“Any kind of technical guitar playing was mocked and frowned upon”: Mick Thomson explains why his solos were erased from Slipknot’s debut album – and how he reacted

Mick Thomson of Slipknot performs in concert at the Ericsson Globe Arena on February 21, 2020 in Stockholm, Sweden.

25 years ago, Slipknot dropped their self-titled debut – a record that redefined heavy and brought extreme metal into the mainstream. However, for all the bone-crushing riffs it contained, Slipknot had one glaring omission: it didn’t have any guitar solos.

Speaking in the new issue of Guitar World to discuss the record’s anniversary, the band's electric guitar player Mick Thomson shed new light on the album's dearth of lead lines, discussing why all of his own solos were ultimately left on the cutting room floor – and how he felt about it.