SLIPKNOT's TAYLOR On New Album: 'People Are Either Going To Love This Or Hate It'

SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor has spoken to Billboard magazine about the group's much-anticipated follow-up to 2001's "Iowa", due on May 25 through Roadrunner Records.

"People are either going to love this or hate it," Taylor said. "We've never been a middle-of-the-road band, and we're either going down in history or going down in flames with this.

"Lo and behold, we had some really good slow stuff, and some good three-part harmonies in us," he continued. "But at the same time, we've still got the metal, the same double bass and percussion, the same crazy noises coming out of Sid [Wilson] and Craig [Jones]. Not to mention, this is probably the best guitar playing that Mick [Thomson] and Jim [Root] have ever done. This album has everything, and it will, I hope, become everything. Right now, it's probably the best thing I've ever heard.

"The fire's there, the darkness is there, and the craziness is there, but it's also mature, and it's sonically the best-sounding thing we've ever done," he said. "We're taking a lot more chances, but still staying true to what we do. Borrowing not only from our metal roots, but from our rock roots, and our PINK FLOYD roots. You can hear influences of everyone from SLAYER to AMEN to KING CRIMSON."

There's been conjecture that the next album might be the band's last, which Taylor doesn't dismiss. "It still may be the last album, but we're not thinking about that anymore," he said. "We're thinking about going out on the road, playing for a bunch of our friends and getting the album out. Then we'll take a break, go do our respective stuff and get together and see if we're still into it."

SLIPKNOT will road test the new material on the Jägermeister Music Tour, kicking off March 30, and on this summer's Ozzfest, where they will be headlining the second stage.