Voliminal: Inside the Nine is the third video album by American band Slipknot. Released December 5th, 2006 through Roadrunner Records, the 2-disc DVD set features an 84 minute movie created by band member Shawn "Clown" Crahan. The set also includes live performances, music videos from songs on the band's third studio album, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), and the first unmasked interviews with all of the band members. The movie featured footage recorded from the recording of Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) through the end of the tour in support of the album spanning a total of 28 months. The DVD was promoted on various websites for the weeks leading up to its limited theatrical release. Critical reception of the album was mixed, Dawn wrote the album has "a raw sound" calling it "an audible treat for thrash and speed metal fans". However, Billboard would tell fans to "save your cash for the band's next tour". Voliminal would be certified gold, platinum, and double platinum in Australia, the United States, and Canada respectively.
The initial idea for the DVD came to percussionist Shawn Crahan, three weeks before the band entered The Mansion in 2003, where they would work on their third studio album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). Crahan received help from the band's record label Roadrunner, who supplied them with tapes, camera cleaning equipment and funds to hire people to operate the cameras when Crahan himself couldn't. Recording began when Slipknot entered The Mansion and continued until they had finished touring in 2005, reportedly covering 28 months of the bands time together. Crahan's intentions were to capture as many different Slipknot situations as he could, so when the opportunity to produce a DVD came, he would be in a position to begin work immediately. During the period in which the footage was being shot, Crahan began making little tests of the footage and revealed them to his fellow band mates, judging their reactions to help him establish areas of interest from them. The whole recording process produced over 300 60-minute tapes of footage.
Production and Promotion[]
Similarly to the editing process of their previous DVD Disasterpieces, Crahan watched and analyzed all of the footage recorded for the DVD. However in contrast to Disasterpieces this DVD was intended to show a previously unseen side to the band. During an interview in 2006 guitarist Mick Thomson explained that with the DVD the band intended to "bring something new", he also went on to add "[there's] more backstage stuff, getting to see more inside stuff as opposed to just a concert performance." Crahan explained how he wanted to allow the viewer in on more of their time instead of just their performance, recalling a moment when the band were in Australia. He included the footage in the film, explaining; "So I go down to Australia and I go ‘Jesus, there’s bats in the air.’ I’m going to film it and share it with you because it’s part of our lives together. But most bands and people don’t want to share that side of it and I think that’s wrong." Throughout the movie whenever the band members appear unmasked, their faces are blurred, whereas on the second disc, during the interviews, they are completely revealed. When questioned on the subject during an interview on The Sauce in 2007, Crahan explained that when the band perform, the masks are always a part of their show and footage of them unmasked is blurred to represent this. Further adding; "We chose to blur it because, it's really an intrusion. […] That's our safe place and I kind of broke the veil a little bit by grabbing a camera and trying to show everybody those kinds of things that go on."
Prior to the release of the DVD, a promotional website was launched which featured two short teaser videos. Also, for the five weeks prior to its release five short teaser videos were released through the Roadrunner Records website respectively. The DVD was released on December 5th, 2006 and was premiered in 22 separate theatres across the United States. Following the release of the DVD, a music video for the song "The Blister Exists" was released, the video featured footage from Voliminal: Inside the Nine and was of the same style as the movie.
Track Listing[]
Voliminal: Inside the Nine — Standard Edition (Disc 1)
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Chapter 1"
4:26
2.
"Chapter 2"
3:40
3.
"Chapter 3"
3:03
4.
"Chapter 4"
5:37
5.
"Chapter 5"
11:12
6.
"Chapter 6"
10:02
7.
"Chapter 7"
6:07
8.
"Chapter 8"
30:17
9.
"Chapter 9"
8:18
10.
"Chapter 10"
1:58
Total length:
1:25:00
Voliminal: Inside the Nine — Standard Edition (Disc 2)
The first disc of Voliminal: Inside The Nine is a 84 minute movie constructed of a mixture of live performance, backstage and studio footage. The film was shot on handheld digital cameras and features rapid edits between footage which follows no chronological order. Throughout the movie there are also ten "rabbit holes", nine of which feature additional footage for each band member respectively.
For Disc 2[]
Tracks 1-5 are music videos
Tracks 6-14 are bonus live footage
"(Sic)" is from The Eurockeenes Festival in 2004
"The Blister Exists" & "Eyeless" are from WFF in 2004
"Vermilion" is from the TMF Awards in 2004
"The Heretic Anthem", "Pulse of the Maggots", "Before I Forget" & "People = Shit" are from Summer Sonic in 2005
