SLIPKNOT Is Planning 25th-Anniversary Reissue Of Debut Album

In a new interview with U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine, SLIPKNOT co-founder and percussionist M. Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) confirmed that there are plans to re-release the band's self-titled debut album to coincide with the LP's 25th anniversary.

"I'm fully involved with putting together a reissue package, because I'm the band caretaker," Clown said. "I'm the one that held everything over the years: all the DAT tapes from the [sound]board from all our first shows, all the videotapes from studio sessions at SR Audio and Indigo Ranch, different test mixes that we gave to other people that we said 'No' to at that time and that were never released, but are amazing. They would never have been listened to 25 years ago, but now that the golden egg has been laid, and everyone knows it, you're not going to listen to another mix and go, 'This is better', you're just gonna go, 'Wow, this is SLIPKNOT like this, 25 years ago.'"

Elaborating on what will be included in the expanded reissue of "Slipknot", Crahan said: "There's new artwork, new photos from the time, there's so much music that's so punk rock from board tapes, there's video documents, there's a lot — audio, visuals, everything. It's the best of all things SLIPKNOT."

"Slipknot" arrived in 1999 via Roadrunner Records and was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA). Although it is considered by many to be SLIPKNOT's official debut, it was preceded by the independently released "Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat." in 1996, an effort which was recorded prior to singer Corey Taylor's addition to the band.

Back in 2011, readers of the British metal magazine Metal Hammer voted "Slipknot" the best debut of the past 25 years. Over 16,000 fans voted in Metal Hammer's special 25th-anniversary poll, with "Slipknot" managing to grab almost a third of all votes cast, beating off competition from the likes of GUNS N' ROSES, KORN, MACHINE HEAD and PANTERA.

The special-edition CD/DVD reissue of SLIPKNOT's self-titled debut album came out in September 2009. The set commemorated the tenth anniversary of the LP and featured 25 tracks, including the original album as well as rare demos, remixes, rare B-sides and more.

In a 2019 interview with Vulture, when "Slipknot" was celebrating its 20th anniversary, Taylor was asked if he envisioned SLIPKNOT lasting more than two decades when he and his bandmates released their first album. He laughed and said: "You gotta remember, dude, we talked about breaking the band up before the first album even came out. We were, like, 'We're gonna do one and done. We're gonna SEX PISTOLS it and say fuck it.' Ruin the world. And then we gave in to selfishness and decided to keep going. The crazy thing is that years ago I didn't think this band could sustain itself because of how fucking gnarly it is, how dark it is, how much physicality goes into this music and this band and this live shit and the creativity, just how exhausting it is to max yourself out every time by trying to attain perfection. I wasn't sure that this could be sustained for that long. I'm pleasantly surprised that I was wrong. Like I've said in the past, nobody's more surprised by our success than we are. On June 29, 1999, if you'd have told me that we'd be 20 years in, dropping a new album and bigger than we've ever been, I'd have fucking laughed at you."

Asked if there is anything he would do differently, in retrospect, over the past two decades, Taylor said: "Oh, man. There's so many fucking things, but it's all from my standpoint. As far as the band goes, though, I think it had to be this way. Obviously, I would want Paul [Gray, late SLIPKNOT bassist] back. But … now you're talking about people’s personal lives, and as much as I miss him, his health was always an issue. So it's almost bittersweet. But from a professional point of view, musically, no. I think we had to take those steps to get here. We had to go through that roller coaster and that kind of self-discovery to realize there was so much more that we had to give, and so much more that we could give, and so many different band dynamics that it was inevitable to get here."