Geezer Butler shared that he was a fan of Slipknot and some other younger metal bands in the ’90s.
As a founding member and the primary lyricist for the band that is known for essentially creating heavy metal, it’s a big deal when Butler compliments a younger artist. The original Black Sabbath were the headliners of Ozzfest in 1999, and Butler was astute with the younger generations of heavy music who were also on the bill.
“I was really into metal back then, and it was influencing the stuff I was writing as well,” Butler told Knotfest.
“It was amazing to see what new bands were coming out then. And each one had a different version of metal, if you want to call it metal. Different versions, instead of just going on and screaming into the microphone and everything sounding the same. Really good, different bands coming out. Slipknot being one of them, obviously. It was great.”
A few years prior to Ozzfest ’99, Butler released his debut solo album Plastic Planet, which featured vocals former Fear Factory frontman Burton C. Bell. Fear Factory had a big influence on the sound and intensity of that record.
READ MORE: Whatever Happened to the Acts From Ozzfest’s First Lineup?
“I really liked Fear Factory at the time and I’d been writing all this stuff that was too heavy for Sabbath or Ozzy,” he recalled. “Pedro [Howse], my nephew, had this band called Crazy Angel, who were like an ultra-thrash band. So when me and him got writing together it came out ultra-heavy, and I wasn’t restricted to what lyrics I was going to write about.”
The rocker described the lyrical content as being mostly about science fiction, which he compared to how prominent the use of artificial intelligence is today.
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Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner
