Jim Root has given Slipknot fans the clearest picture yet of the band’s next album, and it comes with a warning: ‘It’s gonna hurt some feelings.’ Answering fans online, the guitarist said the one rule for the record is not to repeat themselves — ‘Don’t expect another Iowa or self-titled record.
We’ve been there’ — and when a fan wrote ‘Please don’t make another The End, So Far. We need this to be heavy and not Stone Sour,’ Root replied with a single word: ‘Agreed.’ The album was tracked live on the floor with new drummer Eloy Casagrande, is fully analogue, is being produced by Matt Wallace, will be the first release on the band’s own (sic)est Records, and does not include this month’s surprise single ‘Arsenal.’
There is no release date yet, but it now has to land before the stadium tour that opens at Wembley next July.
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I have interviewed Corey Taylor more than once, and I can tell you the man has never in his life said a Slipknot record fell short. Clown speaks in riddles. Mick doesn’t speak. So when a Slipknot guitarist answers a fan who says the last album sounded like Stone Sour with the word ‘Agreed,’ that isn’t a throwaway comment. That’s the most candid anyone in this band has been about their own work in twenty-five years.
What Jim Root Actually Said
Root has been taking questions from fans, and the answers read like a man who’s been waiting to say it.
On the direction: ‘One very important thing for us at this time is to not “repeat” ourselves. It’s gonna hurt some feelings.’ On what not to expect: ‘Don’t expect another Iowa or self-titled record. We’ve been there.’ On what it feels like: ‘The vibe feels honest and true to me. It’s uneasy and reminds me of recording in the earlier days.’
And on the sound: ‘Everything is analogue and played. All the pieces that need to be there are there.’ He’s previously called recent Slipknot material over-produced. This time, he says, they tracked on the floor live with Eloy — ‘We hadn’t done that in a long time’ — and he calls it the most exciting and liveliest sounding thing they’ve done.
Then the exchange everybody’s screenshotting. A fan: ‘Please don’t make another The End, So Far. We need this to be heavy and not Stone Sour.’ Root: ‘Agreed.’
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Why ‘Not Stone Sour’ Lands Harder Coming From Root
Here’s the part the other write-ups are skipping. Jim Root was in Stone Sour. He played on every record from the debut through House Of Gold & Bones, and his exit in 2014 was not a quiet one — he’s said publicly that he was pushed out while he was working on a Slipknot album.
So a fan asking him to make sure Slipknot doesn’t sound like Stone Sour is asking the one member of the band with a personal history in the comparison. And he agreed. Read into that what you like. I read a guitarist who’s been thinking the same thing for four years.
The End, So Far came out in September 2022 as the band’s last album for Roadrunner, and the split in the fanbase was immediate: clean choruses, a ballad-adjacent opener, Corey’s melodic side all the way up front. Plenty of people loved it. Plenty of people heard the other band. Root has just told the second group he’s with them.
What’s Actually On Tape
Strip out the attitude and here’s the factual state of the album:
- Recorded live on the floor with Eloy Casagrande on drums — the man who replaced Jay Weinberg and whose first Slipknot recording was ‘Arsenal.’
- Fully analogue, per Root, with the over-produced era explicitly in the rear-view mirror.
- Produced by Matt Wallace — the producer behind Faith No More’s The Real Thing and Angel Dust, and the first outside producer Slipknot have used in years who has no history with the band.
- First release on (sic)est Records, the band’s own label, which is why the stadium tour carries the same name.
- ‘Arsenal’ is not on it. The surprise single from earlier this month was, in Root’s own words at the time, just the one they could finish soonest.
- No title, no track count, no release date. Everything you’ve read with a date attached is a guess.
If you’re tracking the whole saga, our running page on the new Slipknot album has every confirmed detail in one place.
The Band Making It Isn’t The Band That Made The Last One
This is the context that makes ‘don’t repeat ourselves’ more than a slogan.
Since The End, So Far: Jay Weinberg was let go and Eloy Casagrande came in. Craig Jones left the sampler station. Sid Wilson’s exit played out in public and ugly. Three of the nine chairs have changed, and two of the three were the members most associated with the electronic and textural layer that The End, So Far leaned on.
Take those layers out, put a drummer who hits like Eloy in the room, track it live, hand it to a producer who cut his teeth on Faith No More, and uneasy is exactly the word you’d expect. Root isn’t describing a plan. He’s describing what happened when this lineup played together.
Why This Matters Before The Stadiums
The tour is already sold. Nineteen dates, Wembley to Bogotá, presales open, and the album that goes with it doesn’t have a name.
That’s a strange order of operations for any band, and it puts real pressure on the record. If it lands the way Root is describing — heavy, raw, closer to Iowa‘s spirit without copying it — the stadium run becomes a coronation. If it doesn’t, the band will be playing the biggest rooms of their career behind a record their own guitarist warned would hurt feelings. Either way, ‘Agreed’ is going to be quoted back at him for a year.
For what it’s worth, my read: a member volunteering that the last one missed is the healthiest sign this band has shown since .5: The Gray Chapter. Bands that defend every record make the same record. Bands that admit a miss make the ones that end up on lists like this.
TL;DR
- Jim Root on the new Slipknot album: ‘It’s gonna hurt some feelings.’ The rule is not to repeat themselves — no Iowa rerun, no self-titled rerun.
- A fan asked for ‘heavy and not Stone Sour.’ Root replied ‘Agreed.’ Root was in Stone Sour until 2014.
- Tracked live on the floor with Eloy Casagrande. Fully analogue. Root has called recent material over-produced.
- Produced by Matt Wallace (Faith No More). First release on (sic)est Records.
- ‘Arsenal’ is not on the album.
- No title, track count or release date yet. The 19-date stadium tour opens at Wembley on 3 July 2027.
- Since The End, So Far: Jay Weinberg out, Eloy in; Craig Jones and Sid Wilson gone.
FAQ
What did Jim Root say about the new Slipknot album?
That it’s ‘gonna hurt some feelings,’ that the band’s one rule is not to repeat themselves — ‘Don’t expect another Iowa or self-titled record’ — and that it was tracked live on the floor with Eloy Casagrande, fully analogue. When a fan asked for it to be ‘heavy and not Stone Sour,’ he replied ‘Agreed.’
When is the new Slipknot album coming out?
No release date has been announced. The band’s 2027 stadium tour opens on 3 July at Wembley Stadium, so the album is widely expected before then, but nothing has been confirmed.
Who is producing the new Slipknot album?
Matt Wallace, best known for producing Faith No More’s The Real Thing and Angel Dust. It will be the first release on Slipknot’s own label, (sic)est Records.
Is ‘Arsenal’ on the new Slipknot album?
No. Root has said the September 2026 single was simply the track they could finish soonest, and it will not appear on the album.
Was Jim Root in Stone Sour?
Yes. Root was Stone Sour’s guitarist from 1995 until 2014, playing on every album through House Of Gold & Bones, before his departure from that band.
Has Slipknot’s last album been a Stone Sour record with masks on? Or is Root about to alienate the fans who loved it? Tell us in the comments which side you’re on, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
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