There are a lot of people currently online gnashing their teeth and wailing about how the new Slipknot single, Arsenal, isn’t as good as their older material. How it doesn’t sound like Slipknot. How Corey Taylor’s simplistic chant of “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go” is a terrible chorus.

I am not one of these people.

In fact, I fucking love it.

I think it’s a band trying to stretch their wings. I think it’s the most DJ-heavy track they have ever done, and considering Sid Wilson was recently future-endeavored, the irony isn’t lost on me. Even though Jim Root has come out and explicitly stated that it’s a standalone single that won’t be on the new album when it finally sees the light of day, I almost wish it would be. It lays down a marker that says: Hey, maybe we’re tired of being just Slipknot and feel like stepping outside our usual wheelhouse.

Still not convinced? Fine. Let’s break down the three main complaints currently polluting the comment sections:

1. “It isn’t as good as old Slipknot.”

Yeah… didn’t y’all say the exact same shit about Snuff when it dropped? “Oh, it’s just a rejected Stone Sour acoustic track.” Sound familiar?

2. “It doesn’t sound like Slipknot.”

Good. Slipknot have built a whole career on not always sounding like Slipknot. Look at the gulf between their self-titled debut and Iowa. It’s almost night and fucking day.

3. “The chorus is annoying.”

It’s short, it’s simplistic, and it really isn’t something you should be getting your knickers in a twist over. It’s a hype chant. Move on.

There’s a ridiculous amount going on in this song that the purists are completely missing. You’ve got a slowed-down Beastie Boys sample right at the front, a wall of relentless turntable scratching throughout, an undeniably cool Eastern-influenced guitar riff, and a massive use of the percussion kegs in a way they haven’t touched in years.

And then there’s that mid-song breakdown. The track screeches to a dead halt, reality turns off, and Corey starts screaming for them to “stop the fucking music.” If that part feels strangely familiar, it’s because it’s a direct, unhinged nod to late-90s underground rap-metal, specifically the manic, tape-stop pauses of early Hed PE and Mr. Bungle. It breaks the momentum on purpose just so the rest of the song can hit you like an incoming freight train.

It’s a fucking brilliant track.

Look, I get it. It’s the internet, and people will find a way to get pissed off at a video of playing kittens or a poor kid with cancer (and no, sadly, I’m not joking). A band as massive as Slipknot will always carry a army of professional complainers, even within their own fanbase.

Fuck them.

Arsenal is a great single. If Slipknot decided tomorrow that they were going to embrace Mongolian nose-flute metal or become the backing band for a Mormon choir, I wouldn’t give a shit.

Okay… maybe I’d be a little surprised. But I wouldn’t care. This is Slipknot, one of the greatest heavy metal bands of my lifetime (and I’m fucking old). As far as I’m concerned, they can do whatever they want, and the detractors can be damned.