SLIPKNOT: Closer Look At New Masks

As with every album cycle, the members of SLIPKNOT have unveiled brand-new masks to coincide with the release of their fifth studio CD, ".5: The Gray Chapter", which will arrive on October 21 via Roadrunner.

Buzzfeed has premiered a two-minute "closer look" at the new SLIPKNOT "identities." Check it out in the YouTube clip below.

SLIPKNOT revealed its new masks and its new members — at least what they look like — in the video for "The Devil In I", the first single from ".5: The Gray Chapter". The clip, directed by percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan, shows off the new headgear worn by the seven original members, while giving us brief glimpses of the band's new drummer and bassist, who are both wearing the same mask.

The band has not revealed the identity of either new member, but now new evidence has surfaced online that the man replacing late SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray is named Alessandro "Vman" Venturella. Venturella has served as a guitar tech for MASTODON, COHEED AND CAMBRIA and others, while also playing in the band KROKODIL.

A side-by-side comparison of Venturella's distinctive hand tattoo and that from the person playing bass in the "The Devil In I" video reveals that they appear to be the same.

SLIPKNOT's new drummer is widely believed to be Jay Weinberg, son of longtime Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg.

Singer Corey Taylor told The Pulse Of Radio that SLIPKNOT wants to honor its past while also moving forward: "It's respect, but at the same time it's about healing the wounds, you know, and starting to take those steps forward, and it's about time for that."

".5: The Gray Chapter" is SLIPKNOT's first album without Gray, who passed away in 2010, and drummer Joey Jordison, who was dismissed last year.

The band will stage a two-day Knotfest event in San Bernardino, California in late October before kicking off its "Prepare For Hell" tour on October 29 in El Paso, Texas.