Jim Root Calls Slipknot’s ‘The End, So Far’ ‘Disjointed And A Mess’

Jim Root has made his feelings about Slipknot’s last album pretty clear.

Responding to a fan on Instagram, the guitarist described 2022’s The End, So Far as “disjointed and a mess”, while pointing to COVID and the circumstances surrounding the record as major problems during its creation (per The PRP).

“…we’ve never had a A&R guy over our shoulders suggesting this or that. I did meet the head of Warner on a tour of the offices in NYC once. He brought up “bringing in outside writers” and I just said… “No. That’s not what we do” and that was the end of it. TESF was disjointed and a mess. Some good stuff came from it. But overall Covid and the state of the world made that a very hard process for us. Among other circumstances.”

Root has raised similar concerns before, around the album’s release, he spoke about Slipknot entering the recording process without the preparation and pre-production he would normally have wanted.

Four years later, he doesn’t appear to have softened on the experience.

The comments come as Slipknot are deep into work on their next album, with producer Matt Wallace behind the desk. As BLUNT reported yesterday, Root has also been explaining what he wants from that record, and what he very definitely doesn’t.

“[It’s a] very important thing for us at this time is to not “repeat” ourselves. It’s gonna hurt some feelings. We’re really experimenting with different approaches… don’t expect another “Iowa” or “self titled” record. We’ve been there.”

He has also questioned the heavily layered production of some later Slipknot records, saying at times there were simply too many guitars competing for space.

Slipknot ‘The Chapeltown’ Rag video (from The End, So Far)

That makes his criticism of The End, So Far less about disowning the songs than rejecting the way the record came together. Root still says “some good stuff came from it”, but there is little ambiguity about whether he wants to repeat the process.

Slipknot have already offered an early indication of where things could be heading with ‘Arsenal’, their first release through the band’s new (sic)est Records imprint.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Root (@jamesroot)

They’ll then take the next chapter onto much bigger stages in 2027, with the recently announced ‘(sic)est Stadium Tour’ beginning at Wembley Stadium in July.

For Root, though, the immediate priority appears to be making sure Slipknot’s eighth album doesn’t inherit the problems of the seventh.