Hear Slipknot’s Pummeling ‘The Devil in I’ From ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’
Six years after the release of their last record, All Hope Is Gone, and four after the death of founding bassist Paul Gray, masked metallers Slipknot will put out their fifth record, .5: The Gray Chapter, on October 21st. The release date comes days before the October 24th kickoff of the group’s three-day Knotfest, which will take place in San Bernardino, California this year. Now the band has also announced its Prepare for Hell tour, which will kick off immediately after the fest and take them around North America through early December with support from Korn and King 810.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” frontman Corey Taylor said in a statement. “Not only do we get to tour with friends who we respect, we’ve also chosen a band that represents the fury of the future. Slipknot is coming to your town. And hell’s coming with us.”
Slipknot teased the new record earlier this year with the release of the song “The Negative One,” for which they also made a horrific video. The group is offering that song and another, “The Devil in I,” as “instant gratification” tracks for preorders. That song, a pummeling yet melodic hard rock tune, is also streaming below.
The album title references bassist Paul Gray who died of an overdose of morphine and fentanyl in 2010. The group has yet to announce the bassist on the new record, as well as the name of the person handling drums, since founding member Joey Jordison parted ways with the group last December. In interviews, Taylor has been likening the material on .5: The Gray Chapter to a combination of the sounds on their 2001 LP Iowa and 2004 album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses).
“It was almost like getting to know each other again,” Taylor recently told the Pulse of Radio (via The Guardian), about Gray’s death. “We were all kind of grieving in our own way and dealing with things in our own way. And knowing that we had to be healthy to go in – we had to be creative to go in – and knowing that we were gonna have to fill this huge void, we just kind of took it upon ourselves to make up for that emptiness by being a little bit of Paul. Like we were all a little bit of Paul in our own way.”
As previously announced, Knotfest will feature two sets by Slipknot – each with a unique set list, showcasing songs from .5: The Gray Chapter – as well as performances by Danzig, Anthrax, Carcass, Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat and Black Label Society, among others. The two-day fest will also feature amusement rides, a Slipknot museum, a zip line, drum circles, “pillars of fire,” “freaks,” stilt walkers, fire breathers and other things usually found only in Slipknot videos.
Tickets for the band’s Prepare for Hell tour, which kicks off days after Knotfest, go on sale September 5th.
.5: The Gray Chapter track list:
1. “XIX”
2. “Sarcastrophe”
3. “AOV”
4. “The Devil in I”
5. “Killpop”
6. “Skeptic”
7. “Lech”
8. “Goodbye”
9. “Nomadic”
10. “The One That Kills The Least”
11. “Custer”
12. “Be Prepared For Hell”
13. “The Negative One”
14. “If Rain Is What You Want”
15. “Override” (Bonus Track)
16. “The Burden” (Bonus Track)
Slipknot Tour Dates:
October 25 – San Bernardino, CA @ Knotfest
October 26 – San Bernardino, CA @ Knotfest
October 29 – El Paso, TX @ El Paso County Coliseum
October 31 – Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavilion
November 1 – Corpus Christi, TX @ American Bank Center
November 2 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
November 4 – Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena
November 5 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Chesapeake Energy Arena
November 6 – Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Center
November 8 – Madison, WI @ Alliant Energy Center
November 9 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premiere Center
November 11 – Denver, CO @ Denver Coliseum
November 19 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Arena
November 21 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
November 22 – Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena
November 23 – Ft. Wayne, IN @ Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
November 25 – Moline, IL @ iWireless Center
November 26 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
November 28 – Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
November 29 – Detroit, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
November 30 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
December 2 – Reading, PA @ Santander Arena
December 3 – Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
December 5 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun
December 6 – East Rutherford, NJ @ Izod Center
December 7 – Boston, MA @ Paul E. Tsongas Arena