By now there’s been numerous missed release windows for the long-shelved Slipknot side project album, “Look Outside Your Window“. The band’s percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan has been spearheading the frequently-teased release of that effort, which originally came to be during the 2008 recording sessions for the masked metal band’s platinum-certified fourth studio album, “All Hope Is Gone“.
During those sessions, Clown, vocalist Corey Taylor, guitarist Jim Root and turntablist Sid Wilson branched off to craft that album on the side. They’ve since described it as having a ‘Radiohead‘ vibe. Given the years of hype surrounding it, the outing has taken on mythical status in Slipknot fan circles thanks to seemingly perpetually being stuck in release purgatory.
In the decade plus since its recording, there have been numerous mentions of the album finally making its way out to the masses. Plans for a 2019 release were scrapped. A 2023 release was later entertained, but those plans also never panned out. There was even talk of the album “definitely” arriving this year, which while the jury is still out, seems unlikely at the moment.
While it is clear that Crahan has made progress with the experimental offering, stating this year that it has been mixed, mastered and has had artwork approved for it, it seems a reluctance to release it prevails.
Now one of the album’s participants has spoken out about his own lack of patience with Clown and the album’s seemingly ever-shifting release plans. Speaking with Metal Hammer, Jim Root revealed he’s even gone so far as threatening to leak it himself. He stated:
“Man, I keep telling Clown that I’m just gonna throw it up on Youtube, then put a link to it on my Instagram or something. He’s like, ‘Don’t dude, just don’t.’”
While Root said he believed that Clown was still “messing with mixes” for it, he also pondered if his bandmate hasn’t also been “losing focus on it.” Whatever the case, the album has been consigned to history for now when it comes to Root, who stated of it:
“I don’t even remember what any of that stuff sounds like, because it’s been so long since we recorded it. I don’t think I’ve listened to it in probably 10 years. Maybe I’ll go find him after we are done talking, and I’ll be like, ‘Let’s listen to Look Outside Your Window, and let’s release it tonight…’”
