Joey Jordison: 6 Albums That Made Me | Page 2 | Revolver

Joey Jordison: 6 Albums That Made Me

Ex-Slipknot, current Sinsaenum drummer shares stories behind records that shaped his life
joey-jordison-by-getty-jesse-wild.jpg, Jesse Wild / Rhythm Magazine / Getty
photograph by Jesse Wild / Rhythm Magazine / Getty

Joey Jordison is no stranger to extremity. As Slipknot's founding drummer, he helped create some of the heaviest, gnarliest and most influential records of the past two decades, which inspired legions of young musicians and fans. Since he left the group in 2013, he hasn't let up — as you can hear in his work with industrial/groove-metal act Vimic, and his extreme-metal supergroup Sinsaenum that also features DragonForce bassist Frédéric Leclercq, Seth guitarist Haimoth, Dååth vocalist Sean Zatorsky and Mayhem frontman Attila Csihar.

On the eve of Sinsaenum's second full-length, Repulsion for Humanity (which dropped on August 10th), we caught up with Jordison to discuss the records that most influenced him, and sent him down his path of heaviness.

Slayer – Reign in Blood (1986)

Well, we'll start with the top. Obviously, everyone knows this album, and it almost sounds cliché, but it's the fucking truth. [Laughs] It's the truth! Reign in Blood is twenty-nine minutes of the best fucking thrash metal, and it inspired so many fucking bands. That record is unbeatable!

Kiss – Alive! (1975)

I saw Kiss on The Dick Clark Show in like, 1980 or something, and Kiss Alive! was the first record of theirs I had. This was back when you bought cassettes or records, and I still have my original cassette copy of it. And I tell you what, it just blew my mind! The cover tells you everything you need to know; it just makes you want to listen to the whole fucking record. And these guys look like fucking demons — you don't know when you're a kid and you're watching them on TV that it's just guys in makeup. So yeah, it was inspiring back then. They were a huge influence on me when I was a kid. And that record came out in 1975, so I was always like, "That's fucking badass — one of my favorite records of all time came out the year I was born!"

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (1969)

What made me want to play drums in the first place was Led Zeppelin and the Who. My parents had their records, and I grew up listening to them with the stereo cranked. Like, the original Led Zeppelin record blew my mind. I think "Dazed and Confused" might be one of the most haunting songs of all time, and it's fucking heavy! They were the originators, man; they really came up with stuff that can't be matched. You can try all you want, but it'll never happen. Without those records, I don't know if I'd have ended up doing what I'm doing.

Metallica – Kill 'Em All (1983)

Without Metallica, we wouldn't have a lot of the bands that we have now. For me, it's a toss-up between Kill 'Em All and …And Justice for All. They both have "all" in them! [Laughs] But I'll stick with Kill 'Em All, because it started everything, man.

Melvins – Houdini (1993)

I've expressed this before, but the Melvins are a band I really love. They're probably one of my favorite bands of all time, but I don't think a lot of people understand what's great about them, because they're confusing — they're so fucking clever, and they've released so many records. There's a bunch of records of theirs that I love, but I'll go with Houdini, because that's the first record I bought of theirs.

Black Sabbath – Master of Reality (1971)

Master of Reality rules; it's one of my favorite records of all time. It has some of the most evil riffs on it, and some of the sexiest riffs, as well. And look, I love Vol. 4 — it's like a toss-up. [Laughs] But I've gotta go with Master of Reality.