By Shaun Smillie
'I wanna slit your throat and f**k the wound." These are the lyrics that may have inspired a Nic Diederichs Technical High School pupil to go on a killing spree.
If they did, it would be the second time that the opening line to the song Disasterpiece, by the heavy metal band Slipknot, has become a soundtrack to murder.
In May 2003, Jason Lamar Harris was sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing his friend, Terry Ray Taylor, to death in San Bernardino, California.
Taylor was stabbed 20 times and had his throat cut by Harris and his accomplice, 16-year-old Amber Rose Riley.
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The two, according to police, had planned the murder for months before luring Taylor to a park.
Before and after the murder, the two said they had listened to the American metal band Slipknot's song Disasterpiece.
Riley also told police he was motivated to kill by a desire to see a dead body.
On Monday, a student slashed the throat of Jacques Pretorius with a Samurai sword, killing him. The suspect was dressed like Joey Jordison, Slipknot's drummer. He went on to wound three others at the school - one was stabbed in the back, another in the face.
Pupils at the school told Krugersdorp councillor Alex Raubenheimer that the boy, who police cannot name because he is a minor, said Satan had told him to kill the children.
Slipknot was formed in 1995, and released their first album - Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat - the following year.
The lyrics and themes to their songs are often dark, about murder and hate.
"I am the very disease you pretend to be," reads another line to one of their songs.
A subsequent album was called The Subliminal Verses, and their latest album is All Hope Is Gone.
In 2006, lyrics to another Slipknot song, Surfacing, caused controversy when they were discovered at the site of a grave robbery in the US. An urn that was buried in the grave was missing.
Since the band formed, Christian organisations have accused the band of being Satanic, which they have denied on various occasions.
US psychologists have warned that the songs may affect troubled teenagers.
While it will probably take a while before anyone knows the reason why the pupil in the black mask went on a rampage on Monday on the Internet across the world fans were already defending their band.
"Slipknot being blamed for something like a murder or a holocaust.. I'm sick of this. Slipknot is a f**kin great band," said one person in a post on blabbermouth.net, which is affiliated to Roadrunner Records, to which Slipknot is signed.
"Chr**t, hang on to your hats metal heads, 'cos here we go again," another read.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on August 19, 2008
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