During a recent interview on Seton Hall's Pirate Radio, Corey Taylor, took a stroll down memory lane. Currently on tour supporting his latest album CMF2, which dropped on September 15, Taylor sat down with music director Patrick Ritter to discuss his illustrious career, encompassing various projects, albums, and musical journeys. During their conversation Taylor reminisced about Slipknot's monumental album, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses, which is set to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.
When asked what set Vol. 3 apart from previous Slipknot' records, Taylor offered insight into the album's evolution:: "Oh, man. Well, I mean, obviously the acoustic stuff that we did with songs like 'Circle' and 'Vermilion Pt. 2.' I mean, really diving… It was where we really started wearing our artistic side on our sleeve because it was something that we knew that we could do and that we had done in the past, but we had never really been afforded the opportunity to do it."
He continued, emphasizing the need to break boundaries, "And we also knew that if we stayed just trying to out-heavy ourselves, we were going to turn into somebody who didn't sound honest, who didn't sound legit. This is one of the reasons why we stopped, and we said, 'We need to spread our boundaries out and we need to take this risk.' And people don't realize this, doing Vol. 3 was just as big a risk as making Iowa. So, lyrically, sonically, creatively, we were able to kind of pull together, even though we were pulling apart at the seams at the time, and we created something that to this day is probably — other than some of my approaches at singing some of the songs, it's probably one of the best things I've ever done."
Taylor also touched upon a previously shared sentiment about nearly quitting during the initial recording of Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses. He admitted, "Well, it was largely because my alcoholism was really in full effect. I mean, yeah, it was brutal. It is hard for me to listen. And, of course, as an addict, you're blaming everybody but yourself. And once I got clean, I realized, I was, like, 'Man, I have to start from scratch.' And I did. And I slowly but surely started building my vocal takes and vocal passes back. But it was hard going, man. 'Cause people don't realize the damage that alcohol does to your voice. Plus, I was smoking, so it was a gnarly, gnarly time in my life."
Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses – the only Slipknot album produced by Rick Rubin, a fact Taylor does not remember fondly – made a seismic impact upon its release, selling 243,000 copies in its debut week, and securing the No. 2 spot on The Billboard 200 chart. It’s the record that gave us anthems like "Duality", "Pulse of The Maggots", "Vermilion" and "Before I Forget", with the latter song winning Slipknot a Grammy for Best Metal Performance.
