I think either Jim is going to regret some interviews he's been giving (or at least the way they have been turned into sensationalist headlines) or he's going to get a lot of shit from his other bandmates for the picture he's managed to paint of the band's inner affairs. I think the Guitar World interview that he did was more detailed and nuanced in explaining that he didn't contribute much to the writing process because:
a) he was fighting his depression over the pandemic and went through a dry spell in terms of writing and guitar playing, and
b) the way the recording schedule/budget panned out, he arrived at the studio in writing mode while the rest of the band already had enough ideas to record.
That, and he handed Clown and Joe Barresi a hard drive with more early-stage ideas so they could use it for other pieces.
Not only that, but there was a point where he wasn't initially pleased with the material Alex brought in (and Alex mentioned in another interview that he spent many months going to Clown's house in Iowa to work on the new album). They played around with the material as a band and Jim mentioned the experience taught him a lot about ego and humility (his words).
What I think (pure conjecture) is that Jim went through a bit of a crisis because this is the first album since All Hope is Gone where he wasn't the head writer. I think he's jumbling that sentiment with the misgivings about how Roadrunner helped (or didn't help) them with the recording process (something other members have commented on) and producing some ill-thought-out soundbites that the press (and a bunch of fans) are having a field day with to put the album down.
I think this is a superb album. I've been listening back to their previous works in the car recently and TESF somehow feels a bit more concise. This isn't about the quality -- I love their first 3 albums to death and there's always something in their albums that I can get back to and enjoy. But TESF has this sort of throughline feel to it that I'm really digging, and it truly shows great facets of the band (there's enough of the heavier part, the melodies, and some "out there" stuff too, but this time without any interludes as in WANYK).
I do think he's sort of doing Clown a disservice by vaguely quoting him like that. The man is known for being cryptic at times, but he's consistently been displaying how proud he is of the new material. In any case, I think the interviewer could've prodded him further to ask at which point did Clown say this was "not a Slipknot record". Something's fishy there.
But that's all insider baseball anyway. What matters to me was that, with the shortest turnaround time they've worked with in a while, they put out a very entertaining record. I really hope they play stuff like Warranty and H377 live.
Topic: Slipknot thread? (Read 18357 times)
