According to Kerrang.com, SLIPKNOT will release a brand new track, "All Hope Is Gone", as a free download single this Friday (June 20). The title cut of the band's new album will be available for free from the Roadrunner Records web site for a period of 24 hours beginning at midnight EST, then will be available as a download single from digital retailers like iTunes and Napster on June 23.

"'All Hope Is Gone' is a classic-style SLIPKNOT track pure and simple, but this fucker is jacked up a few thousand volts!" drummer Joey Jordison told Kerrang! "The song, music and theme speak for itself. It's a song about the world at stake: all the situations at hand, be it personal or worldly, and trying to turn things into a positive. Sometimes you have to face the grotesque to bring about something amazing."

Jordison revealed that "All Hope Is Gone" is a true collaborative effort and was one of the final songs recorded for the band's follow-up to 2004's "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)", which is also called "All Hope Is Gone".

"I actually demoed this song alone and didn't know what would come of it as we were nearing the end of the album," he said. "I was hoping it would make it. I knew it would, once everyone spewed their venom upon it.

"A lot of the grind riffs for the verses changed into riffs Paul [Gray, bassist] had years ago, way before SLIPKNOT," he added. "Funny how things won't die. Mick [Thomson, guitarist] came in and fucking set fire to the track and Jim [Root, guitarist] followed as well. Once Corey [Taylor, frontman] put his fucking vocals on it, that was it, man. That guy's voice and conviction could sell narcotics to a nun."

SLIPKNOT's new album, "All Hope Is Gone", will be released on August 26 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded this spring in SLIPKNOT's home state of Iowa and was co-produced by the band and Dave Fortman (EVANESCENCE, MUDVAYNE).

"All Hope is Gone" is more of a statement than a record. Singer Corey Taylor commented, "Every album we have made is a statement about that space in time. I think this era is the most mature, most beautiful and the most powerful. We have made an album that will show the road behind, the road ahead, and where we are as men. I think it's the best thing I've ever made. And I challenge anyone to prove me wrong."

Taylor told Billboard.com last month that "All Hope Is Gone" will "rip your face off," adding, "I don't think the world will be ready for this album." Taylor described the new record as having "so much power in it and yet there are so many great spots for melody...It's a controlled chaos that hits you right out of the gate."

Taylor, who also fronts the more melodic STONE SOUR, said that his vocals are in a similar vein on this SLIPKNOT outing. He explained, "I got to the point where I was tired of pretending that I couldn't sing every time I made a SLIPKNOT album, so this time I'm going all out."

As for the album's lyrical direction, Taylor revealed, "Instead of bitching about what went wrong in my life, I'm bitching about what's wrong in life, period."

The album's first single, "Psychosocial", will be delivered to radio on June 30 and will be available digitally on July 1. A complete track listing will be announced shortly.

New images on SLIPKNOT's official web site have hinted at a change in the masks and costumes that are a trademark of the Iowa-based nine-piece. Taylor described the new outfits as "evolved," adding that they are "very dark and will fit in everything image-wise that we're making with this album."

The Rockstar Energy trek, which SLIPKNOT is co-headlining with DISTURBED, kicks off on July 9 in Seattle.

(Thanks: Danny Stone)