The Des Moines, Iowa, metal scene pretty much includes just two bands: Slipknot and Stone Sour. James Root and Corey Taylor are in both.

Slipknot is known for intense live shows in which the nine members wear masks to de-emphasize themselves and focus on the blistering, heavy music. Stone Sour isn't known for much. Yet.

Now in the middle of the band's first real tour (which stops in Baltimore Nov. 29 at Thunderdome), Root says crowd reactions have been favorable.

"It's going really, really good so far," he says by phone from Toledo, Ohio. "Basically, I was going into it and my nerves were shot right before we left for this tour because this is like us giving this to the world and us on trial with Slipknot fans."

As it happens, Stone Sour predates Slipknot. Named for an alcoholic concoction the band chose from a drinks menu ("I've always hated that name, incidentally," Root says. "It's horrible. But what's in a name?"), Stone Sour got its start a decade ago as a musical outlet for a group of friends. Root joined in 1995, but the band went dormant in 1997 as Slipknot began taking off.

A complicated series of events in 2000 resulted in the revival of Stone Sour that year, followed by the release of the band's self-titled debut in August. Taylor started working with former Stone Sour cohorts on a band called Superego, which was also briefly known as Project X and Closure. When Root learned they were playing songs he had written, he badgered his way back into the band, whose members had by then acknowledged that they were really just a reincarnation of Stone Sour.

"It never really died; it's always been in the back of our minds," Root says.

Stone Sour's music is undeniably heavy, but the band draws on a wide array of influences. Along with Meddle-era Pink Floyd, Root says he has been listening to a lot of Radiohead, Bjork, Portishead and even Fiona Apple lately.

"I've been trying to take some hints and tips and pointers from that genre of musical writing," Root says.

The band views songwriting as a collaborative process, and the songs on Stone Sour are credited to the whole band with the exception of "Bother," which Taylor wrote and performs solo, and "Tumult," on which the band collaborated with Ryan Weeder. Many of the band's tunes come from jamming together during rehearsals.

"It just happens. We'll come up with a riff, we'll just start jamming on a riff and Joel [Ekman, the drummer] will come up with a beat," Root says.

Though Root and Taylor are focused on Stone Sour right now, Slipknot has plans to start work on a new album in the spring. Root says he's not sure yet how schedules will mesh between the two bands.

"I haven't really had to juggle it yet," he says.

Either way, Stone Sour has no plans to disappear again.

"Instead of doing a side project on my own, I'm just going to consider this my outlet away from Slipknot," Root says. "We pretty much have enough material for another record already, with songs from the past and whatever."

Eric R. Danton is rock critic for the Hartford Courant, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.

Stone Sour

When: 9:30 p.m. Nov. 28 (doors open at 8 p.m.)

Where: Thunderdome, 3612 S. Hanover St.

Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door

Call: 410-354-4700 or 410-481-SEAT