Slipknot – Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. (1996)

October 26, 2023

I have a soft spot for this thing, as I do with most of the earlier Slipknot records. When I was in school, I think 13 years old, my friend Ross burned a copy of this thing off the internet for me, as well as a few other tracks from the supposed “Crowz” sessions. Some of us like to look back at the glory days of the internet as if things were actually different back then, but honestly the internet has always been a sea of misinformation. I had no fucking idea what or who I was listening to whilst incorrectly marked as “SlipKnoT”, but hey, the core MFKR album was legit at least.

As many others have commented, this is a fucking weird release. I’ve gone on, perhaps unsurprisingly, to become a huge fan of stuff like Mr. Bungle and The Residents, but even now, having plumbed the depths of both musical experimentation as well as musical extremity, MFKR stands unique. Never has death metal so awkwardly mixed with jazz, lounge and fucking rap music. This isn’t Cynic folks – the lines between the genres are not blurred. The music is chunky, awkward and lurching. That being said, earlier versions of tracks that would go on to become Slipknot classics are an absolute treat to listen to here, especially “Gently” (except “Tattered & Torn”, that can get in the fucking bin).

Bonus points goes to the excellent bass work on “Confessions”, which is probably my favourite song on this thing.

When I was a scruffy kid with my crappy Slipknot biography that I carried everywhere (written by Joel McIver) I always felt that the band did Anders Colsefni dirty, but there is no way in hell that they would have gotten as big as they did with him as a vocalist. Nevertheless, he works well here.

Also, how funny is it that the producer is called Sean McMahon. I always imagined him in my head to look like Shane McMahon lol BAAHHH GAWWWDD HE’S BROKEN IN HAALLLF!!!!