ELOY CASAGRANDE Reveals He Has Finished Recording His Parts For New SLIPKNOT Album: The Drum Tracks 'Are Done'

In a new interview with The Downbeat Podcast, hosted by STRAY FROM THE PATH drummer Craig Reynolds, SLIPKNOT drummer Eloy Casagrande confirmed that the band is working on a full-length album following the release of the "Arsenal" single, which came out in September. The 35-year-old Brazilian-born musician said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, actually, I just finished recording the drums, so all the drums, they are recorded. They are done. I finished, like, 10 days ago or a week ago."

 Asked what the songwriting process has been like for his first album with SLIPKNOT, Eloy said: "It's been crazy. No, actually, we started the process since last year, at the end of '25. Me and [SLIPKNOT guitarist] Jim Root, we started exchanging some riffs, some drum beats, so we started the process back there. And I think for the first time, it was February or March, we played together. We stayed in the studio together. So the process started with me and Jim and [SLIPKNOT percussionist] Clown [M. Shawn Crahan] in the studio just jamming. So we would jam all day long, at least for three or four hours a day, and record everything that we could and then listen to what we played together and try to find those special moments that we felt connected. So the process started like that… I would throw some drum beats, try different things, and Jim would react to what I was playing, and the other way around as well. He started playing something, and I would jump in and start following him. So that was it. For two months, I think — I stayed here the first time for two weeks, and then we came after that, and we stayed again for two or three weeks. And then we had a jam with the whole band, like the core band. So the third time that we jammed, it was me, [SLIPKNOT guitarist] Mick [Thomson], Jim, VMan [SLIPKNOT's British-born bassist Alessandro Venturella] and Clown. [SLIPKNOT's multi-instrumentalist Michael] Pfaff as well. So we had the whole band jamming. Just jamming. So we were able to get some cells from the instruments, some stuff that we felt connected, and we were able to chop that, to choose that, to cut that, and then start something from that thing, from that little bit."

Eloy went on to say that producer Matt Wallace, who helmed "Arsenal", "was involved in the jams" that resulted in the songs for the new SLIPKNOT album. "He was just, like, watching, actually, what we were doing," the drummer explained. "He was trying to understand the SLIPKNOT universe. He was there to help us and to support what we were trying to do. And Clown, I think he has a very good mind regarding what he wants, what he's looking for, what's good for the band. So he was there all the time with us and making sure that we were getting the best moments, that we were choosing the best bits to possibly become new songs in the future."

Regarding how "Arsenal" came together, Eloy said: "Oh, that's a Corey Taylor [SLIPKNOT singer] song. Yeah, that's a song that he sent me at the beginning of the year. And then Jim wrote the riffs to the song. So that song didn't come out from a jam. That's a Corey Taylor song."

Asked if the final drums on "Arsenal" sound anything like what they were like on Corey's original demo version of the song, Eloy said: "No. I changed it, everything pretty much. Yes, I had to change [it] because I think when Corey sent the song, he had an idea about what he wanted for the song, or he had just the idea for the melody, for the lyrics. But the drums, they were quite basic. At the beginning I was trying to respect the song, because he gave me a song. And I was, like, 'Okay, I'm not gonna change that,' because it's ready to go. We can call it a song. So I don't wanna make crazy things, and Corey Taylor's gonna be, like, 'What the fuck are you doing?' So I tried to respect what he gave at us at first. And then we were working in the studio with Clown and Matt Wallace. So during one of those jams that we were playing every day, that song showed up, and Clown was, like, 'Let's work on 'Arsenal'. Let's change the drums. Let's make it more interesting.' So me and Clown, we started thinking what I could do regarding drums. And those type of bits, the first thing that came to my mind, to make it sound more aggressive, more hypnotic, to bring the crazy shit about SLIPKNOT, the craziness about SLIPKNOT. So then I started playing that, trying different things, and until the day that we recorded the single, I didn't know exactly what I was gonna play. So we started jamming, the whole band again. We had the idea, the demo of the song. And we started jamming again. We played it for the whole afternoon. And then at the beginning of the evening, I recorded the song. It's only one take. It's a full take. That's what we are trying to do right now. Most of the songs that I did, they're just one take. It's just like playing a show — just like playing a song in a show. And we want to keep that real. We don't wanna do overdubs. I didn't wanna do overdubs. I don't wanna do push-ins, punch-ins. I don't wanna do that. I wanna just play straight."

Eloy went on to say that it was very important to him and the other members of SLIPKNOT to embrace the beauty of imperfection during the recording process.

"On the future album that's gonna come out, on the new songs, people are gonna listen to them, they are 100% real," he explained. "Nowadays it's very easy to listen to perfect music, perfection, but that's not what we are trying to achieve here. We are trying to achieve reality, to be honest, to be real for the fans, for the people who are gonna listen to our music. So that was my mentality since day one when I was recording the album. I wanna make it sound real, like it's a human being playing the drums.

"I'm not a machine," Eloy continued. "I'm not perfect, and I wanna keep that reality in the album because nowadays you see the kids that, the teenagers that start playing the drums… A few years ago I used to give classes in São Paulo. I used to have many students, and they think that what they listen in a record, especially from the new metal bands, they think that's the reality. And it's not. It never is. So I was trying to keep it real — to be honest, to be like in a real-life situation, that sometimes you're good, sometimes you're bad, and you gotta deal with that. So, when I was recording the songs, I was playing them many, many times — like five, six, seven times each one of the songs — and the best take was, like, 'Okay, I think I like the last one. That's my favorite one. Let's use it.' Sometimes I was putting some songs together — choosing half of one take, half of the other take, but never punch-ins. Never like that."

"Arsenal" arrived in September alongside a music video directed by Crahan. It was SLIPKNOT's first piece of new music since the departure of longtime members Sid Wilson and Craig Jones, and the exit of drummer Jay Weinberg and addition of Casagrande. It was also the first SLIPKNOT release on the band's own (sic)est Records label following the completion of the group's two-and-a-half-decade record deal with Roadrunner.

"Arsenal" received mixed views, with some SLIPKNOT fans saying it was a departure from the band's usual sound and criticizing the song's chorus, which features singer Corey Taylor repeatedly chanting, "Let's go, let's go, let's go".

SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root addressed the negative feedback "Arsenal" had received, saying that the song was not indicative of the direction of the album he and his SLIPKNOT bandmates were working on.

In the comment section of a now-deleted post on Instagram, Root replied to one fan who asked if he was upset about the criticism of the song. "It depends on the commenter, really," Jim wrote. "I mean, what's their band doing?" he added, before confirming that "Arsenal" was made available as a standalone single.

"'Arsenal' was a tune we could quickly get out there while we work on the rest of the record," Root wrote. "It's not really representative of the other tunes."

Regarding whether the single will be a part of the upcoming SLIPKNOT album, Root wrote: "No. This was just one that we could finish 'sooner' to get out there."

"Arsenal" was premiered in the "Hottest Record" slot on BBC Radio 1's "New Music Show With Jack Saunders". Speaking to BBC Radio 1 presenter Jack Saunders, Taylor stated about the song: "It pummels. It is absolutely a pummeling experience. One of my favorite things about it is it kind of encapsulates everything that we do. It's got these great moments of hyperactivity, and then at the end, man, there's this sublime drop that just makes it. It's like we've got everyone by the hair, and we're just going, 'Go! Go!' That, to me, sums up SLIPKNOT completely."

"Arsenal" was the first new music from SLIPKNOT since the release of the 2023 standalone single "Bone Church", a track that had been in the works for nearly a decade.

When SLIPKNOT's next album arrives, it will be the follow-up to the band's latest LP, "The End, So Far", which came out in August 2022. It marked the band's the last full-length LP before the departure of both keyboardist Craig Jones, who left the group in June 2023, and drummer Jay Weinberg, who was replaced by Eloy Casagrande.

Last fall, SLIPKNOT sold its music catalog to HarbourView Equity Partners. The deal included the rights to SLIPKNOT's publishing and recording masters royalties. It reportedly covered the band's archival catalog but did not extend to future releases.

Since releasing its debut album in 1999, SLIPKNOT has captured a Grammy Award alongside 11 nominations, scored a number of platinum and gold album certifications around the world, and logged billions of global streams and video views to date. Rolling Stone cited the seminal platinum-selling 2001 album "Iowa" among "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time," while The Ringer attested, "They're the most important heavy band of their era."

"The End, So Far", landed at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart and at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, marking their sixth Top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200. A new album from SLIPKNOT is a global event, and "The End, So Far" continued the band's global chart rise, with No. 1 debuts in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Mexico, as well as Top 3 debuts in Canada, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Japan, and Belgium. SLIPKNOT's previous album, 2019's "We Are Not Your Kind", marked SLIPKNOT's third consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200, along with No. 1 debuts in the official album charts of twelve countries around the world, including the U.K., Australia, Canada and Mexico, with Top 5 debuts in an additional twelve countries. including Germany, France and Sweden.

In late September, SLIPKNOT announced its biggest tour to date, a 2027 global stadium run dubbed "(Sic)est Stadium Tour", with BRING ME THE HORIZON opening all North American dates. Produced by Live Nation, the trek will open on July 3 at London’s Wembley Stadium before a North American leg that kicks off July 16 at Washington, D.C.'s Nationals Park and wraps August 18 at Phoenix's Chase Field. Five South American shows will follow in September. BRING ME THE HORIZON will provide support at every North American date, with a rotating cast of guests across the tour, including LAMB OF GOD, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, LORNA SHORE, LOATHE, ACID BATH, POLYPHIA, KUBLAI KHAN TX and VENDED. MARILYN MANSON, LORNA SHORE and HATEBREED will appear at the Wembley gig.

SLIPKNOT's most recent live performance was at Inkcarceration, a music and tattoo festival in Ohio, in July 2025.