Slipknot - 9.0: Live (Roadrunner)

After initially being slated for bombarding fans with every form of conceivable merchandise from boxer shorts to lunch boxes, Slipknot have actually been mildly conservative with their album releases thus far in that they have waited three full studio albums before releasing a live one - something they are to be commended for.

Seemingly keen to provide their fans with more for their cash, and having already released a DVD with 2002's Disasterpieces (featuring a 30-camera shoot at London Docklands), this time Slipknot have gone for a double disc, 24-track epic recorded at various venues across their homeland including Dallas, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. A substantial benefit of such a twin disc release is the ability to include songs that rarely get aired in a live setting such as Skin Ticket and Get This.

Kicking off with The Blister Exists, it swiftly becomes apparent that it is one of the nine members who will take centre stage for the duration of this performance. From behind his custom Pearl 19-piece drum kit, Joey Jordison rules the musical roost with ease. Whether the deafening level of his drums is down to the band's shared love of his percussion or the fact he co-handles production responsibilities on nearly every Slipknot release will remain a mystery, but his faultless attack on the skins and cymbals makes for a thrilling listen, regardless.

Recent single Before I Forget is a true gem and grinds out with a level of devastation that will make you green with envy if you weren't at these shows. Wait And Bleed will always be Slipknot's breakthrough number, and it is with six years' experience of hammering out said number that the band deliver what is perhaps the tightest performance on the album.

These tracks, together with the likes of Duality, are the sound of some of Slipknot's best studio material being performed ballstically yet nearly perfectly, with the only downside being the lack of any real crowd presence in the mix.

This confirms the point that the madness of a Slipknot show deserves to be "seen" in order to be experienced fully. So, if you did miss out on the live tour, the Disasterpieces DVD may be a wiser investment. Having said that, the benefit of this record is that it showcases the sound of a rejuvenated band with its entire back catalogue at its disposal, and giving its all for its, ahem, "maggots".

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