Slipknot's new album isn't even out yet and it's already causing controversy. The title of the record, The End, So Far, was announced earlier this week, and some are reading between the lines, inferring that it might be insinuating that a breakup of the band is imminent.
Frontman Corey Taylor took a moment during the group's show in Bulgaria on Thursday to address the rumors, telling the crowd, "Some of you might have heard the news that Slipknot has a new album coming out very very soon. The name of that album is called The End, So Far, and for those doomsday motherfuckers who think that Slipknot are gonna break up, that is not the case. ... This simply represents the end of one moment and the beginning of the rest of our fucking lives. Do you understand what I'm fucking saying to you out there?"
Corey Taylor Addresses Slipknot Breakup Rumors at Slipknot Show
The band then ripped into "The Chapletown Rag," one of two new singles released from The End, So Far, which is slated to come out September 30. The other of course being, "The Dying Song (Time to Sing)." Taylor previously described the album as "conceptual" in an interview with KLOS' Matt Pinfield, noting it's a natural progression from 2019 album We Are Not Your Kind.
So what could "the end of one moment" actually mean? It could simply refer to the fact that their upcoming seventh full-length will be Slipknot's final album on Roadrunner Records, as Shawn "clown" Crahan confirmed to Minneapolis radio station 93X. Roadrunner has been the band's home since the very beginning, releasing their 1999 debut and all five albums thereafter, so the departure is a huge turning point.
Perhaps when Taylor talks about "the beginning of the rest of our fucking lives," the band is pursuing new options like breaking away from major labels to start their own. It's something Taylor and Crahan's own sons have been doing in their band Vended, so maybe Slipknot has been inspired to do the same?
Of course this is not the first time Slipknot has been forced to address breakup rumors. In 2013, Taylor eased fans' worries addressing the departure of late drummer Joey Jordison, noting, "great things are coming" for the band. And recently, Slipknot teased The End, So Far details on social media, further noting, "Death isn't gonna stop Slipknot, original members not being around isn't gonna stop Slipknot."
With a brand new album coming, and brand new masks in tow, it's clearly not time to hang them up yet.
Slipknot is currently on the road in Europe the latest leg of their Knotfest Roadshow and they'll embark on another North American leg later this year. See those upcoming dates here and head to this location to get tickets.
