Slipknot clarify ‘Arsenal’ single will not feature on upcoming studio album

The new single “Arsenal” by Slipknot, according to guitarist Jim Root, is “not really representative” of the music he and his colleagues are creating for their next album, as per Blabbermouth. Earlier this week, Slipknot released the band’s first new song in more than three years, coupled with a music video directed by Clown. It’s Slipknot’s first new song since long-time members Craig Jones and Sid Wilson left, drummer Jay Weinberg left, and Eloy Casagrande joined. After the group’s two-and-a-half-decade record agreement with Roadrunner ended, it is also Slipknot’s debut album on their own (sic)est Records label.

Views on “Arsenal” have been divided; some Slipknot fans have criticised the song’s chorus and claimed it deviates from the band’s typical style. In response to the bad reviews “Arsenal” has received thus far, Root stated that the song does not reflect the course of the record he and his Slipknot comrades are currently working on. Root responded to a fan who enquired about his feelings on the song’s criticism in the comment area of a now-deleted Instagram post.

It depends on the commenter, really, I mean, what’s their band doing? ‘Arsenal’ was a tune we could quickly get out there while we work on the rest of the record. It’s not really representative of the other tunes.

Root wrote this in reference to the single’s potential inclusion on the upcoming Slipknot album.

No. This was just one that we could finish ‘sooner’ to get out there.

Percussionist Shawn Crahan, singer Anders Colsefni, and bassist Paul Grey founded the American heavy metal group Slipknot in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1995. From 1999 until Gray’s passing in 2010, the band had nine members—Crahan, Grey, Joey Jordison, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, Corey Taylor, Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn, and Jim Root—after a number of lineup changes in its early years. Slipknot is well-known for their eye-catching appearance, combative musical style, and exuberant, wild live performances. “Mate. Kill. Feed. Repeat.”, the band’s first demo record was a failure, but once their first self-titled studio album, “Slipknot”, was released in 1999, they quickly became well-known worldwide.