The definitive history of every Slipknot mask

.5 The Gray Chapter (2014)

New members, new masks, new era. Slipknot's return with .5 The Gray Chapter came off the back of some of their most turbulent years, not least with the death of bassist Paul Gray and dismissal of drummer Joey Jordison. 

Some of the sleek simplicity of Slipknot's masks from All Hope Is Gone remained, but otherwise the band's look seemed to harken right back to the creepy, unsettling aesthetics they had first emerged with over 15 years prior. 

Metal Hammer line break

Corey Taylor 

Corey Taylor Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Taylor’s most human mask: an almost realistic two-piece human face but one that appears riddled with disease and disgust across its cheeks. “People like me, Clown, Sid change our masks drastically,” he said. “Because, for me, the mask is a representation of the person on the inside, and nobody stays the same over time.”


Mick Thomson

Mick Thompson Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Paul Rovere/Getty Images)

The mouth is as distinctive as ever – a five-bar grill across the teeth – but for Thomson’s latest mask, the forehead features more detailed frowning and angrier eyes.


Jim Root

Jim Root Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Raphael Dias/Getty Images)

Root’s mask remains similar – though the zipper mouth has gone to allow room for the long beard he grew for The Gray Chapter.


Craig Jones 

Craig Jones Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Press/Roadrunner)

Jones wears practically the same mask as he has done for the last three album cycles: a black, metallic-looking bowl with zipper mouth and huge spikes protruding all round.


Sid Wilson 

Sid Wilson Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Francesco Castaldo/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Gray Chapter brought another change, and Wilson’s mask was now a black leather hood, with circular metallic eyes and terrifying teeth that could be covered by a mouth protector.


Shawn Crahan

Shawn Crahan Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Vladimir Artev/Epsilon/Getty ImagesVladimir Artev/Epsilon/Getty Images)

A return to a more traditional clown face, though one that looked like it had lost a back alley fight to a wolf, had been living rough ever since and was all set on tapping you up for a can of Tennents Super.


Chris Fehn 

Chris Fehn Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Francesco Castaldo/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

By The Gray Chapter, the hood was back and the mask was coloured a metallic gold. Though the long nose and zipper mouth remained, the eyes were droopier and sadder than before.


Alessandro Venturella

Alessandro Venturella Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Brill/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Gray’s replacement on bass, Alessandro Venturella, and Jordison’s replacement on drums were initially going to both get the same mask so as to include them in the band but not disrespect past members. In the end, though, Venturella was given a slashed-up, patchwork ogre-like mask


Jay Weinberg 

Jay Weinberg Slipknot Mask 2014

(Image credit: Brill/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

The band’s new drummer was given a heavily textured mask, featuring a pentagram on the forehead and zip across the mouth


Tom Bryant

Tom Bryant is The Guardian's deputy digital editor. The author of The True Lives Of My Chemical Romance: The Definitive Biography, he has written for Kerrang!, Q, MOJO, The Guardian, the Daily Mail, The Mirror, the BBC, Huck magazine, the londonpaper and Debrett's - during the course of which he has been attacked by the Red Hot Chili Peppers' bass player and accused of starting a riot with The Prodigy. Though not when writing for Debrett's.