It’s the question we’ve all been asking since Slipknot unveiled their brand-new We Are Not Your Kind-era masks last week: what inspired ’em?

Now, in a world-exclusive interview with Kerrang!, frontman Corey Taylor has revealed how his mask for album number six – which was designed by acclaimed horror artist Tom Savini – was created with one simple aim in mind: to fuck with people. And for good reason.

The vocalist describes how, between previous record .5: The Gray Chapter and now, he’s felt a shift in public perception towards him – and how he’s been wrestling with such negative feelings.

“I’m reminded that even though you want the best for people, sometimes you’ll get the worst,” Corey explains. “I’ve been kind of made to feel like a villain, in a weird way. Which is fine. It was inevitable, and it doesn’t really bother me much. But, for a little bit, it did. I’ve always tried to be a good father, be a good man, be a good person. I went through some shit a few years ago, and in that time a lot of people had a reversal of opinion on who I was. Maybe it was because they were tired of hearing my name (laughs), which is so fucking true – even I get to the point where I’m tired of hearing my own fucking name.”

Corey then decided to lean into this peculiar role he found himself in, embracing this unfair outside opinion and wearing it proudly on his face.

“I said, ‘Okay, if you want a villain, you’ll get a fucking villain,’” he says. “My vision was about trying to create something uncomfortable – not only for me to wear, but for people to look at. I wanted it to feel like it was something that was created in someone’s basement – something that was made specifically to fuck with people. It’s the representation of public opinion turning on a dime – they want to tear people down for the way they live, even if they don’t really know them. It’s been liberating to embrace that side and be like, ‘Fuck you. I really don’t give a shit what you think about me, so here’s this!’”