We Are Not Your Kind
We Are Not Your Kind is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot. Recorded at EastWest Studios in Hollywood, California with co-producer Greg Fidelman (who previously produced the band's 2014 album .5: The Gray Chapter), it was released on August 9, 2019, by Roadrunner Records. The title is taken from a lyric in the song "All Out Life", which was released as a standalone single in 2018 and features as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album. We Are Not Your Kind is the only Slipknot album to be recorded as an eight-member band, as their former percussionist Chris Fehn was fired from the band in March 2019 after suing the group for alleged unpaid royalties.
We Are Not Your Kind
August 9, 2019
November 2018 – April 2019
EastWest, Hollywood, California
63:29
- Greg Fidelman
- Slipknot
After the conclusion of the touring cycle for .5: The Gray Chapter, Slipknot guitarist Jim Root and percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan began writing and demoing material for the band's follow-up album in early 2017. According to Crahan, the group wrote and recorded a total of 22 songs and 26 interludes, with the plan initially being to produce the band's first double album. Recording began in November 2018, shortly after the release of the standalone single "All Out Life". The album was completed by April 2019 and "Unsainted" was released as the lead single the next month. This was followed by "Solway Firth" in July, "Birth of the Cruel" in August and "Nero Forte" in December.
We Are Not Your Kind received critical acclaim; numerous commentators hailed the album as one of the best releases of Slipknot's career, praising the level of experimentation displayed on several key songs. Others highlighted it as a modern landmark release in the heavy metal genre. "Unsainted" reached number 10 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, while "Solway Firth" also reached the UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart top ten. We Are Not Your Kind debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard 200, becoming the band's third consecutive album to do so on both charts, as well as several other charts around the world.
Background and writing[edit]
Work on Slipknot's sixth studio album began in February 2017, when the band's guitarist Jim Root and percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan started writing new material together. Speaking to Rolling Stone in November 2016, Crahan simply stated that "we want to write", but that a recording timeline would remain unconfirmed for the time being.[1] He later elaborated on this plan by claiming that the group's members wanted to take their time working on new songs, rather than producing it within a set timeframe as they had done before.[2] Plans for the direction of the album had been touted by the percussionist as early as the summer of 2015, when he claimed that he wanted to write an "art record" in the vein of The Wall by Pink Floyd or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, likely in the form of a double album with an overall concept and numerous interludes.[3] Several song ideas also came from rough demos tracked during the previous tour, with Crahan estimating that the band had "hundreds of ideas".[4]
By August 2017, Crahan estimated that the writing process had spawned "about 27 pieces of work" so far. In an interview with the NME, he added that "A lot of us are meeting up in September to start working on those 27 pieces of music and we're going to add to that," reasserting his desire to make a double album.[5] Following up with Metal Hammer in October, Crahan revealed that he had been working with Root and drummer Jay Weinberg on organizing the material written during the previous touring cycle, which combined with new material resulted in "seven or eight" full song ideas.[6] Much of the initial writing process took place without the band's frontman Corey Taylor, who spent 2017 recording and touring in promotion of Hydrograd, the sixth album by his other band Stone Sour.[7] The vocalist began writing lyrics for three new songs in early 2018, which he claimed would be based on events in his life over the last few years.[8] By April, Taylor claimed that he had completed lyrics for "almost all" of the band's new music.[9]
Composition and lyrics[edit]
Musically, We Are Not Your Kind has been described as nu metal,[21][22][23] alternative metal,[24] groove metal,[22] extreme metal[25] and hard rock.[26] It has been recognized by commentators and band members as one of the most experimental albums of Slipknot's career. The album features moody instrumentals and has elements of electronic, progressive rock, electronic rock, rap metal, and electro-industrial.[21][23][27] During a pre-release interview with Daniel P. Carter on the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show, Corey Taylor claimed that "it is probably the furthest we've pushed the boundaries of creativity and experimentation," adding that "We not only went places that we've hinted at musically over the years, but never really went full-board, but we're also doing heavier things than we've ever done."[28] Emily Carter of Kerrang! described it as "the 'Knot's most experimental album to date,"[29] NME writer Jordan Bassett called it "Slipknot at their artiest",[25] and Roisin O'Connor of The Independent claimed that "The sheer ambition of We Are Not Your Kind is just as staggering as their seminal record Iowa".[30] Several critics highlighted "Spiders" as one of the most avant-garde songs on the album, on which "creepy piano tinklings" and "scattershot drum beats" are favored over the more commonly used low-end guitar riffs.[31][32][33]
Another quality of We Are Not Your Kind touted in the build-up to its release was the heaviness of the music. As early as June 2018, Taylor claimed that their sixth album would be "Iowa levels of heavy".[34] He later reiterated the suggestion, claiming that the album contains one of the heaviest songs of their career.[35] Sam Taylor of the Financial Times admitted that the band "weren't bluffing" when making such claims, suggesting that the album "often verges on the attritional".[36] Similarly, Gigwise writer Anna Smith suggested that We Are Not Your Kind featured "some of the heaviest material since [the band's] eponymous debut".[37] Reviewing the album for the website Blabbermouth.net, Jay H. Gorania praised the band's attempts at being heavy on We Are Not Your Kind – describing their first two albums, Gorania opined that "Slipknot seemed as though they were trying to be the heaviest band on the market and trying too hard," before concluding that "When they are in overdrive nowadays, however, it feels more authentic and expressive."[38]
According to Taylor, We Are Not Your Kind features some of his most personal lyrics to date. During the writing process, the band's frontman explained that "It's been a heavy couple of years for me personally. [...] I've been able to kind of grab hold of some of the depression that I've been fighting and kind of formulate the way that I want to describe it."[39] Early on in the process, he claimed that "It's probably the most autobiographical I've been in years", describing the lyrical content as "dark ... really dark".[8] One of the main influences on Taylor's lyrics was his separation from then-wife Stephanie Luby in 2016; in an interview with Loudwire, he explained that "The narrative [of the album] really came from me working my way through the repercussions of a really toxic relationship. And the fallout that came with finally extricating myself from that relationship."[40] Another major influence on the album's lyrical content is that of global "divisiveness",[41] which Taylor claims is fueled by US President Donald Trump through "bigotry" and "racism".[42]
Commercial performance[edit]
We Are Not Your Kind opened at the top ten on more than 20 album charts, debuting atop about 10 (including Australian, Belgian, Canadian, Finnish, Irish, Portuguese, Spanish, British and American charts). The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with 118,000 album-equivalent units including 102,000 pure album sales, becoming Slipknot's third consecutive album to reach the country's summit after All Hope Is Gone and .5: The Gray Chapter.[97] Ten previously uncharted album tracks also registered on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart – "Nero Forte" at number 11, "Birth of the Cruel" at number 14, "Critical Darling" at number 19, "Orphan" at number 28, "Red Flag" at number 30, "Spiders" at number 34, "A Liar's Funeral" at number 38, "Insert Coin" at number 39, "Death Because of Death" at number 40 and "Not Long for This World" at number 43.[59] The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, preventing Ed Sheeran's No.6 Collaborations Project from getting a fifth consecutive week at the top spot by selling 31,800 units in its first week, including 25,500 physical copies. This would give the band its first UK number one since 2001's Iowa.[98]