Nu-Metal beasts Slipknot have resurfaced once again in air of their 'Here Comes the Pain' world tour. Crossing across North America, Europe, and culminating at two dates at the O2 Arena, the tour has just kicked off at both Sick New World in LA and an intimate show in California, with tickets only costing $9 a head. Obviously, with all this, there's new masks, new looks, and even more brain ticklingly, new members to talk about, so let's get into it.
(Corey Taylor - Courtesy of Kerrang//Ellie Mitchel)
Let's talk new members first, because this is hot off the press. After the pretty unceremonious ousting of well known member Jay Weinburg after the 'The End So Far' era, it's been consistently theorised who would be taking his place. People guessed wildly, with some claiming it would be Lars Ulrich (not really, that was a meme), and others drawing other well known drummers into the mix. X was aflame with speculation, and as they went to perform the intimate show in California, it was made pretty obvious who had taken Weinburg's place, even without official confirmation. Eloy Casagrande, known as the drummer for Brazilian band Sepultra is now behind the kit for Slipknot. Although not a lot is known about Casagrande, videos from the show prove how good a drummer the man is. He is a machine, and keeps perfect time in the backline of the band - with many joking that the musician needs no metronome, as he is the damn metronome. In the pictures and videos taken at the gig, Casagrande is clearly giving it 110%, he's slamming the kit like it owes him money, nailing every groove and fill in the pretty impressive setlist that held some absolute classics from Slipknot's repertoire. He even had the balls to add some new fills to tracks, most notably an insane breakdown at the end of 'Wait and Bleed' that was a real crowd pleaser.
Now, off the back of basically everyone knowing that Casagrande is behind the mask (I assume...) Slipknot took to their social medias to announce officially that Eloy was being bought into the fold. Comments were, on the whole, pretty positive, with people hyping up this new addition to the bands roster, excited to see where his involvement goes. It also calls into question however the identity of Slipknot's new sampler, who has seemingly been with the band since Craig Jones parted ways with the band in June of last year. This sudden announcement came out of left field for the band, as usually new members are not revealed, or even talked about, until they were deemed to have earnt their bones. Jay Weinburg and V-man were added to the band during '.5 The Grey Chapter' and were kept under wraps by the Knot, even during touring and colossal speculation online. So, with Eloy being announced after two live performances, who the fuck is the new sampler? If you want my opinion, I reckon whoever it's been under the mask is just a touring musician for hire amongst Slipknot's ranks. By the looks of his mask (more about Slipknot's new appearances later) and it's similarity to Casagrande's at the most recent shows, something tells me he is by no means a permanent member of the group. Most likely a friend of Clown, he'll moonlight until he becomes a permanent member, or someone else takes his place on a more full-time schedule.
(Slipknot's new looks - Courtesy of Pitchfork//Jonathan Weiner)
Here is a picture of the current Slipknot line-up in their brand new getups for 2024. For the entire group, they've gone back to the classic red jumpsuits. All marked with '25' on on the sleeve and adorned on the leg with the 'Iowa' goat logo, the suits proudly proclaim '6(SIC)6' down the other sleeve, referencing the song of the same name from their 1999 record. Sporting the classic barcode on the chest, it's a really cool return to form for the nine piece, that really adds some aesthetic coherence between the members after the sometimes completely different looks of the past few years.
Masks wise, let's go from left to right. Jim Root has gone with a OG Jester inspired mask, with the red eye diamonds calling back to his original Forum Novelties Jester conversion from the early days, but in his signature 'beard cut-out' style that's become commonplace for him. Made by Tim Ojala at OjalaFX, this is a sick mask with one foot in the door of the old, and another firmly in the doorway of Jim's legacy with the band.
(Slipknot Live at Sick New World - Screen Grab from Craig Gass on Youtube)
Clown is sporting a half mask, with a design extremely reminiscent of his classic West German Clown he popularised in 1999. With the added zipper hardware, this is a creepy piece, and has a couple of variants that were rocked throughout their latest shows - especially a red and white variant made from the same sculpt that you can see in the shot above. Not sure who made these ones I'm afraid, but it's a sick new addition to be sure, that's a refreshing new take on an old classic.
(Clown and Eloy Casagrande performing Live - Courtesy of Alt Press//Jonathan Weiner)
As far as the newbies go - both Casagrande and the unknown sampler, they're both wearing similarly designed gloss white masks. There are notable differences, with footage from gigs showing that the sampler's mask is a full mask, whereas Eloy's is only a half mask, sporting what looks to be a gunshot to the forehead. The sampler's mask is covered in what look to be veins, and both sport the signature Slipknot mask hardware in the form of a silver zipper. They're cool masks to be sure, and will probably chop and change as they either stick around and design their own, or someone else ends up replacing them and having something new. Both also made by OjalaFX, these are some nice new looks for the newest members of the group.
Extra-terrestrial DJ Sid Wilson is sporting a chromed out gold version of his legendary BCD gasmask that looks super insane. Glinting in the light, along with his own personalised version of the signature red jumpsuit, embellished with some insane golden paisley details, and some pretty sweet looking draped sleeve additions. He's doing his own thing, but he always has, and looks pretty sweet doing it. Plus, this mask has been a fan favourite for a very long time, and instantly makes you think of the old Slipknot, but keeps it real in a very Sid way. Masterfully made by mask making veteran Joshua Everetts, you can tell a lot of thought and care went into making this one just right.
(Sid Wilson - Screen Grab from The House of Masks on Youtube)
If you have a look at the top image on this post, you can see the new look being sported by frontman Corey Taylor. It's clearly an ode to his early dreadlocked masks, both the PMG Ghost Glow conversion and the custom made Iowa masks after. It's an evil looking mask, that seems to reference the burlap look sported by initiate members Weinburg and V-Man during the '.5' cycle. Made by a new maker on the Knot's scene MM Fabrications, in an Instagram post talking about their inspiration for the mask, they said ''I crafted this piece to look like he had been wearing it for so long it rotted into him and the monster inside was coming through'. It works, you can really see how gnarly this mask is up close, with a twist of teeth and texture that's all in all pretty damn terrifying. On top of that, Taylor has taken to wearing milky white contacts while rocking this new piece, which creates a truly staggering new look, and one of my favourites so far.
(Corey Taylor performing Live - Courtesy of Alt Press)
No changes for Mick Thompson, but if it aint broke, no need to go and fix it. He's sporting his usual Leather Devil inspired mask that he's been rocking since forever. A classic to be sure, and nice to see something staying 110% true to the original looks - if it was going to be anyone to stick with what they had, let's be real, it was going to be Mick.
For Tortilla Man himself Michael Pfaff, we see two new mask added to his repertoire. Not only the new one in the image above, with some awesome zipper eyes and added Taylor-Esque dreadlocks, this is a mean looking mask that updates his usual look with some great tribute head ware in honour of the 25th anniversary. However, by far my favourite from him is his new eyeless devil variant that was debuted recently. As masks go, its so different from his usual look with the large cut-out eyes and usually bald head, this is a really cool left turn. Maybe even a reference to the classic song 'Eyeless' this new mask rips, and look insanely formidable. Probably my favourite Tortilla mask to date, and when it was made by the legendary OjalaFX, you know this thing is serious.
(Michael Pfaff's New Masks - Left from The House of Masks Insta - Right from AltPress)
And finally, a new V-Man mask from OjalaFX. During the 'The End so Far' era, the Brit introduced a new mask that was seemingly cracking away from his previous interwoven design onto something new, and almost tiled looking. As time has gone on, more and more variants have come along, loosing more and yet more of the classic gold look and seemingly devolving into some sort of blank slate. The newest mask debuted is no exception, with the entire left hand side being this new marbled finish, and the other missing it's bottom third. It's really cool to see this idea continue on through the eras, and it makes me pretty excited to see what comes next - with my only thought being that a full marble finish may look a little plain when held up against his counterparts in the band. Nonetheless, something we've never seen before from the Knot, so I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.
(V-Man's brand new mask - Image courtesy of Alt Press//Jonathan Weiner)
There you go, now you're up to date with Slipknot and the news that's been going around over the last few months. It's been nice seeing a little more form these guys as time has gone on, because a lot has been going on behind the scenes since Jay Weinburg's ejection. It did leave a sour taste in my mouth, for more reasons that I care to explain, but this new tour and new looks are slowly drawing me back into being interested in this band as they trawl across the world, and as December looms closer, and my ticket to see them sits burning a proverbial hole in my pocket, I'm quietly looking forward to seeing where all of this goes. It's also cool to be diving deeper into the stories behind the masks and the places they come from, and I really enjoyed trawling the internet to see who's been working behind the scenes on the bands new looks. And safe to say, if anything else goes on in the Slipknot camp, you'll know about it.
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