JOEY JORDISON // This Is Not A Side Project

Bombs are going off in Repulsion For Humanity, the new album from Joey Jordison and band, Sinasaenum.

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The famed former Slipknot drummer is used to putting together albums the tough way with most of Sinasaenum stationed overseas. But this album, the collaborative force of former members of Slipknot, Loudblast, Chimaira, and Dragonforce, conjures up something that ravages the ears and is out to inflict punishment. “It definitely is,” says Jordison. “This was a record I got to record in France with the band – the other records I did solo in Iowa.

“The atmosphere in the studio with the guys there, it pushed me even more. It felt like the band atmosphere was very thick in the room and you could tell we were making something special.”

Jordison wants nothing but for fans to really sink their teeth into Repulsion For Humanity and experience the comradery the album’s tight riffs and volatile vocals have to offer. The decision for Jordison to make the pilgrimage to France was so the album’s atmospheric beat and dedicated crafting would be memorable for not just him and the band, but for all who listen. “It really shows in the final product,” he says, “Fred [Leclercq] and Stephane [Buriez], the guitar players, they were with me right in the windows when I did my drum tracks. I would do five or six different takes with different fills here and there until Fred and Stefan were like, ‘Okay, got it.’

“It was special to have those guys right there with me, man. It was a killer experience, man. The vibe in the room was super thick, you could cut it with a knife. It was intense for sure.”

Such is Jordison’s enthusiasm for this project he’s almost two steps ahead of the conversation. In Repulsion For Humanity, the tightness of everything from production to sentiment and execution, Jordison is proving that this is a true band, it’s certainly not a “side project” as many who know of his endeavours with Slipknot may think. Sinasaenum have evolved in the last two years to become something far more than perhaps Jordison had first conceived. “That’s a really good point, I’m glad you brought that up.

You know, with this band, things, as they say – sometimes I don’t like this saying – everything happens for a reason. This one did. I try to put my finger on this sometimes, how it came to be. Slipknot and Dragonforce toured together, it’s almost like we were touring together for a reason, for this to happen.
[JOEY]

“When Slipknot and Dragonforce were touring together and me and Fred started hanging out, we tried to find that counterpart to form a death/black metal hybrid and – I talked about this in interviews a long time ago – and for some reason, me and Fred got onto the topic of extreme metal, grindcore and black metal.

“A lot of bands go on the road and talk about doing a side project and all this shit that never happens – when I met Fred and we started talking, I knew it was for real. When you find that counterpart you know you can music with, you don’t ignore that. We started mapping out what we would do, who we would include. It kind of naturally happened, but sometimes I think, ‘How in the hell did this fucking happen?’ I’m dead serious. That is literally like stars aligning somehow, and it’s actually pretty amazing how this came to be.”

Jordison loves the term kindred spirits; for Sinasaenum it’s true. Finding like-minded souls in his current bandmates, it was hard to let the ideas slip and he had to follow through with his gut feeling if he didn’t, he wouldn’t feel whole. “You nailed it,” he says, “It’s these things that, especially with musicians, you don’t even necessarily have to audition, you know who you’re going to be comfortable with, especially all these years we’ve been playing.

“I knew that me and Fred would be able to kick this off, without even playing together, it’s just one of those things. He’s an amazing musician, and an amazing songwriter. I have to tell you, man, Fred was very persistent, on me, talking all the time.”

The moniker of supergroup attributed to Sinasaenum really isn’t appropriate. That being said, when Sinasaenum grace Aussie shores in November, they intend to convey this new being without any shadow of how its members went about things with their former bands. “There definitely won’t be shadows, it’s a brand new entity,” Jordison agrees firmly and quickly. “Everyone is right now waiting with baited breath to get on the road, especially to get down to your country, where I’ve had some of my most amazing shows down there, man.

“You know, with this band, things, as they say – sometimes I don’t like this saying – everything happens for a reason. This one did. I try to put my finger on this sometimes, how it came to be. Slipknot and Dragonforce toured together, it’s almost like we were touring together for a reason, for this to happen.

“The fact is the drive of this band, all the dudes that are in this and, are stellar musicians. I’m honoured to play alongside them. It’s been a real killer experience in creating these songs, especially Repulsion For Humanity.”