Joey Jordinson Says 'SLIPKNOT Will Return'

SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison tells Kyle Munson of DesMoinesRegister.com that he still mourns the passing of SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray, who was found dead May 24 in an Urbandale, Iowa hotel room. "He was my best friend and still is," Jordison said. "And he was my musical soul mate."

Jordison also reveals that there were times when he could have been the casualty of rock-star excess and substance abuse in place of his late bandmate.

"I've been done with that stuff for three years," he says. "I thought it was all fun and games, but it's not. ... After I got done with my (2007) tour with KORN, I really went for it after that. ... It caught up with me, and that's it — I just stopped."

"Life is definitely a lot more precious now," he adds. "Music right now, really, when I play it, it's like I'm playing it for all the people that I've lost. I think about them all the time."

On the topic of whether SLIPKNOT will continue, Jordison says, "There will be another SLIPKNOT record, of course.

"But, you know — there aren't any replacements. Everyone in the band plays bass and can play guitar. We'll get to that point when we get there. But I want everyone to know — and all my SLIPKNOT fans and all my Iowa fans to know — that no matter what I'm doing right now with [ROB] ZOMBIE and MURDERDOLLS, that SLIPKNOT will return.

"But we're still dealing with the passing of Paul, God rest his soul. ... Paul would never want us to not make another SLIPKNOT record."

Sabaton: Back Catalog To Be Reissued With New Artwork, Bonus Tracks

Most of the back catalog from the Swedish metal band SABATON will be re-released on September 24 in new "Re-Armed Editions" featuring a number of bonus tracks — including old demos, cover songs, live recordings, previously unheard material and completely new songs recorded at Studio Abyss in Sweden.

The albums being re-released are as follows:

* "Primo Victoria" (2005)
* "Attero Dominatus" (2006)
* "Metalizer" (2007)
* "The Art of War" (2008)

Commented the band: "Do you wonder what SABATON did in the studio about one month ago?

"Do you wonder why (the albums) 'Primo Victoria', 'Attero Dominatus', 'Metalizer' and 'Art Of War' are so hard to get these days?

"This is why... To be able to continue to do what we all love, meaning to continue to play music and to tour the world, we have now purchased the rights to the SABATON music. And to celebrate this we want to make them available again to all of you in a unique cooperation between SABATON, Nuclear Blast and Black Lodge.

"Now what does this mean?? Well, first it means that when you buy a SABATON album, more of the money spent on the albums will actually go to SABATON and second it means that we want to celebrate this by making the first four albums available again, but in really cool new versions!

"We give you... The SABATON Re-Armed Editions and here is a sample of one bonus track (below).

"The four first original albums of SABATON, complete with new artwork, new booklets, posters and of course: New music! We have dug deep into the treasury of SABATON to find unique, strange, funny and unexpected songs.

"Every album on the Re-Armed editions will feature new tracks and they will include some old demos, some cover songs, some live versions of songs, some really old and unheard songs and some completely new songs recorded in Studio Abyss.

"They will all be re-released on September 24th and can from today be pre-ordered right here!"