Voliminal: Inside the Nine

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).[3] Crahan received help from the band's record label, Roadrunner, which supplied them with tapes, camera cleaning equipment and funds to hire people to operate the cameras when Crahan himself couldn't.[3] Recording began when Slipknot entered The Mansion and continued until they had finished touring in 2005, reportedly covering 28 months of the band's time together.[4] 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.[3] When the footage was being shot, Crahan began making little tests of the footage and revealed them to his fellow bandmates, judging their reactions to help him establish areas of interest from them.[3] The whole recording process produced over 300 60-minute tapes of footage.[5]

Similarly to the editing process of their previous DVD Disasterpieces, Crahan watched and analysed all the footage recorded for the DVD;[5] however, in contrast to Disasterpieces, this DVD 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 went on to add "[there's] more backstage stuff, getting to see more inside stuff as opposed to just a concert performance."[6] 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."[3] 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.[4] 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."[7]

Prior to the release of the DVD, a promotional website was launched which featured two short teaser videos.[8] Also, for the five weeks prior to its release, five short teaser videos were released through the Roadrunner Records website respectively.[9] The DVD was released on December 5, 2006, and was premiered in 22 separate theatres across the United States.[10] 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.[11]

The DVD is rated R16 in New Zealand for graphic violence, sexual references and offensive language.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmovie	(favorable) link
Billboard	(unfavorable) link
Blogcritics	(mixed) link
Dawn	(favorable) link
Film School Rejects	(mixed) link
Kerrang!
TuneLab Music	link

Critical reception for Voliminal was mixed. The newspaper Dawn called the DVD "an audible treat for thrash and speed metal fans", he went on to compliment drummer Joey Jordison, stating that he "structures his beats and percussions in a very traditional thrash set-up, almost as well as (dare I say it) the great Dave Lombardo of Slayer fame".[1] Ultimate Guitar called the DVD "behind-the-scene action in an unorthodox format, complete with choppy editing and absolutely no specific chronology". They would go on to state though the DVD "only gives partial attention to the music", "The best moment in the 2-disc collection comes during a chat with Corey Taylor, who shares his feelings about everything from his less-than-perfect relationship with his father to the obstacles that the band faced in its early days".[12] TuneLab wrote "Slipknot takes a unique approach to their latest film, as they turn what could have been a mundane video of live footage and band antics into a rather peculiar and extremely interesting movie". The "scatterbrained and choppy" style of Voliminal "[will cause] the viewer to feel like he or she is "outside looking in", rather than being truly involved with the band's happenings".[13] Reviewing for Blogcritics, Chris Beaumont wrote "[he] was enthralled and bored by the documentary". He went on to state, "the best part is watching them perform", despite the audio being "near unlistenable", "these guys know their way around the stage...this shows the whole package".[14] Reviewing for Billboard, Christa Titus criticized the DVD, writing that it "randomly [strings] footage from concerts and the usual backstage antics with images of pigeons and overflowing toilets, then tossing in whatever visual effects struck M. Shawn Crahan's fancy while he edited it." She concluded "Save your cash for the band's next tour...that's where you'll get your money's worth".[2] Film School Rejects's Cole Abaius wrote of the DVD, "[Except fans], probably no one else will purchase or enjoy this DVD". He added that with no narration, "the images are left to speak for themselves", only "some just don’t speak loudly enough".[15] Despite the mixed reviews, Voliminal was certified gold in Australia,[16] platinum in the United States,[17] and double platinum in Canada.[18] The album peaked at the fifth spot on Billboard's Music Video charts,[19] and remained on the chart for 10 weeks.[20]

The first disc of Voliminal: Inside The Nine is an 84-minute movie constructed of a mixture of live performance, backstage and studio footage.[21] The film was shot on handheld digital cameras and features rapid edits between footage which follows no chronological order.[22] Throughout the movie, there are also ten "rabbit holes", nine of which feature additional footage for each band member respectively.[22]

Interviews

The second disc includes interviews with all nine members of the band, which are the first formal interviews of Slipknot to be released without their masks, excluding members' appearances outside of Slipknot.[21]

Aside from their real names, members of the band are referred to by numbers zero through eight.[23]

• Official teaser website
• Voliminal: Inside the Nine at IMDb