Last Halloween, Slipknot released a new single entitled “All Out Life.” However, when the band announced that they would be releasing a new album in the coming year, the song was not to be found on its official track list. Now, frontman Corey Taylor has explained that decision, as well as gone into more detail about the song and how a line from it became the new album’s title.
In an interview with Kerrang! Magazine, Taylor stated that the song was meant to be a one-off track.
“It was kind of its own thing that really just let people know that we weren’t gone, and that we were still looking forward and working on music. It was just such a catchy song that it made sense to release it. But now, in context with the story that we’re telling [on ‘We Are Not Your Kind’], we weren’t sure if we were going to put it on there.”
The one thing from the song that did make the album cut was the chanted line “we are not your kind,” which became the album’s title. Said Taylor about the phrase,
“I didn’t think it would be anything more than a great chant at a concert. It was one of the things in my head that I could hear 50,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs, pumping fists. It wasn’t so much that I thought it was benign or anything — it was definitely something that I thought, ‘This could be something really cool’ — but it took on a life of its own, and that’s when I really started thinking about the phrase; about how it could be perceived.”
Taylor has previously said that “All Out Life” is about taking a stance and not forgetting the past. In a statement made to the Des Moines Register in February, he said
“… people are way too pissed about the wrong things and not pissed enough about the right things,” Taylor said. “(The song sets) the tone for getting people to stand up and go, ‘We’re not gonna allow this. We’re not gonna allow people to run us down for religious beliefs, for the color we are, for what we stand for. For who we chose to love.’ All of these things. There’s nobody doing it, man. Everybody’s too worried about their pockets. Everybody’s too worried about their paychecks.”
We Are Not Your Kind is set for release August 9. The band’s sixth album, it is the direct follow-up to 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter. The record is said to be one of the band’s darkest, with Taylor telling Beats 1’s Zane Lowe,
“It’s complicated; it’s dark; it’s heavy; it’s melodic; it’s fierce; it’s angry and it’s real; it’s raw as hell and it’s gonna be talking about a lot of things that people are going to need in their life right now.” Earlier this month, the band released the first official single from the album, “Unsainted.”
Slipknot will be touring Europe throughout the month of June, followed by a North American tour from late July through September. The band will also be heading “down under” for some shows in Australia and New Zealand the latter half of October supporting Metallica.
