Slipknot (album) - Reception

Reception

Slipknot was well received by critics and fans; following its release the band gained popularity beyond their own expectations. Reviewing for Allmusic, Rick Anderson awarded the album four out of five stars calling it "an auspicious debut" and proclaimed, "You thought Limp Bizkit was hard? They're the Osmonds. These guys are something else entirely. And it's pretty impressive." The album's aggression and heavy sound was widely praised; Rolling Stone stated Slipknot is "metal with a capital m", Kerrang! added "raw and wholly uncompromising, each track delivered a powerful blow to the senses" and in 2001, Q included the album in their list of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time". CMJ ranked the album as the twelfth highest "Editorial Pick" for 1999. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery.

A single from the album, "Wait and Bleed", was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards, but lost to Deftones' "Elite". The song was also named the 36th greatest metal song of all time, by VH1. The release of the album and the touring which followed, greatly increased the band's popularity. The album became the "biggest selling extreme metal album at the time." It was ranked by American Soundscan as the fastest-selling metal debut in Soundscan's history. On May 2, 2000, the album was certified platinum in the United States, a first for any album released by Roadrunner Records. In the United States, it has sold over 2,000,000 copies; on February 5, 2005, the RIAA certified it Double Platinum. In Canada, the Canadian Recording Industry Association certified the album as Platinum on October 10, 2000. The British Phonographic Industry has certified the album as Platinum on October 17, 2008 in the UK.