Ross Robinson, the man dubbed the 'Godfather of Nu Metal', due to his production work on albums by Korn and Limp Bizkit, has revealed his two favourite Slipknot songs in an interview with Revolver.
Robinson – who was initially hesitant to work with the nonet after hearing their first demo – eventually flew to Iowa to watch the band rehearse at Shawn Crahan's house.
“They didn’t have masks on," he recalls in a recent interview with Metal Hammer. "I remember Corey’s face, so fucking animated and awesome. They played the next night, and [at first] I was like, ‘Oh, man, the mask is not relating like it was in the rehearsal room. His eyes and his face were so cool, this isn’t as good.’
“But with the masks, the performance was fucking insane; people were just killin’ each other inside the club, and the smile on my face was indescribable," he adds. "I think the masks allowed ’em to become something other than their egoic self; they were able to let all of their identity go and become something else that they couldn’t be otherwise.”
Robinson produced Slipknot's iconic self-titled debut in late 1998 at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California, and 25 years on, he has singled out Eyeless and Scissors as their standout tracks from those sessions.
"What we captured was so fucking over the top," he tells Revolver, adding that he thought the album was "ruthless".
"I remember handing [Korn guitarist James 'Munky' Shaffer] the CD and saying, 'Dude, be careful when you press play. This is ruthless. Don't get scared'," he adds. He never mentioned it after that. I don't know what his reaction was.
"But for me in that moment, especially with those two songs, it was like, 'Mmm, this is great.' Because [Korn] were already onto Got the Life, and they were the biggest band in the world at the time, doing a lot of awesome songs and hits and things. But it wasn't ruthless."
Listen to his picks below.
