Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Following the release of the “Arsenal” single in September, Slipknot drummer Eloy Casagrande stated that the band is working on a full-length album in a recent interview with The Downbeat Podcast, which was hosted by drummer Craig Reynolds of Stray From The Path.
Yeah, actually, I just finished recording the drums, so all the drums, they are recorded. They are done. I finished, like, 10 days ago or a week ago.
When asked about the songwriting process for his debut album with Slipknot, Eloy responded as follows.
It’s been crazy. No, actually, we started the process since last year, at the end of ’25. Me and Jim Root, we started exchanging some riffs, some drum beats, so we started the process back there. And I think for the first time, it was February or March, we played together. We stayed in the studio together. So the process started with me and Jim and Clown in the studio just jamming. So we would jam all day long, at least for three or four hours a day, and record everything that we could and then listen to what we played together and try to find those special moments that we felt connected.
So the process started like that… I would throw some drum beats, try different things, and Jim would react to what I was playing, and the other way around as well. He started playing something, and I would jump in and start following him. So that was it. For two months, I think — I stayed here the first time for two weeks, and then we came after that, and we stayed again for two or three weeks. And then we had a jam with the whole band, like the core band. So the third time that we jammed, it was me, Mick, Jim, VMan and Clown. Pfaff as well. So we had the whole band jamming. Just jamming. So we were able to get some cells from the instruments, some stuff that we felt connected, and we were able to chop that, to choose that, to cut that, and then start something from that thing, from that little bit.
Eloy continued by saying that “Arsenal” producer Matt Wallace “was participating in the jams” that produced the tracks for the forthcoming Slipknot album.
He was just, like, watching, actually, what we were doing. He was trying to understand the Slipknot universe. He was there to help us and to support what we were trying to do. And Clown, I think he has a very good mind regarding what he wants, what he’s looking for, what’s good for the band. So he was there all the time with us and making sure that we were getting the best moments, that we were choosing the best bits to possibly become new songs in the future.
Eloy explained how “Arsenal” came to be.
Oh, that’s a Corey Taylor song. Yeah, that’s a song that he sent me at the beginning of the year. And then Jim wrote the riffs to the song. So that song didn’t come out from a jam. That’s a Corey Taylor song.
Eloy responded as follows when asked if the last drums in “Arsenal” sounded anything like they did in Corey’s first demo version of the song.
No. I changed it, everything pretty much. Yes, I had to change [it] because I think when Corey sent the song, he had an idea about what he wanted for the song, or he had just the idea for the melody, for the lyrics. But the drums, they were quite basic. At the beginning I was trying to respect the song, because he gave me a song. And I was, like, ‘Okay, I’m not gonna change that,’ because it’s ready to go. We can call it a song. So I don’t wanna make crazy things, and Corey Taylor’s gonna be, like, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ So I tried to respect what he gave at us at first.
And then we were working in the studio with Clown and Matt Wallace. So during one of those jams that we were playing every day, that song showed up, and Clown was, like, ‘Let’s work on ‘Arsenal’. Let’s change the drums. Let’s make it more interesting.’ So me and Clown, we started thinking what I could do regarding drums. And those type of bits, the first thing that came to my mind, to make it sound more aggressive, more hypnotic, to bring the crazy shit about Slipknot, the craziness about Slipknot. So then I started playing that, trying different things, and until the day that we recorded the single, I didn’t know exactly what I was gonna play. So we started jamming, the whole band again.
We had the idea, the demo of the song. And we started jamming again. We played it for the whole afternoon. And then at the beginning of the evening, I recorded the song. It’s only one take. It’s a full take. That’s what we are trying to do right now. Most of the songs that I did, they’re just one take. It’s just like playing a show — just like playing a song in a show. And we want to keep that real. We don’t wanna do overdubs. I didn’t wanna do overdubs. I don’t wanna do push-ins, punch-ins. I don’t wanna do that. I wanna just play straight.
Eloy continued by saying that accepting the beauty of imperfection during the recording process was crucial to him and the other members of Slipknot.
On the future album that’s gonna come out, on the new songs, people are gonna listen to them, they are 100% real. Nowadays it’s very easy to listen to perfect music, perfection, but that’s not what we are trying to achieve here. We are trying to achieve reality, to be honest, to be real for the fans, for the people who are gonna listen to our music. So that was my mentality since day one when I was recording the album. I wanna make it sound real, like it’s a human being playing the drums.
I’m not a machine, I’m not perfect, and I wanna keep that reality in the album because nowadays you see the kids that, the teenagers that start playing the drums… A few years ago I used to give classes in São Paulo. I used to have many students, and they think that what they listen in a record, especially from the new metal bands, they think that’s the reality. And it’s not. It never is. So I was trying to keep it real — to be honest, to be like in a real-life situation, that sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re bad, and you gotta deal with that.
So, when I was recording the songs, I was playing them many, many times — like five, six, seven times each one of the songs — and the best take was, like, ‘Okay, I think I like the last one. That’s my favorite one. Let’s use it.’ Sometimes I was putting some songs together — choosing half of one take, half of the other take, but never punch-ins. Never like that.
