SLIPKNOT's JIM ROOT And MICK THOMSON Named World's Best Heavy Metal Guitarists

December 17, 2019

SLIPKNOT's Jim Root and Mick Thomson have been named winners of this year's Music Radar poll for "Best Metal Guitarists In The World." The pair received over 17,000 votes, beating out such names as James Hetfield (METALLICA); James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch (KORN); Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg (AMON AMARTH); Richard Z.Kruspe and Paul Landers (RAMMSTEIN); Phil Sgrosso and Nick Hipa (AS I LAY DYING); Sean Long and Mat Welsh (WHILE SHE SLEEPS); Kerry King and Gary Holt (SLAYER); Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE); and Alexi Laiho and Daniel Freyberg (CHILDREN OF BODOM).

Earlier this year, Root addressed the fan criticism regarding the perceived lack of guitar solos on SLIPKNOT's sixth album, "We Are Not Your Kind".

"I see a lot of comments like, 'Where are the guitar solos on this record?'" Jim mused in an interview with "The Art & Span Show". "Well, obviously, Mick and I are very into guitar; we love playing guitar, love doing solos over every song, but that didn't occur to me. I was more concerned about the arrangements and making a good song top to bottom.

"There is a solo on 'Spiders', albeit a kind of a non-traditional solo, but that's what I love," he continued. "The point I'm trying to make is I get to think outside of the box and approach guitar playing in a way that I would never approach it with a song like 'Spiders', because [percussionist] Clown wrote that song and it didn't come from my mind, so it's hard for me to process it."

"We Are Not Your Kind" sold 118,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked SLIPKNOT's third consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Furthermore, the album made an impact worldwide with No. 1 debuts in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Finland, as well as Top 5 debuts in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and New Zealand.

Image and video courtesy of Japan's Young Guitar magazine

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