“This is the Slipknot of old - no frills, just brute…

“This is the Slipknot of old - no frills, just brute force." Iowa's metal legends eviscerate Aftershock with one of the heaviest festival headline sets in history

Aftershock’s massive second day has lacked nothing in terms of heaviness but every single one of the 40,000 people gathered in front of the Jack Daniels stage at 9:35 pm are here for a whole new dimension of heavy. Continuing the 25th anniversary tour celebrating their majestic self-titled debut album, Slipknot understand tonight’s assignment and they’re ready to kick it off.

As green lights cut through a swirling fog, the stage is draped in an eerie calm. Sid Wilson's turntables scratch out the first ominous notes, and slowly but surely eight more silhouettes emerge, greeted by a deafening wall of applause. The tension ratchets up like a loaded spring, and before you know it, Corey Taylor bellows, “Get your motherfucking hands in the air!” The powder keg explodes and just like that, they rip into (sic). From the first pummelling riff, the energy is manic, primal and unstoppable. This is Slipknot stripped back to their rawest, 1999 incarnation. The pyro is gone, the percussion lifts left behind. Every fist in the crowd is in the air, every head banging in furious unison with the unrelenting barrage of percussive might raining down upon them.

Eyeless follows, eliciting a feral war cry from the thousands of maggots packed into the field, unleashing a breakdown so nasty that you want to turn a hose on it. As Shawn “Clown” Crahan pummels away in a percussive frenzy, the fearsome duo of Jim Root and Mick Thomson calibrate their twin-fretted attack for maximum power.

Wait And Bleed draws peals of delight from the crowd, Corey’s raspy growl cutting through the buzzsaw riffage. "Jesus Christ, how far back does this fucker go? Turn the lights on, will ya?" The floodlights reveal nearly 40,000 people roaring in front of him, and he beams. “Welcome back to 1999, motherfuckers! Tonight, you won’t hear one song written after 1999. For the casual Slipknot fan - sorry!” The crowd are with him, every step of the way.

They continue with deep cuts from Slipknot, including Liberate, Purity and the blistering Prosthetics. This is the Slipknot of old - no frills, just brute force. As Get This hits, we can practically feel the tectonic plates shifting beneath our feet while above ground, beach balls fly, and crowd surfers ride the waves of bodies. They close with No Life and Only One, leaving the crowd hoarse and heaving even after the last note fades into the Sacramento sky.

This wasn’t just another headlining set - it was a primal, neck-snapping ritual of chaos and catharsis, delivered with the precision and fury of a band that still knows exactly how to ignite the fires of hell. If anyone needed proof that Slipknot stand atop the heavy metal hierarchy, tonight was a forceful, blazing testament.