📅 Release Date: 9 September 2026
💿 Record Company: Warner Music Group
🏷️ Record Label: (sic)est Records
🎵 Single: “Arsenal”
Well, bugger us sideways — Slipknot have just kicked the doors back open.
The Iowa metal giants have surprise-released their brand-new single “Arsenal”, accompanied by an official music video, marking the beginning of yet another fascinating chapter in one of heavy music’s most unpredictable careers.
And there’s quite a lot happening here.
“Arsenal” is Slipknot’s first completely new music in more than three years, their first release featuring former Sepultura powerhouse Eloy Casagrande behind the kit, and the first arrival through the band’s own new label venture, (sic)est Records.
Meanwhile, work continues on Slipknot’s eighth studio album.
New drummer.
New label.
New music.
Same bunch of masked lunatics determined to make an almighty racket.
Welcome back, lads. 🤘🔥
💀 Slipknot Enter Another New Era
Trying to keep track of Slipknot’s various eras, line-up changes and mutations over nearly three decades sometimes requires a whiteboard, several marker pens and possibly a strong pint.
But “Arsenal” unquestionably represents another significant turning point.
Slipknot’s previous studio album, The End, So Far, arrived in September 2022 and completed the band’s longstanding recording commitments to Roadrunner Records, the label that had been synonymous with their career since the late 1990s.
Since then, plenty has changed.
Longtime keyboardist and sampler Craig Jones departed in 2023.
Drummer Jay Weinberg followed later that year.
Former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande subsequently joined the madness, while longtime turntablist Sid Wilson departed the band in August 2026.
Which brings us to September 2026.
Slipknot have reloaded.
And “Arsenal” is the first shot.
🔥 “Arsenal”
If Slipknot were going to introduce this latest incarnation of the band, calling the track “Arsenal” feels rather appropriate.
Subtlety has never exactly been their speciality.
The song deploys many of the ingredients that have made Slipknot one of modern metal’s most distinctive forces — enormous riffs, frantic rhythmic movement, abrasive electronic textures, aggressive vocals and the sort of percussion that sounds like somebody has thrown a drum kit down a particularly angry staircase.
But there are twists.
Corey Taylor moves between rhythmic, almost hip-hop-influenced vocal passages and the throat-shredding aggression Slipknot fans know very well, while the song shifts between bursts of frantic activity and heavier, more deliberate sections.
Taylor himself has described “Arsenal” as a “pummelling experience”, pointing towards its hyperactive moments and a dramatic drop towards the end as elements that encapsulate what Slipknot do.
And perhaps that’s the most interesting thing about this single.
It doesn’t feel like Slipknot attempting to rewrite “Wait And Bleed”, “Duality” or “Psychosocial”.
They’re still messing around with the machinery.
Still seeing which buttons they’re not supposed to press.
And then pressing the bloody things anyway.
🥁 Eloy Casagrande Makes His Studio Arrival
One of the biggest reasons “Arsenal” will immediately attract attention is sitting behind the drum kit.
Eloy Casagrande officially joined Slipknot in 2024 following his departure from Sepultura, stepping into a position previously occupied by Jay Weinberg and, before him, the late, legendary Joey Jordison.
Not exactly the least intimidating drumming job application in metal, is it?
Casagrande quickly demonstrated onstage why he had been recruited, bringing an absolutely ferocious combination of power, precision and speed into Slipknot’s live machine.
“Arsenal” now gives fans their first opportunity to hear him properly unleashed on brand-new Slipknot material.
And he doesn’t exactly arrive quietly.
His relentless drumming helps drive the track from the opening moments, immediately giving this latest version of Slipknot another serious weapon in its already ridiculous armoury.
Hence “Arsenal”, presumably.
See what they did there?
🎬 Clown Directs The Official Video
Naturally, a new Slipknot song couldn’t simply arrive with a nice video of everyone standing around playing their instruments in a warehouse.
That would be far too normal.
The official “Arsenal” music video was directed by Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan and stars actor Jackson White.
Crahan has long played an enormous role in shaping Slipknot’s visual identity, and “Arsenal” continues that relationship between the band’s music and its increasingly cinematic imagery.
Slipknot have always understood that the band is more than the songs alone.
Masks.
Artwork.
Videos.
Stage production.
Symbols.
Mystery.
Controlled chaos.
It has all helped create the strange universe surrounding those nine-pointed stars and boiler suits, and this latest era appears determined to continue expanding it.
🏷️ Introducing (sic)est Records
“Arsenal” also represents a major business change for Slipknot.
The single arrives through (sic)est Records, the band’s newly launched label venture, in partnership with Roadrunner and Atlantic.
It’s another intriguing development following the conclusion of Slipknot’s previous long-term Roadrunner deal with The End, So Far.
For a band that has spent decades talking about control, identity, independence and doing things on its own terms, establishing its own label operation feels like a pretty logical next step.
And “Arsenal” now becomes the first musical statement carrying that new banner.
🤘 Three Years Without New Slipknot
“Arsenal” has also been described as Slipknot’s first new song in more than three years.
That’s an important distinction.
The band have hardly disappeared during that period.
Slipknot spent a considerable chunk of their recent activity celebrating the 25th anniversary of their landmark 1999 self-titled debut album, revisiting the record that transformed nine masked maniacs from Iowa into one of the most important metal bands of their generation.
But anniversary celebrations can only last so long.
Eventually you’ve got to stop looking backwards.
“Arsenal” feels like that moment.
The nostalgia cycle is over.
Slipknot are facing forward again.
🎸 Album Number Eight Is Taking Shape
And things could get considerably more interesting from here.
Slipknot are currently working on their eighth studio album, with guitarist Jim Root recently indicating that recording remains underway.
Producer Matt Wallace, whose extensive credits include Faith No More, has reportedly been involved with the sessions.
What we don’t currently know is whether “Arsenal” will actually appear on that record.
Slipknot haven’t officially revealed the album title, tracklist or release date, and the single could potentially stand on its own.
Either way, this is our first substantial indication of where the band’s next creative chapter might be heading.
And after everything that’s changed within Slipknot over the last few years, album number eight suddenly becomes a very interesting prospect indeed.
⚡ Nearly Three Decades Of Slipknot
It’s easy to forget just how unlikely Slipknot’s journey has been.
When a collection of musicians from Des Moines, Iowa started appearing in masks and matching boiler suits during the 1990s, very few people could have predicted they’d eventually become one of the biggest metal bands on the planet.
Their 1999 self-titled album detonated across heavy music.
Iowa made everything nastier.
Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) expanded the formula.
All Hope Is Gone sent them to the top of charts around the world.
And through tragedy, internal conflict, departures, reinvention and enormous commercial success, Slipknot have somehow kept the machine moving.
“Arsenal” arrives almost three decades into that journey.
Yet rather than settling into comfortable legacy-band territory, they’re once again changing personnel, launching their own label and recording another album.
Whatever your opinion of Slipknot, comfortable has never really suited them.
🎸 The Riff Report Says…
There’s something rather fitting about Slipknot returning with a song called “Arsenal.”
Because this feels like a band taking inventory.
Eloy Casagrande behind the drums?
Check.
Corey Taylor barking like somebody has just stolen his last can of Monster?
Check.
Clown directing another wonderfully unsettling video?
Of course.
Massive riffs, strange noises and enough rhythmic violence to make your speakers consider filing a workplace grievance?
Absolutely.
More importantly, “Arsenal” marks the point where Slipknot finally stop staring into the rear-view mirror.
The anniversary celebrations were brilliant, and their self-titled debut absolutely deserves its legendary status.
But Slipknot have never survived by becoming a museum exhibit.
They’re at their most interesting when nobody is entirely sure what they’re going to do next.
With a new label, a substantially reshaped line-up, Eloy Casagrande finally appearing on new material and album number eight currently being assembled, the next chapter has officially begun.
Will “Arsenal” end up representing the sound of the next Slipknot album?
We don’t know yet.
But one thing is certain.
The masks are back.
The weapons have been loaded.
And Slipknot have just opened the bloody arsenal. 🤘🔥
🎵 Single Details
Artist: Slipknot
Single: “Arsenal”
Release Date: 9 September 2026
Record Company: Warner Music Group
Record Label: (sic)est Records
Genre: Alternative Metal / Nu Metal / Heavy Metal
Music Video Director: M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan
Video Starring: Jackson White
Taken From: TBC / Eighth Studio Album Currently In Production
🎸 The Riff Report – Supporting rock, metal and the glorious racket in between.
