Slipknot - Vol. 5

Possible Release Year: 2012
Label: Roadrunner Records
Possible New Songs: “Dirge“, “Moth“, “Chapter One: The Eleventh March“, “In Reverse“

Before the All Hope Is Gone album title has been revealed, Slipknot‘s fourth album was called “Vol. 4″. The band is currently on tour in support of their fourth release, but the band members are already thinking about recording a next Slipknot album. I decided to call that record “Vol. 5“, because obviously it will be the the fifth release from the 9 masked musicians from Des Moines, Iowa.

With every previous album release there were some rumors that it could be the band’s last record. But with All Hope Is Gone it’s different. After a 2 and a half break the band came back together stronger than ever.

So what can we expect on the upcoming fifth album? It will be definitely different than the previousSlipknot releases. Clown: “We have four distinct canvases that we have painted and they all belong to different realms. None of them are derivative or contrived of each other. That speaks a lot to me… that we just have sincerity in our music. The integrity is something that we hold and the art form. So I think that we are getting better in allowing ourselves to trust ourselves more. Everyone in the band is really pushing themselves to be the best that they can be.”
Even before All Hope Is Gone had its premiere, Corey Taylor mentioned in an interview that “the journey’s not over yet” and that “Slipknot will definitely be making a fifth album.”

All Hope Is Gone has been the most collaborative record Slipknot came up with so far. When asked if All Hope Is Gone was the record that Slipknot was born to make, Clown answered:

“As far as that statement goes, to be brutally honest with you, I feel just the opposite for this one. I feel like this record is a bridge into the future. I believe that the last record was a lot of rehabilitating our friendship and coming together, and some people realizing that there are all kinds of people in this band with something to say and something to do. We did get into a mindset for this record with everyone being allowed to be themselves. We have a saying that, “The pieces are only as good as a whole.” That means that you could be real selfish in this band, but it’s really the band that matters. Know your place, know what matters. Don’t try to set yourself apart and make yourself more important. Realize that Slipknot is an entity. It’s nine guys making up a whole. In this band it’s getting more important to allow everyone their ability to bring something musical to the band, and I believe that that’s getting better.”

“Usually, it’s like with [2001’s] Iowa: ‘OK, 12 songs, we hate each other, we’re done,’” says Jordison of the typical Slipknot recording experience. “With [2004’s] Vol. 3, we didn’t talk to each other for three months; we just sat there wasting money in the fucking Houdini mansion. This one, we got to work right away; we’ve all been on time every day and we’ve written over 30 songs. I have to say that the band is at its peak; everyone—I mean everyone—is now completely involved in the writing process, and it’s a beautiful thing. Everybody’s bringing stuff to the table that hasn’t been there before.”

All Hope Is Gone was a new card in Slipknot‘s history. Some band members were really proud of the final outcome, but some felt a bit like All Hope Is Gone was not as experimental and they were not satisfied about working with Dave Fortman.

Jim: “My Favourite Slipknot record is probably “The Subliminal Veres” still. We came together as a band, as nine people, and we all experimented with music in a way that we haven’t done previously up to, or since. Because of that we were able to create some really cerebral music along with what we would normally create anyway. So to me that album is a lot closer to an experimental record which is what I like to do with music. I’m not trying to take anything away from All Hope Is Gone, but I haven’t had a chance to let it sink in yet. The way we recorded it was very unorthodox from the way we normally record. Maybe I’ll change my mind but for now, “Subliminal Verses” is my favorite one.”

The band members spent a lot of time creating new music during the recordings of All Hope Is Gone.

When asked about the most memorable experience from making All Hope Is Gone Jim said: “Just being able to create and write the music at the house that didn’t make it to the record. Honestly. I spent 3 and a half months every day at the studio, completely immersed in creating and writing, and of course that’s what I’m going to remember because that’s what I did.”

For sure each band member already has some new ideas for songs, new riffs and lyrics.

There were songs recorded during the All Hope Is Gone recording session that didn’t make it to the 2008 album release. Songs, like “Dirge” and the tentatively titled “Moth” are beautifully rendered, deeply disturbing works that fall somewhere in the cosmic canon between Radiohead, early-’70s Pink Floyd, and The Silence of the Lambs; others, like“Chapter One, The Eleventh March,” are more fragmentary but equally creepy—basically, it’s the stuff of cough syrup nightmares”.

Will we hear these songs (and other ones that didn’t make it on All Hope Is Gone) on Vol. 5, or will Slipknot release them earlier? The answer to this question is still unknown.

But maybe we already heard “Chapter Eleven…”, “Dirge” or “Moth” just under different names?

“Some of that stuff, I’m not necessarily sure it’s Slipknot,” says Taylor, “But from my point of view, I hear at least four songs that would definitely fit right in [on All Hope Is Gone].”Jordison, who hasn’t been involved with this side project, seems mildly annoyed when the subject is broached. “It remains to be seen if any of it actually turns up on the record,” he declares. “To say that we’re moving in an artier direction is a definite misconception. There’s always gonna be that arty element in Slipknot, but that’s not the way for our fans to look at [the new album] before it comes out.”

So it looks like there are still songs that some band members would like the Maggots to hear, it just hasn’t been said if these songs will be released on a special edition of All Hope Is Gone, or on a completely new record.

What are Slipknot working on for the future?

Jim: “Were just going to tour our asses off, and then we are going to figure out how to sneak out some of the music that we created, that didn’t make it to the record.”

It looks like most (if not all) of the unreleased songs, that could be included on the next Slipknot release were written by Corey, Jim, Sid (keyboards) and Clown, who played on the full drum kit. These 4 members worked with Matt Sepanic (separately from the rest of the 9), creating more experimental and more different songs.

One sonic experiment even involved sticking Taylor halfway down an old well on the Sound Farm property. (“There was this gnarly fucking natural reverb to it that was just intense,” Taylor enthuses.) “I’ve been in here almost every day,” says Root of Sepanic’s home studio. “I’ve always wanted to make music like this.”

Is there any music Slipknot can save for the next album?

Sid: “Yeah, I’m not sure what’s being done with all of it, all I know is that there’s some other music that was created within the band, members of the band.”

Here’s what Sid said about the future plans of Slipknot: “Yeah, hopefully another album, man. We’ll just tour until we feel we’ve gotten the new stuff out to as many people as we possibly can. Yeah, I mean, there’s stuff on the back burner, so, I mean, we’ve got plenty of material to work with. I guess it just depends… what I always say is, just having so many people in the band, you know, statistically if we’re all still here when there’s time to write another album, then yeah, we’ll have another one. but it’s hard to keep 9 people alvie on this planet, in this world today.”

Clown: “I look towards the future where it’s going to be even more of allowing everyone what they have to get out and that’s the real trick in this band. It’s going to take time. We have been together ten years and we have only put out four records, and take a lot of time in between records. But we look at bands that started at the same time as us, and they’ll have seven records, and over half of them are crap! They just wanted to get off their whole fundamental idea of what they thought they had to get out, put it on their resume and have control. Slipknot has never been that way, we just want to put out art that we believe in, and if takes three years to do it…well, that’s a good problem to have.”

Is this Slipknot‘s last album and last tour?

Corey: “No, no, probably not. I know I’ve been one of the guys that has been more vocal about the bad times and what not, and the band’s descension, but actually we’re in a really good phase right now, man. Look, we’re all getting along, we’re all talking about a lot of good stuff to be honest, I mean me and Clown are specially have been bouncing about some ideas of each other and just trying to come up with something that we can get started now ahead of the game for the next album, and it’s actually fairly exciting, it’s something that will tie a lot of mass media to, it’ll take a wholly different direction, it won’t just be an album and a tour, it’ll be something that is like a moment in time for us, you know. It’ll be a lot of things included, we don’t know that hell it’s gonna be yet, we get a lot of good ideas for it, but right now at least we’re talking about it, it’s always best to talk about something like that like 3-4 years before it actually happens, so..”

Is that ’cause you guys are so busy?

Corey: “Yeah, that and the fact that everything worth doing is worth over doing, you know, and if we’re gonna do something what we’re discussing, it’s gonna kinda tap into every type of media outlet in the world basically, and it’s gonna be a huge event, so we’ll see what happens, I have huge hopes, and I’m very excited about it, so even if it comes out like a tenth of what I think it will, it’ll still be amazing.”

Here’s what Clown said about a song he worked on during the All Hope Is Gone sessions, in which he beat a huge drum.

Clown: “There was a whole second record made. We dug ourselves up in to this little house of the guy who owned the studio for All Hope Is Gone, and we made brilliant music. I can’t remember what song it is… I believe it’s a song called “In Reverse” and hopefully one day the world will get to partake in this music.”

But we all have to remember that with every new recording session the band members enter the studio with a different mindset, with some new ideas, so it’s very possible that none of the unreleased songs off of the All Hope Is Gone recording sessions will be included on the fifth record, and we will get some completely new songs.