’KNOT YOUR KINDA GUYS
IT'S NOT TOO OFTEN THAT SLIPKNOT RELEASE A NEW ALBUM — IT’S BEEN HALF A DECADE SINCE THE BAND’S LAST FULL-LENGTH ONE, 2014’S .5: THE GRAY CHAPTER — BUT WHEN THEY DO, ONE THING YOU CAN BE SURE OF IS THAT IT’LL BE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE IN EVERY WAY, FROM THE MUSIC TO THE VISUALS TO THE OUTFITS (NEW MASKS, ANYONE?) THAT GO ALONG WITH IT. “YOU CAN EITHER EVOLVE WITH US AND GET WITH IT, OR MAYBE YOU’RE JUST NOT THERE YET, AND MAYBE WE’RE NOT YOUR BAND,” GUITARIST JIM ROOT SAYS. “BUT WE’RE ALWAYS GOING TO DO WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO.”
That ideology is evident on the band’s newest and sixth full-length album, We Are Not Your Kind. The record finds Slipknot – which, in addition to Root, includes the core Des Moines, Iowa-bred unit of guitarist Mick Thomson, singer Corey Taylor, percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan, keyboardist and sampler Craig Jones and turntablist Sid Wilson, as well as newer additions drummer Jay Weinberg and bassist Alessandro Venturella (co-percussionist and original member Chris Fehn exited the band under acrimonious circumstances in March, with his position filled by a so-far anonymous stand-in) – playing it as hard and fierce as ever (witness the positively crushing Birth Of The Cruel and the rampaging closer Solway Firth), while also continuing to push out on their sonic boundaries, as evidenced by tracks like the choir-assisted first single Unsainted, the eerie and atmospheric Spiders and Not Long For This World, and the hooky, major-key thrash anthem Nero Forte.
It’s a varied and intense ride, to be sure, and one that is all but guaranteed to please those Slipknot fans who, as Root said earlier, continue to evolve with the band. As for the others? “It’ll be loved, it’ll be hated, but whatever,” Thomson says bluntly. “We’re certainly not for everybody. And if you don’t like it, I mean, who cares? We’re not interested in being all things to all people. We’re just
