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Jim Root was ‘freaked out’ by early version of new Slipknot album: “Oh fuck, this doesn’t sound like Slipknot to me”

The guitarist also says that the pandemic left him too ‘depressed’ to contribute much to the album.

Slipknot's Jim Root

Image: Mariano Regidor/Getty

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Jim Root has said that he was initially worried about Slipknot’s most recent album, The End, So Far, after hearing early demos of the tracks. The guitarist also claims that the pandemic left him feeling too “stressed out and depressed” to make extensive contributions to the release.

It was only last month that Slipknot guitarist Jim Root admitted that he felt that the band’s most recent album could have been improved if they were given more time. Now, in a new interview, the musician has once again addressed his thoughts on the new release, this time admitting that he was originally worried by the sound of the early demos.

“When I first heard a lot of the arrangements, I thought, ‘Oh fuck, this doesn’t sound like Slipknot to me. We’ve got a lot of work to do,’” he tells Guitar World, adding that it was predominantly bassist Alex Venturella’s contributions that made him uneasy about the new material.

“I was kind of freaked out [because] what I heard was the symptom of having somebody that isn’t in our age group and wasn’t influenced by the same music.” he reflects. “Alex was a Slipknot fan so he sounds like somebody that was influenced by Slipknot trying to write for Slipknot.”

Elsewhere in the discussion, the guitarist also opened up about how his mental health deteriorated during the pandemic, meaning he contributed to this album less than previous releases.

“I was majorly involved [in the songwriting process before]. But then the pandemic happened and nobody could be together. I was home alone and I got stressed out and depressed. So my contribution was minimal for this [latest album].”

“It was a huge group effort, but I was grateful Alex wrote the stuff he did because it taught me – not just about songwriting and arranging – but also about humanity, humility, ego and friendship.”

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