Listmania: The five bands that made Joey Jordison a legend!

The third and final part of our Joey Jordison tribute looks back at the five projects that took him from Des Moines, Iowa to the Global stage as a true hero and icon of Metal during a 31 year career that touched many hearts and left behind a legacy of which anyone would be proud. After all, 34 records not including his guest appearances with Rob Zombie, Otep, Puscifer and Necrophagia is more than so many others have managed in a life time and if he’d recorded any studio material with Ministry after his touring stint with them then that would perhaps have been the absolute icing on this multi-layered cake. His tragic death on 26th July 2021 has been something that has occupied our minds since, especially following the revelation in 2016 that he had been suffering from Transverse Myelitis.

Slipknot: There aren’t going to be many who don’t know about the 18 years that Jordison spent in the 18 legged beast that has dominated the Global Metal scene since the 1999 self titled debut album landed like Deep Impact courtesy of Roadrunner Records. His last album with them was 2008’s highly underrated fourth album “All Hope Is Gone” and arguably its stand out moment is the anthemic “Psychosocial” both of which benefit from the genius work of Colin Richardson (Fear Factory, Machine Head, Sepultura) on the boards who nails the mix. While others said they weren’t as happy with that album, Jordison said “It’s finally the record that I’ve wanted Slipknot to sound like“.

Murderdolls: While the roots of The Murderdolls can be traced back to Ozzfest in 2001, the bands debut record “Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls” actually comprised of 13 written by Wednesday 13 and previously released as Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13. That didn’t however make the offering any less attractive and with second album “Women and Children Last” being a far heavier and freshly written affair with Jordison playing guitars, bass, backing vocals, drums, percussions it confirmed something that some might not have realised from his Slipknot days. He was so much more than just a drummer, a multi instrumentalist and a song writer in his own right, something hammered home by the essential viewing that is the Roadrunner United “The All-Star Sessions” documentary from the 2005 compilation of the same name that celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Roadrunner Records.

Scar The Martyr: April 2013 saw the emergence of a mouth watering prospect of a supergroup with leaked reports of ex-Strapping Young Lad guitarist Jed Simon, ex-Darkest Hour guitarist Kris Norris, ex-Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna on keyboards and ex-Lilitu and ex-Blood Promise vocalist Henry Derek Bonner working together. No one quite new what to expect from that and when the debut record ultimately surfaced in the October it seemed to lean a lot of Jordison’s roots in Slipknot than anything else while adding an industrial edge and showing a lot of promise, however it seemed that in fighting lead to the groups demise in 2015 after the exist of Bonner.

Vimic: Originally slated for a 2019 release, “Open Your Omen” the debut record from Vimic may never see the light of day despite four singles including “Fail Me (My Temple)” featuring Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine being released between 2016 and 2017. Built on the blueprint of Scar The Martyr with a desire to wipe the slate clean and initially being largely the same musicians with the exception of vocalist Kalen Chase, who spent two years as a backing vocalist and multi instrumentalist in KoRn, the band again showed a lot of promise before stumbling partly due to the death of producer Kato Khandwala. Perhaps a posthumous release will be in the offering in years to come.

Sinsaenum: At the same time that Vimic material began to surface, Jordison was also working on a Blackened Death Metal project called Sinsaenum. Another supergroup it saw ex-DragonForce guitarist Frédéric Leclercq joined by fellow Frenchman Stéphane Buriez of Loudblast and Heimoth of Seth on bass, while ex-Dååth and Chimaira man Sean Zatorsky and Attila Csihar of Mayhem went head to head as a double vocal Dragon. Two albums and three EPs in three years threw down the gauntlet for other Metal musicians and if it wasn’t for a few issues with Attila’s availability there may have been more music with the strength of 2018’s “Repulsion for Humanity” being reward for the bands tireless work.