After tantalizing and befuddling fans with a series of cryptic video teasers and a countdown on their website rolling up to the number "0516" — today's date, May 16th — Slipknot have unleashed a new song, "Unsainted," and it's slick, creepy music video, directed by the band's M. Shawn Crahan. The compulsive cut — which follows up last Halloween's blistering surprise single "All Out Life," and includes the lines "How dare you martyr me" and "You've killed the saint in me," which were introduced with two of the teaser clips — boasts a huge, poppy sing-along chorus made for radio, but still packs plenty of guitar-heavy, headbanging riffery. The song is expected to appear on the band's forthcoming sixth album, We Are Not Your Kind, due August 9th via Roadrunner Records.
The video reveals Slipknot's new masks, including Corey Taylor's, which was designed by famed horror-movie special FX legend Tom Savini, and those of bassist Alessandro "V-Man" Venturella and drummer Jay Weinberg, who have apparently graduated from generic burlap-sack head-coverings to full-fledged, individualized masks. Moving away from jumpsuits, many of the band members appear in hoods and cowls, adopting a sinister, almost cyber-goth-monk look. Slipknot's lineup notably includes a mystery second percussionist, who appears in a very Hellraiser-looking getup. No word yet on his or her identity, considering that Chris Fehn was ousted from the band in March.
Slipknot are set to play Jimmy Kimmel Live! tomorrow (May 17th), a performance that will air on ABC that night at 11:35 p.m. EST. Then, on June 7th, the band will hit the road in Europe, before returning to North America on July 26th to launch the first-ever Knotfest Roadshow, with support from Volbeat, Gojira and Behemoth.
We Are Not Your Kind track list:
1. Insert Coin
2. Unsainted
3. Birth of the Cruel
4. Death Because of Death
5. Nero Forte
6. Critical Darling
7. Liar's Funeral
8. Red Flag
9. What's Next
10. Spiders
11. Orphan
12. My Pain
13. Not Long for This World
14. Solway Firth
