And it’s a song about the kind of person that Paul was, just his love for not only music in general, but for this band, and just how amazing a personality he was.” Skeptic, of course, is a loving tribute to bassist Paul Gray, who tragically passed on May 24, 2010. The band’s 2015 shows opened with the band ripping into this like a chainsaw through jelly, Corey’s defiant command of ‘Live long and die for me!’ echoing across arenas worldwide.Ĭorey said it best himself: “This is definitely about Paul, absolutely. It’s going to come up a lot throughout this list, but Slipknot are so much more than a fancy dress nu metal band – Sarcastrophe kicks off The Gray Chapter with some Deicide-ish fretwork and blasting, anointing Jay as new sticksman following original drummer Joey Jordison’s departure a year prior. Sarcastrophe (.5: The Gray Chapter, 2014) Its sickly, death metal-heavy intro riff is liberally pinched from May 17: a song that lives on Slipknot’s primitive, Excerpts From Current Project demo from 1996. Slipknot’s second album, Iowa, pushed, pulverised and piddled on the envelope in all sorts of new ways, but New Abortion is very much a throwback. That’s a fact, and it rings through every shout, scream and swear-word uttered by lead vocalist Corey Taylor each slithering riff from Jim Root and Mick Thomson the liquid-slick rhythm section comprising Alessandro ‘V-Man’ Venturella on bass and Jay Weinberg on drums the respective keyboard samples and turntable trickery of Craig Jones and Sid Wilson and every abrasive, bastardly brutal keg hit and muffled bellow by custom percussionist and band founder, Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, with his bin-smashing accomplice, lovingly dubbed ‘Tortilla Man’ by fans, in tow. They’re the heaviest, most extreme band to achieve major festival-headlining status. Since then, they’ve dialled up the extremity, focused more on clean singing, incorporated acoustic elements, experimented with vocal melodies – they’ve tried anything and everything within their wheelhouse, doggedly dragging it across the globe on an arena-touring level. They took elements of nu metal, death metal, hip hop, industrial and more to sculpt a percussive, monstrously catchy noise nobody could compete with. Their debut was a titanic leap from their everything-and-the-kitchen-sink demo album, Mate. "You can't say anything bad about a guy who's visiting childrens' hospitals," said Taylor.And they’ve always done it. I tried to get him down to my reading because I wanted to do an acoustic version."īut alas, it wasn't to be, with Bieber tied up visiting childrens' hospitals. "I was in Baltimore on my book tour and Justin was nearby in Washington D.C. Taylor even tried to arrange for a get together with Bieber to do an acoustic performance of 'Psychosocial Baby'. He's a very talented kid and he goes above and beyond for his fans."Īn unmasked Corey Taylor on stage at The Garage, London, last year "Everybody thought I'd be pissed about it, but I was blown away. "I want to call the first album The Boogie Knight Rises," he said.Īt the start of the week Taylor revealed he was a fan of the YouTube mash-up of Bieber's baby with Slipknot's Psychosocial, and said he had nothing but respect for the young pop star. Taylor also revealed that he'd already thought up a name for his new project: The Boogie Knight. "I want to make it something that's got that old-school feel to it but with a modern twinge.
"I want to do.something funny and sarcastic, and I'm not talking 70s dance not that tired fucking dubstep bullshit," the singer explained. But the masked vocalist told Revolver that he definitely won't be following in Korn's dubstep-influenced new sound.