Metal Showdown (Round 1) - Slipknot vs Marilyn Manson
 

There's a metal blog that does a weekly showdown between two Metal/Hard Rock artists where they encourage everyone to vote for their favorite artist, and then when a few days have passed, tallies up the percentages to declare the winner.

The winner then goes on to challenge another band in the upcoming round, and so on and so forth.

So I thought I would create a similar competition here on MB. The first round will consist of two artists that mostly target the same demographic and have a large overlap of fans, so this should be interesting. I'll be giving around a month for each round to fully receive all the votes and to also give time for healthy and maybe somewhat heated discussion.

Let the games begin.


While many write off Slipknot as nothing more than noisy teen angst ridden tunes, you can't deny that they pack a powerful sound, especially in their first two releases, and they even return to it in last year's release, The Gray Chapter.

They have tight musicianship and have managed to keep most of their original line-up intact outside of losing their bassist to an overdose and having to replace their drummer for severe drug use.

For me, though, they don't win this round simply because while they have an angry, powerful sound, it never goes beyond that with them. The Gray Chapter certainly shows a lot of maturity, but it's still the same, angry ranting that has always been a staple of the Knot's sound. A very close second in this round.


Marilyn Manson doesn't exactly have the musicianship of Slipknot or the consistency of material, but the one thing he does possess over the Knot is personality. The Knot definitely had attitude, but Manson's persona managed to evoke fear into his critics and chaos into the hearts and minds of his fans.

Not only that, but he was like a gothic, male version of Madonna in the sense that he was able to pull off a new look and sound for each of his releases without it coming off as fake.

While the band may be a revolving door of artists joining and leaving the band, Manson's strong image is what elevates the music above that of Slipknot for me.

My Verdict:

Marilyn Manson: 1
Slipknot: 0

Marilyn Manson: 2
Slipknot: 0

I listened to both bands in my oh so alternative teenage years.
A lot of MM songs sound pretty good to me even nowadays. Slipknot's... not so much.

You could've picked somebody better than Slipknot, as most people here intensely dislike that band.

I don't think they really like Manson much better.

Obiviously someone in their awkward teenage years thinks some how slipknot is music.

In this battle between utter crap and crap that has a few ok moments, I choose Marilyn Manson.

Slipknot for the lulz.

Gotta go with Slipknot here. Call them crap, whatever you feel the need to label them. But I like there music and can say I've spent money to see them live, f*cking great live band even if you think their music is sh*t, can't deny stage presence and people that know how to put on a show.

I don't mind Manson. I liked his newest album more than some of his older ones. But he gets bland and he's also getting really repetitive too. He doesn't possess that same edge he had before, it's dull. At least Slipknot can keep things somewhat interesting still.

Slipknot get a 0/10 from me, but Marilyn Manson had a few bright moments. Most of his albums don't interest me, but Holy Wood had some legitimate classics on it. The heavy industrial stuff is probably the most boring stuff he does - I like him best when quiet, creepy and melodic.

I vote Slipknot just because of Iowa alone. I know their lyrics are pretty awful most of the time, and their instrumentation isn't anything all that special, but the album has some pretty decent high energy songs that are for the most part are insanely catchy. Manson has some decent albums in his discography, but he'll never be able to come close to Antichrist Superstar, which is his only stand out record to me.

Like the idea of the thread though, and it could be a lot of fun when we get two bands/artist that are similar in style and people actually have a divided opinion on.