Iowa’s Slipknot released their newest video today entitled, “Unsainted,” which comes off their newly announced record We Are Not Your Kind. We thought we’d get everyone’s thoughts on the latest masks revealed in the video and on Corey Taylor’s Instagram.
Jeff Podoshen: I’m digging the new masks. Corey Taylor’s seems to have gotten some flack on social media, but then again, everyone gets flack for everything on social media these days. I’m also seeing some Hellraiser influence on some of these masks. Now, if I can only actually figure out what half of these band members actually do….
Zenae Zukowski: I stayed home sick today. I put my alarm clock on to sleep a little longer and as soon as I placed my phone down, a Slipknot notification popped up. And you know what that means, no rest for the wicked. First of all, I am digging “Clown’s” direction. I love the style and pacing in the video as well as the mask reveal. For some reason, perhaps it has to do with a recent lawsuit,, I expected to see eight members. I went directly to the promo photo and had to count each member a few times and, now I want to know, who is the percussionist?
I thought Sid Wilson, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, and Jay Weinberg have the best masks out of the bunch. As far as Corey Taylor’s mask is concerned, sadly, not too thrilled about it (I still love you Tom Savini). It’s creepy, weird and maybe my eyes have been drawn to the prior one so much that I am not too phased by it.
Bram Teitelman: Y’know, I guess I haven’t had the opportunity to really delve into Slipknot’s masks, because I honestly find it hard to tell the difference. Like Zenae, the thing I was most drawn to in the press photo was that there’s a new ninth member. Corey’s mask looks like if Jason’s hockey mask got water damage, and I guess Clown’s looks suitably creepy, but if no one told me they were new masks, I don’t even know that I’d notice. At this point in time, Slipknot have worn masks longer than KISS has worn makeup, and they’re talented and enduring enough that they don’t really even need the gimmick, even though their fans might rebel, and we’d have our own generation’s version of ‘Lick it Up’ if they did retire the masks.
Matthew Brown: I’m not a big Slipknot fan. I don’t dislike them, I just missed the boat on them and haven’t felt the need to try and board it, so my opinion isn’t going to count for much here. When I started the video at first, I thought their new masks were going to just be the plain black hoods coupled with the black robes and the red slipknot “S”, to which I said, “Oh, so we’re the Nameless Ghouls now.” Of course, I was wrong.
Corey Taylor’s mask looks like if the Phantom of the Opera covered up his entire face instead of just half. The coolest one is Alessandro Venutrella’s (at least I think it’s his). The patterns and carvings remind me a bit of samurai masks. Of course, I don’t know what their old masks were like so I can’t say which ones I like better. Anywho, more power to the fans excited about finally seeing the new masks and getting a new song.
Chris Annunziata: Slipknot is finally back! I’m not sure I’m digging the new masks though. However, I wasn’t originally into the previous masks either but grew to love them. Corey’s mask isn’t that bad but I’m not digging the scarf part. I’m pretty sure he’ll get rid of that once they tour for a while. Sid’s mask and whole getup is strange. He looks more like Palpatine then a member of Slipknot. I like how Alessandro and Jay were able to pick and design their own masks this time around. Both did a fine job, especially Alessandro. Mick’s mask has always been my favorite and I’m glad he stayed the same.
Max Feldman: I don’t think Mick likes change
Elise Yablon: I don’t usually pay attention to what Slipknot is doing (aside from the lawsuit that’s been going on), but in the interest of participating I did a quick search while eating lunch to see what their masks looked like side by side with the new ones. Some of them don’t look that different, just small changes to keep them fresh. “Clown’s” mask looks much more clown-like. Corey Taylor’s is so different that I couldn’t tell which one was him until I watched the video and saw who was singing. His mask reminds me a little of Heath Ledger’s Joker, but with less color (though that could also be his hair). The one thing I will say is that looking at the new band photo verses the old one, the new masks look more individualized than the last set (they’re not all the color of rotting flesh).
