CLOWN On SLIPKNOT Return: 'You Can Smell It In The Air'

According to The Pulse Of Radio, SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan told Loudwire in a new interview that 2014 is looking more and more like the year that the band comes back. Crahan said, "SLIPKNOT 2014. You can smell it in the air and people can feel it. The energy is out there and you can feel it. People go places we once were and feel it there, but not in full body, and that's just because we're returning. You can ask anyone around the world what the culture of the 'KNOT is, who truly knows, and they will tell you that something has changed in the atmosphere."

Crahan told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that he has high hopes for the band's next album. "When it's right, there will be a new record, and that record is going to be, I predict, one of the most serious things that we will have ever comprehended that we've ever done in our life," he said. "And we pretty much say that on every record, but I really feel that when the time comes, what will be on hand is going to be something almost unimaginable."

SLIPKNOT has performed live over the past two years but has not recorded a new album since 2008's "All Hope Is Gone".

Following the death of bassist Paul Gray in 2010, the group has remained ambivalent about recording plans, although Crahan and drummer Joey Jordison have expressed more urgency than singer Corey Taylor, who's been busy writing books, doing solo gigs and recording and touring with STONE SOUR.

But Crahan indicated that a return to the studio might finally be imminent, saying, "We're coming back full force and I haven't been so excited for a very long time. I mean, we just got off a tour last summer and it's only been eight months, but I feel like we've got six shows this summer and then after that, everyone is just going to chill a little bit. It's on. It feels fucking good."

SLIPKNOT plays Ozzfest Japan this Saturday (May 11) and the Download festival in the U.K. in June.