Slipknot

The culture of Slipknot has spread much farther than anyone could have predicted when nine guys from Iowa put on masks and uniforms, and began challenging the globe to keep up. The band’s influence can now be seen and felt in the underground, in those artists headlining rock festivals across the world, and virtually everywhere in between. Across genres and subgenres, artists the world over are following in the footsteps that lead out of the US Midwest, and onto stages around the world. And all without an ounce of compromise, to anyone.


On the aptly named “Arsenal,” the first new Slipknot release since 2022, they deploy nearly every weapon they own: pummeling dynamics, razor sharp vocals and lyrics, knifing keyboards, and riffs that can only be measured in tons. “I fought a fucking god and the god lost,” Corey Taylor proclaims, ripping his way across the track with a self-aware braggadocio, melding metal, punk and hip hop verses while summoning his roar from the seventh circle of hell. He’s serious when he throws off the weight of trend-chasing and spits, “I know I’m a hack and a has-been, but motherfucker I’m a .45 and not a Mach 10,” but he’s also playing around; ditto when he screeches the song to a halt, shouting at his bandmates and bulldozing the wall of sound they’ve been building. There’s a focused, compressed brutality to this song that displays the firepower they’ve honed over their career. How could misanthropy possibly be this much fun?


Nearly 30 years in, it's notable that Slipknot still summon the drive, creativity and band connection required to make music like this. Their rise to becoming one of the greatest and most influential rock bands of the 21st century is marked by hardship, having weathered enormous personal tragedies and facing them head on, alongside their fans. Through it all, they’ve kept a fighting spirit that’s allowed them to keep innovating, and keep testing the ragged edges of their sound to see how much farther they can push it. They sound sharper than ever, the direct result of their commitment to the music, first and foremost. The song is an undeniable statement of strength in the face of diversity, and a new marker for the world to deal with and wonder how Slipknot was always - and still remains - so vital and modern.