Slipknot has changed quite a bit over the past six years.
Bassist Paul Gray passed away in 2010 with a hypodermic needle lying next to his Iowa hotel bed. Then drummer Joey Jordison split from the band in late 2013 for reasons unknown.
But the nine-piece outfit appears to have overcome the adversity. On Friday, Slipknot released their first original material since 2008's All Hope Is Gone. New single "The Negative One" is now available for streaming on the band's official website.
The song sticks to a frenetic pace that rarely wavers, and favors an anti-melody style that fans fell in love with back in the 90s. The lyrics are, as usual, a ray of sunshine:
"And as you die / You see my face / You're the only one to blame," screams frontman Corey Taylor.
There are no signs of the more subdued Taylor that showed up on Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real To Reel soundtrack last year. The singer provided vocals for "From Can To Can't", a track that displayed his softer side.
But that's probably good news for hardcore Slipknot fans, who can expect a video for "The Negative One" on Aug. 5. The as-of-yet unnamed fifth album is expected to drop either later this year or early 2015.
In July, Taylor told Loudwire that the album is "98 percent done."
"I'm in the process of heading to the studio to give a listen, see if there's anything we need to touch up," Taylor said. "But yeah, it is very close. The next step is the mix, and we're going to try to get it out very soon. There will be big announcements soon. Big things to hear, soon. That's really all I can say about it. I know we're anything, if not diligent to our plan. The plan is to just slowly but surely get people to lose their minds for the next couple of months with just little stuff here and there leaked."
For now, the public has just one track, which doubles as a runaway train to hell. But supporters won't mind -- it's a ride that they have been waiting to take for six years.
