Hear Slipknot’s Menacing New Song ‘Birth of the Cruel’

Slipknot proclaim themselves “the bitter, the maladjusted and the wise, fighting off a generation too uptight” on their menacing new song “Birth of the Cruel.” The track will appear on the metal band’s upcoming sixth LP, We Are Not Your Kind, out Friday, August 9th.

“Birth of the Cruel” — which, title-wise, appears to put a dark spin on a famous Miles Davis LP— opens with frontman Corey Taylor singing melodically over jagged guitars, growling bass and double-kick drums. He explodes into wild screams on the chorus, as heavy toms and piercing turntables enter the mix. “I’m overthrown, I’m over your throne, I’m over it,” he bellows. “Sick, sickened, sickening — I’m stricken by the fist/Blessed are the fires that have burned me.”

Slipknot previously previewed We Are Not Your Kind with lead single “Unsainted” and “Solway Firth,” both of which feature videos directed by percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan. They recently promoted the album, which follows 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter, by performing the former song and standalone 2018 cut “All Out Life” on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Slipknot’s ongoing Knotfest Roadshow North American tour — which features Volbeat, Gojira and Behemoth on all dates — continues August 7th in Denver, Colorado and concludes September 8th in The Woodlands, Texas. Their live schedule also features gigs at the Louder Than Life and Aftershock festivals, in addition to October and November dates in Australia and New Zealand.