This week we’re dedicating the Sunday Slaylist to Slipknot. Ten years ago this week, the 9 madmen from Iowa released their debut album on an unsuspecting metal world, and it’s safe to say that it changed everything.

They might’ve rode in on the same horse as so many of their nu-metal contemporaries, but while other bands then left their stallions in the pasture, Slipknot rode that nu-metal beast straight into the butcherhouse, then made glue out of what was left afterwards. Fans initial fears of gimmickry upon seeing the masks where blown away by the blast-furnace force of that debut (and no, we still don’t count Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat as a proper album).

Following up such a record would prove impossible to most bands, but not Slipknot. It seems hard to believe a record as bleask, as dark, and just darn as heavy as Iowa could top the UK albums chart – but that’s exactly what it did. Under the eye of uber-producer Rick Rubin, they crafted Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), which they then followed with the Billboard-topping All Hope Is Gone.

Then of course, there was the Slipknot live experience. Any accusations that they couldn’t pull their recorded output off onstage evaporated the first time ‘(sic)’ turned venues into quivering mush. They’ve not dropped from that pace for ten whole years, culminating last month with the crowning moment of their career so far – headlining Download Festival 2009 to one of the biggest crowds they’ve ever played.

So go download Spotify, go wrap your ears around out Slipknot Slaylist Special and remember all the reasons why you loved this band from the first moment you heard ‘em. We hope we’ve captured the spirit of Slipknot’s career path to date, throwing in a few tracks from side-projects and various members’ guest-spots on other artists albums along the way.

Listen to our Sunday Spotify Slaylist: Slipknot Special

Watch Slipknot playing ‘Spit It Out’ @ Download Festival 2009

What did we miss? Which stone-cold classic from the Slipknot back catalogue did we overlook when compiling our Slaylist? Drop us a comment and let us know!