Slipknot [ tickets ] is one of the most brutal metal bands to have pillaged the landscape in recent memory.

Live, they are utter anarchy, yet somehow the music has an almost machine-like precision about it. The band's earlier efforts, produced by Ross Robinson, captured much of that fury, but teaming up with Rick Rubin has brought a whole new dimension to the material the Knot lays to tape.

Before--with nine guys in a studio forging metal music--it was probably a given that there was going to be a lot of mud in the mix, but somehow, under Rubin's ear, the details stand out. Guitarists Mick Thomson and James Root are let loose for some positively terrifying lead lines in "Duality" (the first single) that jolt from memorably headbanging riffs to blurs. And just when you think things are about to derail, they slam you with the hook. Heady stuff.

"The Blister Exists" features what sounds like an "Empire Strikes Back" death march from hell, with multi-layered snare drums from Joey Jordison, Chris Fehn and Shawn Crahan pummeling the senses. The structured mayhem of "Pulse of the Maggots" is reminiscent of "People=s**t," from the band's 2001 album, "Iowa." God help any young metalheads that might actually want to cover this stuff.