Slipknot drummer Eloy Casagrande has finished recording all the drums for the band’s upcoming album. He described the collaborative writing process in an interview with Craig Reynolds | The Downbeat.
Casagrande explained how the songwriting started and evolved over recent months. The process began with him and guitarist Jim Root exchanging musical ideas before the band came together for intensive studio sessions.
“Actually I just finished recording the drums,” Casagrande said. “All the drums, they are recorded. They are done. And I’m just here hanging out.”
“Yesterday was the last day?” Craig Reynolds asked. “No, I finished like 10 days ago or a week ago,” the musician explained. “How many songs?” Reynolds said. “I cannot tell you that,” Casagrande replied. “No, I cannot tell you. I can tell you that we have a lot of songs.”
“What’s the writing process been like for this upcoming Slipknot album?” the interviewer asked.
“Um, I don’t know, man. It’s been crazy,” Casagrande said. “Actually we started the process since the last year, at the end of 25. Me and Jim Root started exchanging some riffs, some drum bits, you know, so we started the process back there. And I think for the first time, it was February or March, we played together, we stayed in a studio together, so the process started with me and Jim and Clown in his studio just jamming.”
“So, we would jam all day long at least for three or four hours a day and record everything that we could. And then listen to what we played together and and try to find those special moments that we felt connected. So, the process started like that, you know.”
The drummer declined to reveal how many songs the band has written for the album, saying only that they have a lot of material. The collaborative writing sessions represent the foundation of Slipknot’s work on their next record.
Slipknot’s last original studio album was The End, So Far, which came out on September 30, 2022. Since then, the band has gone through lineup changes and toured heavily before pausing to focus on new material. Casagrande joined Slipknot in 2023 and became the drummer in 2024, taking over from longtime member Jay Weinberg. The Brazilian drummer previously played for Sepultura and brought fresh energy to the band’s live shows.
The band is working with producer Matt Wallace, whose credits include Faith No More’s The Real Thing and Angel Dust, The Replacements’ Don’t Tell a Soul, and Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane. According to reports, there are already at least 50 arrangements in the works for the sessions. Jim Root has said that Clown arranges material that Casagrande and Root play together, or that Casagrande and Michael Pfaff play together.
In September 2026, Slipknot released “Arsenal,” the band’s first new song to feature Casagrande on drums. The track came after longtime members Craig Jones and Sid Wilson left the band. The upcoming eighth album will be Slipknot’s first full-length studio record with Casagrande behind the kit, allowing one of metal’s most technically skilled drummers to shape the songs from their earliest writing stages.
