at the time. I'd love your reaction to it!

Ohhh yea! You're finally checking out IOWA! Loved this album! Fun fact: during the recording of the song Iowa, Corey would cut himself with broken glass. I forgot the reasoning as to why i got a feeling it was either to emote pain through his growls and screams or to enhance it. Crazy visual but makes sense when you read about the personal issues all the members were going through at the time and the high tensions they had towards each other. They were not in the right state mind.

I had just gotten out of my first boarding school and in Chicago O’Hare a spent my food money buying Iowa at a record store. I went through like 4 sets of batteries in about 8 hours. Full volume from the time it opened til I landed in San Francisco. People forget it now.. but when this came out it wasn’t like now where you could just go online and find a thousand similar bands. You had to just sit and wait til an album dropped then go physically buy it lol. The Heretic Anthem still give me goosebumps and spine shivers. It’s so exciting watching you hear all the music we grew up with and dig it Molly! You’re channel is wholesome and real.. there’s no image. Just you and us and some music.. how neat!

I am continually impressed by you.. your take is so well informed and spot on always.. well done

Absolutely love the Iowa album. Super cool to see your reaction lol. Also I like the little Owl on your shelf 😁🤘

All of this songs are amazing. Aún sigo encantadas con ellas, todas tienen detalles que complementan la aura oscura general del disco.

Always cool seeing someone listen to an album that you love for their first time, like I get to listen to it for the first time again through the new listener

I’ve been waiting for this one

I love your curiosity. Thanks for sharing your journey. Slipknot’s music is not for everyone but this album just came at the right time into my life. I love the stark contrast to everything that represents «Mainstream». This album makes me feel alive and sane by releasing all the tension from my body when listening to it. (Too much sh*t is going on in the world.) You would think that music like this grows darkness inside but in reality it creates more light (at least that is how I feel). «My Plague» (my top 3 Slipknot) and «Everything Ends» flow so well together.

amazing video! enjoyed it all the way through :))

Such a dark album, when recording iowa, the screaming in 515 is sid wilson because i think his mom died, correct me if im wrong. The band members were on all sorts of drugs at the time and they would huff a dead crow in a jar before they went on stage. Theres alot more background to this album that makes it darker.

LOOOOOL, I was just listening to the self-titled when I got the notification

Love the channel! Great to see someone experiencing a lot of music I love for the first time. You look just like my daughter only a couple years older. I'm sure for monetary reasons you can't play more than a few seconds of song audio, but it would be very cool to see reactions to full length songs. Keep up the great work.

Can’t wait for the next album! Which is tied with Iowa for my favorite slipknot album.

THANK YOU!!! For doing this album!!! Best album from them by far. You should react to the music video to Left Behind I think you would like it. 🤘

Yeaaaah I was waiting for this, I haven't seen the video yet but I know it's going to be as good as Slipknot

The moment I saw the music video for My Pleague, I knew this was it for me. It was so rich, so many things happening, so elaborate and in the same time in your face with sound and emotion. I did not move for the next few days until I had heard it all. I was like, "those guys are serious". I was a maggot. then and there.

I was waiting for this reaction, same i love the album is a fucking truly masterpiece, Iowa is the album that put the extreme metal in the mainstream. Thx for the great vídeo 🤘🏻🖤

This is with no doubt my favorite Slipknot album of all time. And an awesome review as always! You should dive into marilyn manson, the way they play with the sound and the vocals is something else as well. All albums are interestingly bizarre but in a good way. Hollywood is one of the best.

NuMetal Molly with that appreciation for the good, dark, and heavy. Can't wait to see what's next. 🔥🔥🖤🔥🔥

Awesome Job Molly!

This album changed my life foever Going to see them live for 4th time in August 💥💥 love your reaction keep it up 👍