Corey Taylor says that he has already begun working on lyrics for SLIPKNOT's next album, which he says will see him at his "most autobiographical" that he has "been in years."

Taylor's latest comments come six months after SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn "The Clown" Crahan revealed that the band had "about 27 pieces of work" written for follow-up to 2014's ".5: The Gray Chapter".

SLIPKNOT's touring cycle in support of its latest disc ended in November 2016, with Taylor returning to his other band STONE SOUR last year.

Asked in a brand new interview with Musik Universe if he has heard any of the music Crahan has been composing with the other instrumental members of SLIPKNOT, Corey said (see video below): "Yeah, I have. It's awesome. That's all I'm gonna say about it. It's everything I wanted it to be. They've been sending me stuff here and there. And it's so funny too, because they're, like, 'We don't wanna send you anything till it's ready.' And I'm, like, 'All right. All right.' I've been very patient. I've gotten about six songs now, and they're really, really good. And just in kind of that demo form. And by 'demo,' I mean really just the fact that it's maybe a little longer than it will end up. Because what you wanna do is you wanna take that idea and extrapolate it to the point where you've exhausted every kind of idea. And then you kind of take it and you shorten it and you break it down and you formulate it and you get it to a little more solid, a little more fluid. And that's where it's at right now."

According to Taylor, he is currently "writing lyrics for three" new SLIPKNOT songs that will appear on the band's next album. "And it's dark — it's really dark," he said. "It's probably the most autobiographical I've been in years. Just for the fact that I've been through a lot the last few years and I've been sitting on a lot. So I'm writing from the standpoint of where I am now instead of where I was. Which is so easy to tap into sometimes and it's so easy to just kind of go there almost on impulse. But now, I'm writing it from the standpoint of a man who's been through a lot — not just a young man, but an older man — and trying to figure things out."

Taylor went on to say that the next SLIPKNOT will "absolutely" arrive next year. "2019, sometime in that year we will definitely be recording it," he said. "We'll finish writing it, record it and be ready to go on the road."

Corey was also asked about Crahan's recent suggestion that the percussionist might be leaving SLIPKNOT after saying in an interview that the band's next album "could be it for me."

"We all kind of say that," Taylor explained. "I've said it in the past. We've always said — and this is not in a negative way — we've always said that when we get to the point where we physically can't do SLIPKNOT the way we want to do it, we'll stop. And for some of us, the years of being in SLIPKNOT have taken [their] toll. Cold mornings kick my ass. My neck, my knees, my hips… [DJ] Sid [Wilson] has broken every damn bone in his body. Clown, he's had his share of health issues and whatnot and physicality. We've all had an injury in this band — from our necks to our retinas. And honestly, if that was his decision, I wouldn't do SLIPKNOT without him — absolutely not."

Admitting that "it's been tough" for him to "continue the way we have," Taylor explained that "we've done it out of necessity, but at the same time, without Clown… There's a certain mentality that goes into SLIPKNOT, and he started it. He's always been the vision for this band, for SLIPKNOT, and without that, it crumbles. So, yeah, if he left, that would be it for me as well. And I say that, honestly, in a very positive way, because none of us would want to continue doing it from a half-assed point of view. Nobody wants to go 50 percent on a SLIPKNOT album."

".5: The Gray Chapter" was released following a six-year hiatus during which founding SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray died and drummer Joey Jordison was dismissed.

Crahan told BBC Radio 1's "Rock Show" in 2015 that he would love to see the band record a double concept album in the vein of PINK FLOYD's "The Wall" and THE BEATLES' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", with a movie to go along with the project.

In a 2017 interview with Metal Wani, Taylor spoke about a possible musical direction for SLIPKNOT's next album, saying that nothing had yet been decided. "I know I wanna write something violent, to be honest," he said. "I wanna do something that feels uncomfortable. I wanna go somewhere where we haven't been in a long, long time. I don't know what that means, but I think when I hear it, I'll know what it is."

".5: The Gray Chapter" sold around 132,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores in October 2014 via Roadrunner.

Gray died in 2010 from a drug overdose, while Jordison was let go in December 2013, just before SLIPKNOT began recording the last album.