SLIPKNOT To Release '.5: The Gray Chapter' In October

SLIPKNOT's fifth album, ".5: The Gray Chapter", will be made available on October 21 via Roadrunner. The CD will include 14 songs, plus two bonus tracks for the deluxe edition.

".5: The Gray Chapter" track listing:

01. XIX
02. Sarcastrophe
03. Aov
04. The Devil In I
05. Killpop
06. Skeptic
07. Lech
08. Goodbye
09. Nomadic
10. The One That Kills The Least
11. Custer
12. Be Prepared For Hell
13. The Negative One
14. If Rain Is What You Want
15. Override (bonus track)
16. The Burden (bonus track)

The official ".5: The Gray Chapter" pre-order can be found at this location.

You can see the cover artwork below.

"The Devil In I", the official first single from ".5: The Gray Chapter", can be streamed below. The disc follows up 2008's "All Hope Is Gone" and is the band's first without founding bassist Paul Gray, who died in 2010, and drummer Joey Jordison, who was let go late last year.

"The Devil In I" is more melodic and features cleaner vocals from frontman Corey Taylor, who told The Pulse Of Radio what the song is about. "'The Devil In I' is really about the war inside yourself," he said. "Trying not to give into defeatism, trying not to give into negativity, trying not to give up basically. It's a struggle. It's one of the hardest thing you can do, is to give in to that side of yourself."

SLIPKNOT issued and quickly fulfilled a casting call earlier in the month for fans — also known as "maggots" — to appear in the new video for "The Devil In I". The call for extras to appear as "human maggots," requiring that applicants be between 20 and 35 years old and "comfortable to be shooting in barefoot," was issued the weekend of August 16-17 and was no longer accepting submissions by August 18.

The shoot was scheduled to take place on either Friday (August 22) or Saturday (August 23) in the Los Angeles area.

Taylor told The Pulse Of Radio that the band's remaining members pulled closer together in the studio following Gray's passing. "It was almost like getting to know each other again," he said. "We were all kind of grieving in our own way and dealing with things in our own way, and knowing that we had to be healthy to go in, we had to be creative to go in, and knowing that we were gonna have to fill this huge void, we just kind of took it upon ourselves to make up for that emptiness by being a little bit of Paul. Like we were all a little bit of Paul in our own way."

Asked what has been most fulfilling about working on new SLIPKNOT music that he never experienced before, Corey told Full Metal Jackie: "This one, it just feels, there's something weird about this one. Obviously this is the first album we're making without Paul.

"After everything we went through, there's a catharsis that comes with this, being able to throw all the emotion and aggression out that we've been holding onto. At the same time, getting to be creative again. Feeling that juice coming back into us. It's been a real positive experience just from an artistic standpoint, a lyrical standpoint.

"We're making an album that's not just a reflection. Let's just get new music out there. There's something very vital with what we're trying to do. There's something very visceral with the emotion we're playing with and trying to tell the story of a band that's gone through hell, and yet we're back. It's been really fulfilling."

Corey recently described the musical direction of the new SLIPKNOT material as "a great mesh of [2001's] 'Iowa' and [2004's] 'Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)'." He explained: "You've got the gorgeous melodies and the artistic direction of 'Vol. 3' and then you've got the absolute brutality of 'Iowa'. And I think people are gonna lose their minds when they hear it."

Reports have suggested that SLIPKNOT has recruited drummer Jay Weinberg to play on the new album and tour. Weinberg is the son of Max Weinberg, longtime Bruce Springsteen and the E STREET BAND drummer. There are also rumors that SLIPKNOT is no longer working with Donnie Steele, the group's original guitar player who has been playing bass for SLIPKNOT since the band resumed touring in 2011.

SLIPKNOT announced in December 2013 that it had parted ways with Jordison. The band has not disclosed the reasons for Jordison's exit, although the drummer issued a statement in January saying that he did not quit the group.

The video for "The Negative One", which can be seen below, was directed by SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan, who has directed most of the band's music videos and concert documentaries.

The second edition of SLIPKNOT's Knotfest event will take place on October 24-26 in San Bernardino, California. More than two dozen other acts will join the headliners, including FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, VOLBEAT, OF MICE & MEN, IN THIS MOMENT, HELLYEAH and ATREYU.