Well, we finally got to hear the new Slipknot song, "The Negative One" but all it did was leave us with more questions.
Who's drumming on the album?
Why isn't the band in the actual music video? What does the band look like now?
When is the album coming out? What's it called?
Frontman Corey Taylor promises all will be revealed soon, although everybody's patience is sure being tested. Speaking to the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show earlier this week, Taylor made it known that "The Negative One" is not the band's official single, but rather a gift to the fans:
“People don’t know what to expect from us and that’s kinda the way we like it. the great thing is that—I was telling this to somebody the other day—”The Negative One” isn’t our single. That was just a gift for the fans, like we wanted them to hear a piece of the album. The single comes out in a few weeks and it’s completely different. It’s more melodic, but it’s dark, it’s powerful man, its something different, people are going to lose their minds when they hear that.”
“It’s got the spirit. The thing I love is that everyone’s reactions are very, very similar. They love the fact that there’s new Slipknot out. They also love the fact that it feels like old school meets new school. Like you can feel the original craziness of the early stuff but you can tell that the evolution has happened. And that’s kind of what we were shooting for, ya know? Remember I said I wanted the album to feel like a cross between “Iowa” and “Vol. 3” and I think we did that. Wait till you hear the whole album, because this story is so deep and so honest and so crazy that people are going to lose their minds when they hear it.”
Taylor said the band is aiming for an October release, and will soon be releasing the official single for the new album, called "The Devil In I"
"I'm not sure what the definite date is. I know we're shooting for October. Because we wanna release it right around the time the Knotfest shows [in San Bernardino, California] happen, so everyone can have it. We've got pretty much all the artwork done, which Shawn [co-founder, conceptualist and percussionist M. Shawn 'Clown' Crahan] did a hell of a job on. We're getting ready… probably in the next couple of weeks, we're gonna shoot a video for the first official single, which is called 'The Devil In I'. So we're gonna shoot a video for that. [And] that's about all I know right now. [Laughs] 'Cause we're still finishing mixes. We've still got a couple of songs left that need final mixes, then it'll go to mastering, and everything will just start kind of coming together, and [we'll come up] with a more stable, final release date, and as soon as we know that, the world will know."
Taylor also promised the band will do a proper North American tour in October, with tentative plans to tour the UK, Europe, Australia, South America, Canada and possibly more.
As for why the identity of the drummer hasn't been revealed, Taylor spoke in a separate interview with Pulse of Radio, where he said the fans will have to wait for that one:
"We're keeping a lot of that under wraps, out of fairness, because we want the music to speak for itself," he said. "We don't want people listening to our music and making up their minds about something before they even know what the music is. So trust me, you know, when the time is right, we will give you the answers that you need, and that's the way it is."
While earlier this week, we reported on a rumor that suggested that Chris Adler might be the one drumming on the album, we've heard that is almost certainly not the case. While I haven't been able to lock in an official confirmation from anybody, I have been hearing a lot of rumors about Jay Weinberg.
Ultimately, we will have our answers sooner than later.
