Slipknot Release Unsettling “Yen” Video

Beyond the music, the most fascinating thing about Slipknot is the band’s intense and total dedication to the aesthetic around the music. Sure, we know what Corey Taylor looks like unmasked and we know more about the members’ personal lives than we did at the turn of the millennium, but no one has a flair for the dramatic like Slipknot.

Case in point: the new video for “Yen,” which dropped this morning. Directed by Slipknot percussionist/visual master M. Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, the video’s strange costumes and just-slightly-out-of-focus vibe really enhance the slow-burning sense of tension on the track. The use of actors’ makeup and effects also really underscores exactly how fucking terrifying some of these new masks look. Taylor is the main member of the band featured in the video and, as usual, he does a good job at portraying isolation and loneliness.

In an interview with Kerrang!, Taylor previously said of “Yen”:

“I think if I was younger then I would believe in something like hope. I would have that kind of optimism (laughs), but I’ve seen waves of this shit for 30 years, and I’m just unimpressed. The sad thing is, it takes real tragedy to make anything change, because we’re not a proactive species. We would rather close the door after the house is already on fire. I’m just kind of used to it at this point.”

“Yen” is the second single from Slipknot’s new album, The End, So Far. You can listen to “The Dying Song (Time to Sing)” now.

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