Admit it. The minute you heard there was a band featuring the sons of Corey Taylor and Shawn “Clown” Crahan, you were drawing Slipknot comparisons before you’d even listened to their music. It’s only natural: Slipknot are one of the biggest metal bands in the world, and have achieved legend status in the metal community, so of course such comparisons were inevitable since Vended’s formation.
But as their first two singles, Asylum and Burn My Misery, show, Vended are a band determined not to let the stratospheric influence of their kin subtract from the standalone potential of their own music.
One might argue that Slipknot/Vended comparisons arise not only because a portion of each act’s members are related, but also because both dabble in the same groove-oriented brand of dark heavy metal. Additionally, Griffin Taylor’s gritty vocals are at certain points not discernible from his father Corey’s. This was perhaps unavoidable; they are quite literally cut from the same cloth, and Corey has no doubt mentored Griffin in some regard.
Side note: Check out Slipknot’s performance at Nimes back in 2019, when the band brought out Griffin to sing vocals after their signature “jump-the-fuck-up” moment during Spit It Out.
But there’s an unmistakable uniqueness to Vended’s music. The band – which in addition to Griffin Taylor and Simon Crahan, features guitarists Connor Grodzicki and Cole Espeland and bass player Jeremiah Pugh – have a mere two songs under their belt, but have already set the stage for big things to come.
Their material takes the percussion-heavy, hard-riffing mantra of Slipknot’s music and thrusts it in an exciting new direction, splicing ultra-melodic, beautifully bleak melodic passages – like the chorus of Burn My Misery – in between thunderous but nonetheless pinpoint-precise rhythmic runs sure to get any pit spinning.
It is, of course, early days for Vended. I fully expect the Slipknot comparisons to diminish over time, but for now, I’d get used to seeing the quintet described as “sons of Slipknot” for the time being. Even I did it with the title of my recent riff lesson for Burn My Misery, and indeed, with the whole premise of this article. It makes sense for bloggers and media outlets to capitalise on the more-searched for Google and YouTube terms, “Slipknot”, “Corey Taylor”, “Shawn Crahan” etc.
But after their debut EP What Is It/Kill It drops on November 12, I’m expecting the group to really come into their own. As they said so concisely in a recent press statement, “The next generation is here, this is only the beginning. Welcome to Vended!”
Help fund the growth of Sightline Guitar!
Thanks for reading! My goal is to make Sightline Guitar your one-stop shop for all things guitar, featuring video lessons, news, written articles, everything. If you enjoy my content and want to be a part of the journey, consider donating! Your contribution will be used to grow the brand and make better videos and content more frequently.
