There’s a Simple Beauty in All Nine Members of Slipknot Headbanging in Unison in the New Music Video for ‘Nero Forte’ (Watch)

OK, Slipknot might not be your thing. That’s totally fine. The masked metal marauders have occupied a specific space in music since hitting it big with 1999’s self-titled debut album, and they might seem too “extreme,” their methods — and jumpsuits and masks — “too much” for all audiences.

But even if you don’t care for Slipknot, the band is a crucial part of hard-rock/metal history, especially when considering the past two decades’ worth of music. And the band’s 2019 album We Are Not Your Kind was an especially strong effort from the group, led by vocalist Corey Taylor and his strained howls of emotion.

One of the standout songs on the album is “Nero Forte,” which encapsulates what facilitated Slipknot’s ascent in the music scene all those years ago: Buzzsaw riffs, sinister metal rhythms and just a little bit of melody. It all blends together perfectly on this song, which has a new music video that premiered on Monday. A mostly performance-based clip, it allows the band members to go nuts for five minutes … and boy, do they:

At one point, all the sounds, riffs, screams and crushing drums (provided by Jay Weinberg) coalesce into a segment featuring gang vocals and shoutalongs, and the video takes that as an excuse to showcase all nine  members of the band — Taylor, Weinberg, guitarists Jim Root and Mick Thomson, bassist Alessandro Venturella, sampler/keyboardist Craig “133” Jones, DJ Sid Wilson, percussion master Shawn “Clown” Crahan and a mysterious new touring member whose identity is not officially known — to headbang in unison as the song whips around, and it’s very amusing to watch happen.

If you didn’t watch the full video above, here’s that part:

That’s it. That’s what heavy metal’s all about, right? Letting all of that pent-up emotion out in a burst of expression that refuses to be contained any longer.

This a song that’s sure to tear up a mosh pit or twelve on Slipknot’s next tour.

Catharsis.