Slipknot fire back with Arsenal, their first new track in more than three years
Slipknot have released Arsenal, their first new song in over three years, accompanied by an official video directed by percussionist and visual architect M Shawn Crahan, also known as Clown.
The clip stars actor Jackson White and arrives alongside a tightly wound new track that channels the band’s familiar collision of punishing riffs, electronic abrasion, rapid-fire vocals and sudden shifts in pace. Rather than stretching out, Arsenal keeps its force compressed, with Corey Taylor moving between a serrated spoken delivery and a full-throated roar.
At the centre of the song is one of its most confrontational lines: “I fought a f*cking god and the god lost.” Taylor also takes aim at the idea of chasing relevance, delivering the self-lacerating but defiant lyric: “I know I’m a hack and a has-been, but motherf*cker I’m a .45 and not a Mach 10.”
A new visual from Clown
Crahan directs the accompanying video, continuing Slipknot’s long-running interest in unsettling, performance-led imagery. Jackson White takes the lead role in the film, which accompanies a track built around jagged keyboards, heavyweight guitar work and an intentionally disruptive vocal performance.
