“Bone Church” by Slipknot

As of the dropping of “Bone Church”, Slipknot, a heavy metal outfit from Des Moines, has been around for nearly three decades and have seven studio albums under their collective belts. “Bone Church”, a surprise release that was issued through Roadrunner Records as a standalone single on February 2^nd, marks their first song of 2023.

WHEN DID “BONE CHURCH” ORIGINATE?

Speaking on the origins of this song, Slipknot’s percussionist, Shawn Crahan (aka Clown) has noted it sprang from a jam session he and his bandmates held while “on the 5. The Gray Chapter tour”.

“The Gray Chapter” was the group’s fifth studio album, which came out in late 2014, and to note, there does not appear to be a tour officially named after it. So what Clown would be more likely be referring to is either an event called Knotfest – which is an ongoing thing as far as Slipknot is concerned – or what is known as the Prepare for Hell Tour, which was initiated in late 2014 and ran for about a year.

SLIPKNOT – A DEEP CREW

Besides Clown there are currently eight other members of Slipknot, with all of them being credited as the writers of “Bone Church”. And those other individuals are:

• Craig Jones (aka 133, keyboardist)
• Michael Pfaff (percussionist)
• Jim Root (guitarist)
• Corey Taylor (vocalist)
• Mick Thomson (guitarist)
• Alessandro Venturella (bassist)
• Jay Weinberg (drummer)
• Sid Wilson (turntablist)

Meanwhile the entire band, as a unit, produced “Bone Church” alongside Greg Fidelman.

It is worth stating that Crahan, who despite not being the lead vocalist, is the longest-tenured and apparently leader of the crew. He is the one who directed the music video to the song.

WHAT IS “BONE CHURCH” ABOUT?

The above question is not a particularly easy one to answer. But what is most readily ascertainable about this song is that, as implied by its title, it does possess what can be deemed a religious element. Said element is not permeating throughout the entire piece per se but can be found in the second verse and refrain.

VERSE 2 & REFRAIN

The second verse is actually the shortest part of the song. It starts off with the vocalist asserting that his “heart is a memory of the pain”.  The first verse, which is a lot more esoteric (for lack of a better word), does imply that maybe he is dealing with mental issues. And the chorus that follows it can support the idea that said issues are along the lines of the vocalist having some type of existential crisis or one where he is trying to make sense out of an unjustly violent world / human nature.

So that statement setting of the second verse, in theoretical context, can be taken as one pointing to him being permanently depressed and/or disillusioned.

However, Corey then asserts that he “don’t need a miracle”, furthermore putting forth that “prayers will not save me again”. Or worded otherwise, he does not feel religious/spiritual intervention would affect or better his personal situation. In fact what’s being sort of implied is that he was once a religious adherent who was ‘saved’ as a result. But in Taylor’s mind, now that period of his life has firmly passed.

And so it is with the first refrain, which repeats the line “prayers will not save me again”, as well as the second. In the second though, which concludes the song, he also sings “don’t take the place of my sins”. That is to say that he obviously wants to retain them. Or rather, we can put forth that the vocalist has now reached a point where he has come to accept and embrace his flaws, if you will, instead of making an effort to combat or overcome them.

WHAT ABOUT THE CHORUS?

Such an idea is also expressed in the chorus, in a way. This is the part of the song where Corey observes that “we kill what we love”, and “we love what we kill”.

He also notes in that regard that “nothing ever changes”, and “nothing ever will”. So he has come to accept that philosophy, if you will, as reality, that we human beings have the natural tendency to act against our own sentimental self-interest.

That argument has also obviously led him to the conclusion that combating said nature is thus an act of futility or, in the very least, a cyclic effort and one which, once again going back to the second verse and refrain, he has no interest in continually making. So with that understanding in mind, we can then postulate that the third verse is based on the singer illustrating how the aforenoted self-defeating tendencies are manifested, or something to that effect.

CONCLUSION

There’s obviously ideas being thrown around in this piece upon which whereas the listener would have to use his or her imagination to interpret. Moreover, the “bone church” is never actually mentioned, so it’s more or less up to you to gather what Slipknot means by that term.

But as for the thesis sentiment of this piece, what it more or less revolves around is the vocalist coming to his own realization or conclusion along the lines of not wanting to wage a spiritual battle.

It is commonly argued, especially in religious circles, that people are intrinsically flawed from a moral perspective and therefore must make a continued, contentious and  hard-fought effort to be “saved”. But what Corey seems to be putting forth in this case is that he’s no longer keen on waging such an inner war.