We're less than a month away from hearing Slipknot's full vision of We Are Not Your Kind, and it seems like each week there's something new to excite the band's loyal following of Maggots. Beyond dropping the poppy yet headbanging lead single "Unsainted," the band is also heading off on the first-ever Knotfest Roadshow this Friday (July 26th), which is sure to blow fans' minds with an extravagant live show and an immersive Slipknot museum. Perhaps most exciting, though, the Iowan juggernaut released a new single today, "Solway Firth," and it's far and away the heaviest and weirdest composition they've released in a long time.
The song — the closing track on We Are Not Your Kind — kicks off with an quiet, ominous intro, the guitars slowly breathing life into the tune while static and the sounds of insects flow over. Corey Taylor's vocals come in hauntingly, as he sings of watching a group of "killers" feasting on remains. "Solway Firth" then ramps up, each member hitting hard as fuck, the band knocking out a hell of a riff that bounces over some gigantic percussion and strange synthesizers. Yet, as quickly as they picked up the pace, Slipknot suddenly take a left turn, flashing back into a spacier reprieve — the jump cut, positively Code Orange-esque in its jarring bizarreness — before launching again into heaviness. Taylor launches into some of his most vicious vocals yet, as his masked cohorts follow suit, diving headlong into some of the most abrasive and challenging sounds of their career. In the end, all roads lead to a breakdown that only Slipknot could deliver, injected with disorienting samples and keyboard parts as the band loses its collective mind.
It's fitting that the song arrived today paired with a video intercut with clips from the upcoming Amazon Original show The Boys, which is about a bunch of vigilantes sworn to keep idiot superheroes in line with excessive force. The program is based on the comic series of the same name, penned by master of the extreme Garth Ennis, also responsible for Preacher, Crossed and one of the best runs ever of The Punisher. Taylor is a huge fan of Ennis, and the song's audio aggression feels like the perfect pairing for the show's visual ultraviolence. Really, what better accompaniment could there be to Slipknot's savagery than someone getting disemboweled?
"Solway Firth" is a stunning reminder of how much power the 'Knot have when they focus on going nasty as fuck. But the song is more than just crushing heaviness: Indeed, "Solway Firth" approximates a compelling combination of what the Nine were spewing on Iowa and the unhinged creativity showcased on .5 The Gray Chapter. As such, it has done its job as single No. 2 admirably — escalating our eagerness for We Are Not Your Kind to near fever pitch
