A sudden spread of red paper pasted onto city walls has long been one of heavy music's favourite ways to start a rumour mill, and Slipknot know how to stage an rollout. Over the past few days, pedestrians in major metropolitan areas across North America, South America, and Europe have noticed posters carrying the group's classic hooked S emblem. Stripped of tour titles, venue lists, or support acts, the prints feature only the name of the host city and a simple website address, unlock.slipknot1.com. The coordinated rollout immediately triggered talk among followers that an extensive international tour is about to be announced.
The sightings began across the Americas before turning up on European streets. In North America, the flyers were spotted on hoardings and brickwork in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Hershey in Pennsylvania, Toronto, and other locations in Ontario. Matching red posters soon appeared further south, with fans documenting them in Mexico City, Bogota, Santiago, and Buenos Aires. The campaign quickly jumped across the Atlantic as well, with sightings confirmed in London. By tagging specific cities across both hemispheres, the promotional drive points toward an itinerary that goes far beyond standalone festival slots, focusing instead on the major urban centres that regularly anchor the group's touring history.
Visiting the online link listed on the paper offers few concrete answers. The landing page simply asks fans to enter an email address so they can receive future communications. After signing up, visitors are shown two numbers, nine and 28. Because the posters first started appearing on Tuesday, September 22, fans quickly connected the dots, concluding that Monday, September 28 will bring an official announcement. The nine could point to the ninth month of the year or represent the nine band members, while the 28 seems to indicate a calendar date for routing reveals or ticket sales.
The teaser campaign arrives during a busy stretch for the band. Earlier in the month, Slipknot surprised their audience by releasing Arsenal, their first piece of recorded music in three years. The track represented their first studio outing following the departure of Sid Wilson and the arrival of drummer Eloy Casagrande, who took over behind the kit in 2024 after Jay Weinberg left the lineup.
Those assuming the teaser heralds the immediate arrival of a new full length record will probably need to temper their expectations. Jim Root recently addressed the mixed reception that greeted Arsenal, explaining that the track was never intended to launch a conventional promotional cycle. According to Root, the song offered a chance to put something out quickly while the band continued writing and arranging the rest of their upcoming album. He made clear that the single does not reflect the sound of the other material they are preparing, and confirmed that it will not be included on the final tracklist.
When that next project does arrive, it will serve as the follow up to 2022's The End, So Far. The group is working alongside producer Matt Wallace and currently has a substantial collection of recordings to sort through. That creative period has already produced several developments, including an unreleased track called Long May You Die, recorded shortly after Casagrande joined the band, and the Record Store Day release of their shelved project Look Outside Your Window earlier this year. While finishing the next studio record will take time, the sudden arrival of posters on three continents suggests Slipknot plan to get back on stage before all those recordings cross the finish line.
