The Mansion

In 2003, following their hiatus, Slipknot moved into The Mansion, also known by Slipknot fans as Houdini Mansion, to work on a new album. Initially, the band was unproductive, not helped by Corey’s heavy drinking as he would drink from the moment he woke up until the moment he passed out.

Joey: “We didn’t talk to each other for three months. All we did was waste money in that fucking Houdini house.”

But eventually things started to come together and they managed to write more than enough material for a new album. While all this was happening, Clown was working on Voliminal: Inside the Nine, a video documenting the making of the album and the touring which would follow.

Slipknot also recorded the new album at The Mansion with producer Rick Rubin. The band members had split opinions about working with Rubin, as he apparently worked with multiple bands at once and often wasn’t present at the studio.

Before the releasing of Vol. 3, band members had promised a more experimental album. For the first time in Slipknot’s career, they had songs such as “Circle” and “Vermilion Pt. 2” where it was acoustic guitar that led the way rather than electric. Corey also changed his screaming technique for the album, which he later would say didn’t work like he wanted and wishes he could go back to do it the old, lower way.

New Masks & Suits

Slipknot worked with Screaming Mad George again and he would make their new masks for the Vol. 3 cycle. This was the first time the whole band would be wearing custom made masks, as some of the members wore their old S/T masks during the IOWA era.

They also had new custom suits made and for the first time during modern Slipknot, they weren’t all going to be wearing jumpsuits. Most of the band had jackets and shirts with pants made for them. Paul, Craig and Mick were the only ones who wore Vol. 3 styled jumpsuits during the album cycle. The band also had red and white suits made for them but never ended up wearing them in public. More information about the suits can be found at our Vol. 3 Suits section.

The Subliminal Verses World Tour

Prior to the release of the album, on March 30, 2004, the band released “Pulse of the Maggots” in its entirety as a free downloadable track on the now defunct SK Radio website. It was available for only that one day. This also marked the beginning of Slipknot’s new tour, The Subliminal Verses World Tour.

The tour started with their appearance on the Jägermeister Music Tour at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida. Slipknot was supported by Fear Factory and Chimaira. On May 4, 2004, “Duality” was released as Slipknot’s first official single. The Jägermeister tour would take them around the US and end at New York City on May 21, 2004.

Three days later, on May 24, 2004, Slipknot joined the Metallica European Open Air Tour 2004 and Festival by playing a show in London, England.

Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) was finally released on May 25, 2004, to coincide with the release of the album, “Duality” was released on a special edition 7-inch red vinyl. Alongside the normal edition of the album, Roadrunner Records also released a limited edition CD that could connect to the Slipknot website and obtain new songs and other promotional material. (This feature has since stopped working).

The album’s cover art features the “maggot mask” designed by Clown. The mask was made of stitched leather, with a zipper on the mouth. It is also featured in the music video for the album’s second single “Vermilion”, in which the band appears whenever the protagonist wears the mask.

The European tour ended in Quart Festival in Norway on July 6, 2004.

Next step on the World Tour would be touring the US with Ozzfest 2004 (with the exception of one show in Canada). 38 shows later, on September 2, 2004, the Ozzfest tour was finished.

The Unholy Alliance Tour 2004 took the band outside the US again. The tour started on September 22, 2004, in Switzerland and would take them around Europe before heading to Japan for 5 performances. The tour ended in Fukuoka, Japan, on November 4, 2004.

Two months later the band would start two tours at once, Canada 2005 and the Big Day Out 2005 tours. First show of the Canada 2005 tour was in Quebec City on January 5, 2005. They would go on to play 3 shows in Canada, before heading out to Auckland, New Zealand, for Big Day Out, on January 21, 2005. Following New Zealand they moved on to Australia to perform rest of the Big Day Out shows, from January 23 to February 6, 2005. Then it was time to finish the Canada 2005 tour with 4 more shows left to perform. The tour would end in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 16, 2005.

The Subliminal Verses World Tour 2005 continued on March 4, 2005, supported by Lamb of God and Shadows Fall.

On April 12, 2005, they released a special edition version of the album, containing a bonus disc.

Slipknot would tour the United States for 2 months before heading out to Europe on May 27, 2005, and eventually Japan and Singapore. After finishing the Singapore show on July 16, 2006, they traveled back to the US and would play 3 more shows between August 20 and August 22, 2005.

On September 18, 2005, the band started their South American Tour 2005. The tour consisted of seven performances, ending in Buenos Aires with a double show on September 29 and 30, 2005.

Roadrunner United

Several members of Slipknot were involved in Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions, a collaborative album for Roadrunner Records’ 25th anniversary. recorded by artists signed to the label. The album was released worldwide on October 11, 2005. Joey was chosen as one of the four team captains, who would lead 57 artists from 45 past and present Roadrunner bands as well as produce and oversee the album’s 18 tracks.

World Tour Ends

Subliminal Verses Tour: The Final Volume 2005 was the last leg of their world tour during the Vol. 3 era. Slipknot played these shows in the US and Canada between October 14 and November 15, 2005, ending the world tour in Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee.

9.0: Live

The band’s first live album, 9.0: Live, was released on November 1, 2005. Slipknot recorded the two-disc album during the 2004–2005 world tour. The live album was released by Roadrunner Records. It features tracks from Slipknot’s first three studio albums: SlipknotIowa, and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). The tracks on 9.0: Live were compiled from performances in Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City, and Dallas.

Roadrunner United: The Concert

A concert celebrating the Roadrunner United project, album and Roadrunner’s anniversary took place on December 15, 2005 at the Nokia Theater, NYC. The show featured multiple musicians both past and present from Roadrunner bands, as well as musicians that did not originally perform on ‘The All-Star Sessions‘ album. The set list consisted of some of the most popular and famous songs released by Roadrunner records as well as some of the original songs from the project’s album. Joey and Paul were a part of the ‘core band’, who performed on the majority of the songs.

Grammy Award

On February 8, 2006, Slipknot won their first Grammy Award, the Best Metal Performance for the single “Before I Forget“. Clown would debut his black and white “Grammy Clown” mask with a never before seen pink IOWA jumpsuit. The single would later be featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Voliminal: Inside the Nine

Voliminal: Inside the Nine is Slipknot’s third video album. It was finally released on December 5, 2006 by Roadrunner Records.

The 2-disc DVD set features an 84-minute movie created by Clown. It also includes live performances, music videos from songs on the Vol. 3 album and the first unmasked interviews with all of the band members. It features footage recorded at the recording of the album and live footage from the end of the tour in support of the album, spanning a total of 28 months.

Recording began when Slipknot entered The Mansion and continued until they had finished touring in 2005. Clown wanted to capture as many different Slipknot situations as he could, so when the opportunity to produce a DVD came, he would be in a position to begin work immediately. When the footage was being shot, Clown began making little tests of the footage and revealed them to his fellow bandmates, judging their reactions to help him establish areas of interest from them. The whole recording process produced over 300 60-minute tapes of footage.

Hiatus

Slipknot would go on hiatus again with several band members now focusing their attentions on side projects. Corey and Jim returned to Stone Sour, Joey toured with several bands and produced 3 Inches of Blood’s third album, Clown founded a new band called Dirty Little Rabbits and Sid returned to his solo project as DJ Starscream.