Mate Kill Feed Repeat by Slipknot (CD, Jul-2005, HEATBEAT)

I faced a dilemma. My Slipknot loving grandson desperately wanted the only Slipknot album you can't find in stores...the only album that was ONLY sold before Slipknot became a big deal in the rest of the world. Blessedly, I managed to find a real one (along with a number of phoney copies). These are real collector's items, and if you find one for less than $50, you'll be lucky. This album is the very first they made, and was self-produced. They had a limited amount to spend, and so they made a limited number.

These guys were not unique in making an album with their own money and selling them only in a localized area. When you start out in the business and times are lean, but you want to make a splash, you cut an album with a "vanity press" and you promote the heck out of it on the road. Once Slipknot caught on, and the rest of the world outside Iowa discovered them, these first albums became a much-sought-after (and very much pirated!) rarity, and as far as I know, there have been no authorized reprints of the original album since it was made in 1996. I might be wrong, but my grandson, the expert, assured me that I am not. It's an explosive album, with rare insights into the minds that created the music, and although it is not the kind of easy listening music you expect someone of my advanced age to appreciate, I enjoyed it along with my grandson when we played it. I liked this one more than their newer ones (which I have been forced to listen to for the past several months since my grandson "discovered" Slipknot! If you can find one, buy it!