Corey Taylor Says He Would Never Do “Slipknot Unmasked”

Could Corey Taylor, The Most Important Carbon-Based Being of All Time™, ever imagine Slipknot going “unmasked”?

Overdrive asked him just that in a recent interview, and Corey invoked history’s other most famous masked rock band, the mighty Kiss — who wore no makeup during much of the ’80s and ’90s — in his answer:

“No, it’s such a part of our art. It’s also part of the reason why we change the masks with every album. Unlike Kiss, they have always used the same makeup and it never evolved. For us, we’ve changed with every album and not only the masks but also the outfits.”

If MetalSucks traffic is any indication, Taylor is 100% right in thinking that the band’s continued visual evolution is a great source of interest to fans. He also knows damn well the mask gimmick is a huge part of his success, even if he won’t say it outright.

Taylor continued:

“You can totally tell every album by the uniform. I think things like that have kept Slipknot relevant, it’s kept the music vibrant, it’s kept the live shows different and it’s kept us from stagnating. So, no I could never see us losing the masks. If we ever got the notion to do Slipknot unmasked, I think I’d be like, ‘Well…. eh no.’

“We are all in our forties now and we still very much have a love/hate relationship with what we do, but every time we step onstage, we’re absolutely prepared to give it everything we’ve got. So, for me personally, when that feeling stops, when we start trying to cut corners and try to make things easier, just so we can ‘get on with it,’ that’s when it’s gonna be time to call it a day.”

Slipknot and their new masks will release We Are Not Your Kind this Friday, August 9, and they’re on tour right now (dates here).

[via Loudwire]