Slipknot guitarist Jim Root once asked Diamond Rowe of rising nu metal stars Tetrarch for lessons on his own instrument.
Rowe, who co-founded her Atlanta-based band while in middle school in 2007, reveals Root’s request during a new interview with Stereoboard.
“When I got messaged by Jim Root and he was like, ‘Dude, you need to give me guitar lessons!’, I was like, ‘OK, dude, come on!’,” she remembers. “I was like, ‘How about we exchange guitar lessons?’”
Root is far from the only veteran metal musician to be blown away by Tetrarch. In 2019, two years after the band self-released their debut album Freak, Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares and Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta both posted on X (formerly Twitter) in support of the band.
Rowe also reveals that she recently gifted one of her signature guitars, a Jackson model, to Korn player Brian “Head” Welch. “That experience was crazy!” she says.
Tetrarch made their label debut with second album Unstable in 2021, which came out via Napalm Records (home of Cradle Of Filth, Jinjer, Alter Bridge and more). The album received positive reviews, with many critics and fans singling out Rowe’s athletic soloing, a rarity in nu metal, for praise.
In 2023, Metal Hammer named Rowe and Tetrarch singer/guitarist Josh Fore jointly as one of the ‘11 modern metal guitar heroes every self-respecting player should know about’.
“Not only can they play the most hulking of riffs, but they can make it look effortless, with Josh singing while Diamond carries a magnetic on-stage presence,” journalist Matt Mills wrote.
The band’s latest album, The Ugly Side Of Me, came out last month. Rowe describes the album as a refinement of the Tetrarch sound.
“[Previously] there was a lot of, like, ‘Let’s really try to come into who Tetrarch is as a band, and ourselves and our sound’ – not trying to follow any trend, just becoming who we are,” she says.
“With Unstable, we did that. Now, with The Ugly Side Of Me, it was like, ‘Now that I know who I am as a player, I know what kind of songs we love to write and I know what Tetrarch is about, it’s about trying to write the best songs we can with the sound we know we have.’”
Metal Hammer awarded The Ugly Side Of Me a 3.5-star review. Journalist Merlin Alderslade wrote: “If you’re looking for a drastic left-turn into bold new sonic pastures, The Ugly Side Of Me is not gonna serve you too well. This is absolutely a case of a band understanding their strengths and playing to them, and make no mistake about it, Tetrarch are really good at this shit.”
Tetrarch are currently gearing up for their first-ever European tour, which starts in Leipzig on June 16. See the planned dates and get tickets via their website.
As for Slipknot, the nine-piece kicked off a European tour on Wednesday (June 4) with a set at Sweden Rock Festival. They’ll headline the Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring festivals in Germany this weekend.
