If your familiar with my blog, first off top job - i appreciate you sticking around and reading whatever nonsensical bullshit I decide to post on here, but second of you'll know a little while ago during the WANYK era I posted some potential Slipknot leaks from Reddit, and I thought I'd go through and give them a review now we know the answers to a lot of the questions raised, and at the same time we can talk about the new stuff on the horizon, safe to say its exciting as fuck!
(Image from u/Queasy_Dragonfruit63 on Reddit)
Let's start with this wonderful image shall we? A page from the notes of legendary drummer Jay Weinburg. Originally we all looked at the text to the right of the papers title, discerning the word 'Crazy'. But, after its now release into the world we know this page, marked D.S is actually Jay's notes for The Dying Song (Time to Sing) that was released as the nine's lead single from the new album The End, So Far. The fact that yeah, we got it wrong in the moment but now the piece fit together is HUGE, and i know what your thinking 'actually this credits a lot of what this reddit user potentially has to say later on as true right?' with the other image, labelled below reading Heirloom which has since been revealed as another song off their new album. Although it could be argued so, we have their other post to come to first, which kinda disproves, or could prove that, but remember these images were posted to Outside The Nine, so take it all with a pinch of salt. These images were the band teasing new work, not just this randomer.
(See above crediting)
With that, lets also discuss the post that accompanied these images that claimed to leak the apparent appearance changes of the band, along with some other surprises that have since been debunked. Here's the original post:
(See above crediting)
So, let's talk about it. Both Jim and Craig have had minor cosmetic changes. Craig has a potentially retooled version of his classic hood, nails and all, and Jim is still sporting his half jester introduced originally in .5 The Grey Chapter. Spot on from the original poster here, with some small changes to Jim's previous WANYK mask to create the same strong silhouette to support his impressive beard.
Carrying on with what the OP got right, Corey, Michael Pfaff, Sid and Jay have all premiered new masks since this post was first released. Corey with his new mask introduced during the WANYK cycle and Jay's premiered at Knotfest LA, which I was lucky enough to catch the live stream of. Their new masks are fucking spooky, and I do agree that this is one of the best Corey looks we've seen in a while, its a definite upgrade from the infamous WANYK mask, that split fans straight down the middle with their opinions. The now well known 'Tortilla Man' Michael Pfaff has also completely rehauled his original mask, which has since been revealed to be a life cast of his face turned precariously inside out, and made it menacing as fuck. Sure, its the same thing, but with the added smiley zipper and large slit eyes with the added stitching makes for a formidable piece that makes my skin crawl, so good all round! Sid Wilson has also ditched his old face cast, to only replace it with three masks stacked on top of each other! I knew that he would pull something out the bag with this one, and the layered Bob Basset pieces really work in creating a bizarre look synonymous with the DJ. Hve a peek at the images below, and tell me these new masks don't look dope as fuck:
(Image courtesy of Spotify 2022)
Now there are a couple of shortcomings on the post, that could be deemed as accurate, but in my head I'm not too sure. First off, Vman. Yes that's technically a new mask, and the mouth has been retooled to look way more badass than his original debut mask when he joined during .5, but to me this doesn't constitute as a mask change. Its an update to be sure, but the tribal patterns repeated across the entire mask are almost identical to his WANYK mask, but maybe I'm just being nit-picky. Furthermore, no new masks from Clown, he's still firmly using his same old variants of the WANYK mask. New variants sure, with some all black, all white, and a disco ball-esque design, but all of these are based off of the original WANYK sculpt, and for all we know Crahan could have simply held these masks back after getting them made in during WANYK and only got around to wearing them now. Who knows, but i think calling any of them new is a potential stretch.
And some things this post got flat out wrong. I'll go with the blatantly obvious one here, Mick's mask remains, as always, unchanged, and yknow what I'm not mad. I was nervous the court of public opinion would deem a change at this point, when his mask is so iconic, unnecessary. I'm glad to see his usual leather devil inspired look continue on, but again raises the credibility of the OP here. Moreover, why the inclusion of the late Joey Jordison in all this? From what we know, there are no credits for Joey on this coming record, so either it was misinformation, or something planned before he passed, either way a missed opportunity, and a sour taste in my mouth re-reading this post. Sure at the time it was exciting to hear he may be getting involved, but its sickening to think he may have been used by this person simply to gain traction.
However, to end on a lighter note, i was right with the estimate for a release date, with the pencilled time being September 30th 2022. In June 2021 i said 'mid to late next year' so i'm happy to be able to boast a little that i got that practically on the nose. Untuil then, expect a review of Yen, the new track off their latest record, and more from me in general, i'm ready to keep posting little and often on here, and can't wait to let you know how i feel about this album once it goes live. Thanks all for reading, stay safe, see you all soon.
'The End, So Far is penned to release September 30th 2022 from Roadrunner Records'
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