Slipknot have been in the studio recording the follow-up to 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter, which is expected to be released in the middle of this year.

Frontman Corey Taylor previously revealed that the new material will be “Iowa levels of heavy” and, in a new interview, he’s shared more news about one of 2019’s most anticipated releases.

Asked by the Des Moines Register to describe the new material, Taylor replies: “It’s gonna be evil. It’s going to be ridiculous, let’s put it that way.”

The band gave fans the first taste of what they’ve been working on in October last year when they launched the ferocious single All Out Life, but Taylor says that it isn’t “nearly as dark and vicious as the rest of the stuff that we have that we’re working on.”

Taylor previously revealed that the lyrics behind the new record reflect “a heavy couple of years” that he’s endured – and in the new interview, he explains: “All I was doing was giving and I found myself absolutely, completely tapped. You could see it in my skin. You could see it in my eyes.

“That’s basically the journey I’m going to take people on this album… show them what happens to depression when you have no chemicals to fall back on. It’s a pretty dark ride.”

Slipknot will head out on a European tour this summer.