Slipknot - Before I Forget (cover)

I remember, back then, maybe in July 2023 I wrote a short but massive review (no, I wouldn't call it a review, it was just a bunch of enthusiastic indicatives being thrown there) post on FB about this cover and as usual, I didn't hold myself back about worshipping these 3 musicians, Deneb and Ruxx, as well as Blu. Because let's be honest, they totally deserve it.

And they deserve now a full, real review, with all the praising and bowing down, when finally the length of an FB-post doesn't keep me back from letting my emotions flow.

Okay, let's start with the matter of matters.

If you have been around here for a while and you haven't heard of Slipknot yet or you dare not to know this song, then please, kindly just shut down the internet and search for some other hobby.

origami perhaps, or growing beans from seed

At a time Slipknot was essential in my life, around 2004 or 2005. Those were tough times, I had to build myself up again (not for the first time and not for the last time) and I needed music that was full of anger to neutralize my feelings of being lost, and which was louder and noisier than the thoughts in my head. "The Subliminal Verses" album was especially close to my heart; I remember, at that time I had this portable discman

good old pre-Spotify/pre-smart devices years

I rarely ever whine over "the good old days", but if there's anything I truly miss is this, to be able to hold the music in my hands as a CD or cassette, as well as having the player devices for them. No Spotify, no .mp3 or .wav format can substitute the sound of a CD, nor a cassette. Not to mention the subtle joy of reading the booklet inside, with all the lyrics.

okay, enough of this "old fart moaning", back to business

 

and I put on repeat the songs "The Pulse of the Maggots", "Duality", "The Blister Exists" and of course "Before I Forget" I don't know how many times. 

You know... the same happened to me as it was so many times earlier. I thought that Slipknot was a group of groundbreaking artist, a typical one-of-a-kind band and their genius cannot and will never be reiterated, because it's impossible.

Then came Cygnus Rock Band and they said "lol, hold my drinking horn".

I remember when I got to know that they would cover one of the bands that had the greatest impact on me, I was utterly happy, even if at that point I hadn't known which song they covered at all. But it didn't matter. My favorite band covered another favorite band of mine. That's what mattered.

When I finally did, the first seconds passed with me rubbing off the pieces of my brain from the wall after it exploded from that radioactivity Cygnus starts this cover with. They don't really bugger around; the very first beats with the very heavy rhythm section make no doubt about the fact that these wonderful Colombians had thorough preparations in their studio before recording. Deneb surely exchanged the string on his bass to enriched uranium rods, while Ruxx soaked every piece of his drumset into that liquid the band secretly got delivered from Chernobyl's Zone, finally they sprinkled that powder around the studio floor and walls they somehow got through special ways directly from Reactor no. 4.

And this is why I love them! The high contamination of nuclear material that radiates from the depths of the rhythm section, the essence of Cygnus's distinctive sound. 

Joey Jordison and Paul Gray surely nodded in appreciation wherever they might be, seeing this

Blu adds the typical Slipknot sound to it playing both guitar lines, and you, dear listener, you just stuffed your brain pieces back to your skull, but behold, because the humane voices hit you right into the stomach and you drop all that was and still is unstable in you.

including your mental state, because from this second on you feel only bliss and joy as the radioactivity slowly but surely washes through your veins

You're in pieces, the energy and power Ruxx and Deneb are singing leave you in microscopic parts, but you love it and you want more.

Perfectly followed tempo changes, wrathful screams by Ruxx and guttural vocals by Deneb

I remember, when this cover was released, both of them kept cleaning their throats for the whole pre-release live session, and they explained - with their usual, secretive smiles of "no, we won't tell you anything, you must guess" - that the recording of that cover strained their vocal chords a bit.

Have I mentioned how very much I love them for putting themselves there for 110%?... Have I?...

ruthless guitar themes by Blu with his usual collectedness and huge routine.

And you turn on the volume.

Let the neighborhood enjoy it, too!

The short bridge between the chorus and the second verse is even more brutal. Very nasty bass from the depths of Hélheim, soaked with nuclear material, with the power of a bewildered horde of wild boars; rough, heavy and precise drums, more accurate than an atomic clock; the guitars are harsh and professional and the two humane voices sweep you off your feet, push fresh blood into your veins, kick out the sadness and depression from your heart and fill you with fire. Ruxx screams, letting all the rage flow out of his throat, while Deneb is invoking the entire Uruk-hai army directly from Isengard with his guttural vocals.

Yes, dear Reader, this man, who has such a mellow, soft baritone with a myriad of emotions in it, whose vocals are like a warm, cozy blanket on a dark winter day, he himself is spitting out these throat-notes that sound like the voice of the undead troops from the underworld. Yes. Him. Personally. 

Now you bow down and give thanks that you can witness it.

The breakdown is nastier and more evil than in the original, Blu is more elegant than a British butler in a London residence back in the 19th century while playing these slow, vicious notes. The bass grunts, the drums hit you like a line-firing from a machine-gun. And when the main theme returns, you, dear listener, you fall into the pit of Reactor no. 4 where the radioactive material is still cooking on approx. 3000°C.

Worry not, dear listener. You will enjoy it so much that you will ask for more. And these wonderful, beloved musicians will not just give you more, but they will make you get soaked with this nuclear stuff that you will get addicted to it.

The chorus melts the skin off of your face. The duet of the screaming and guttural vocals - the latter now turning especially nasty - will hit you so hard that you forget to breath. Then the outro will stomp on your chest with the weight of an AT-AT army.

And you will enjoy it and you want it one more time.

(then again, then again, then again, then you are already hooked on it)

It is worth to watch the video until the very end, because the last seconds contain a lovely and funny interlude with Reny!