Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. is the independent debut album recorded by the American heavy metal band Slipknot, and their only release with original lead vocalist Anders Colsefni. The album was limited to 1,000 copies, with distribution beginning on October 31, 1996. The band sold the last 386 units through ismist Recordings in 1997. The album has become sought after by fans since Slipknot's rise to fame, and original copies have sold for up to at least $1,200.

The majority of the album’s songs were included on the band’s subsequent releases, albeit usually in radically altered forms. The record was recorded in Des Moines, Iowa over a period of four months and features many musical influences including funk, jazz, and disco which are not apparent in later material. Many of the lyrics and the album's title are inspired by the role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse. According to Allmusic, the songs contain a stronger "emphasis on non-traditional songwriting" and melodic themes than the band's later material.

Recording and production

In late 1995, Slipknot and producer Sean McMahon entered SR Audio, a studio in the band's hometown of Des Moines, Iowa to work on what they intended to be their debut album. Retrospectively, McMahon said that the band was "driven" because they spent the majority of their time in the studio for the four months it took to produce the album.

The band aimed for a tribal sound, but encountered problems including minuscule timing errors. However, during this period, Slipknot refined their percussive sound by experimenting with erecting walls to isolate the drums and rearranging parts. However, the band realized that they were incorporating too many media samples on their recordings and could not replicate these sounds live. To solve this problem, Jones abandoned his position on guitar and moved to the position of sampler, and Mick Thomson stepped in to join as guitarist. Originally, the band had planned to include twelve tracks on the CD, two of which – "Fur" (also known as "Fur Covered In Blood") and "Part of Me" – already appeared on their first demo in 1995. In the end, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. was released with only eight tracks. The band threw a release party at The Safari, a club in Des Moines where the band played many of their earliest gigs.

Musical and lyrical themes

Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. is a mix of genres centered on nu metal and death metal; One of the band's initial aims was to mix many genres of music to achieve their own style; an early incarnation of the band was called "Meld" based upon this. Tracks such as "Tattered & Torn", "Killers Are Quiet" and "Gently" also include the slow, cerebral angst buildup style that the band retained in some of their more recent work. Vocalist Anders Colsefni and percussionist Shawn Crahan shared a mutual interest in the game, which largely influenced the band. Colsefni said: "The attraction was being able to play a different person", declaring that this was the essence of Slipknot.

The barcode of the original CD is the number "742617000027", which later went on to become the name for the opening track of their first official release, Slipknot.

As part of the Nu Metal Mayhem tour with Waylon Reavis, which took place in Australia and New Zealand in October 2023, Anders Colsefni performed the album in its entirety.

A re-recorded version of the album by New Zealand band Kaosis with Anders Colsefni was released on March 15, 2024. However, Colsefni quickly disowned the release, stating that he had not signed off on the final mix, nor any of the release details.

Track listing

;Notes

Personnel

All credits adapted from the official CD Liner Notes.

Slipknot

  • Shawn "Kong" Crahan - percussion, vocals, lyricist, cover photo concept, sleeve concepts and graphics, sleeve layout, picture distortion, cover photo cage
  • Anders Colsefni - lead vocals, percussion, lyricist, cover photo concept, sleeve layout, cover photo cage
  • Joey Jordison (credited as Nathan Jordinson) - drums, lyricist, mixing, Slipknot Logo, lyric calligraphy, cover photo concept, cover photo cage
  • Paul Gray - bass, vocals
  • Josh "Gnar" Brainard - rhythm guitar, vocals, auxiliary percussion
  • Donnie Steele - lead guitar on "Slipknot" & "Confessions", rhythm guitar on others
  • Craig "133 MHz" Jones - sampling, sleeve concepts and graphics

Technical personnel

  • Sean McMahon - production, mixing, mastering, recording, engineering (all tracks); vocals on "Dogfish Rising"
  • Slipknot – production
  • Mike Lawyer - mastering, studio owner
  • Frank Plumly - vocals on "Dogfish Rising"; "Killers are Quiet" song title
  • Stefan Seskis - cover and CD photography

References

Works cited