SLIPKNOT have unleashed the official performance video for their latest single “The Chapeltown Rag”, which you can check out below.
The M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan-directed visual frames the visceral experience of the band’s unparalleled live performance. True to form, heavy music’s generational ambassadors in SLIPKNOT set the community ablaze late last year with the launch of a brand new offensive packaged with cryptic fanfare.
Within the span of about a week’s time, the band methodically disseminated veiled messaging from the then unreleased music, fueling speculation that their plan of attack was imminent.
Launching an all-out blitz, “The Chapeltown Rag” surfaced as SLIPKNOT’s first showing of new material since “We Are Not Your Kind” and emphatically punctuated a monumental 2021 — a year that included the band’s triumphant live return following the unprecedented stall in the wake of a historic pandemic.
Thematically, the song utilized the true crime lore of the Yorkshire Ripper and the ensuing mania of the media during the murderous spree to draw parallels to the current social climate of the online era. From Corey Taylor’s tortured howl, “When everything is God online, nothing is” a loaded statement can be deduced about modern day misinformation and the kind of divisiveness that mares the digital age.
The intensity of the track was underscored when SLIPKNOT opted to debut “The Chapeltown Rag” ceremoniously to a capacity audience just days later during the band’s historic showing at Knotfest Los Angeles at Banc of California Stadium. A sight to behold, the collective delivered a relentless rendition of the track in a performance that illuminated the L.A. skyline and further cemented the band as the undisputed champions of heavy culture.
Documenting the vehemence and volatility that has become synonymous with the band’s live experience, the latest SLIPKNOT music video boasts a collection of “Knotfest Roadshow” 2021 live tour footage featuring “The Chapeltown Rag”.
The clip captures the contrasting pageantry and pummel synonymous with SLIPKNOT in the flesh, while framing the significance of live music’s return led by one its most powerful innovators.