Slipknot fans have spent years waiting for “Look Outside Your Window,” a mysterious side album recorded alongside the band’s 2008 album “All Hope Is Gone.” But while the album has gained near-mythic status in nu-metal lore, its release remains perpetually just out of reach. Even members of the band are growing tired of waiting—most notably guitarist Jim Root, who recently shared his mounting frustration.
“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,” Root told Metal Hammer. Percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, the project’s self-appointed steward, has reportedly pushed back on this idea, responding, “Don’t dude, just don’t.”
Crahan has been “messing with mixes” for years, according to Root, but there’s growing concern that the project has lost its momentum. “Maybe he’s losing focus on it or whatever,” Root speculated, adding, “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.”
Recorded at Iowa’s Sound Farm Studio, “Look Outside Your Window, involved Root, Crahan, vocalist Corey Taylor, and turntablist Sid Wilson. Unlike the ferocity of “All Hope Is Gone,” the project is said to have a more experimental, melodic tone, with Taylor describing it as having a “Radiohead vibe.” Yet, despite being fully mixed, mastered, and even paired with album artwork, it continues to gather dust.
Crahan had initially aimed for a release during the promotional cycle for “We Are Not Your Kind” in 2019. However, that window passed, as did the cycle for its successor, “The End, So Far,” in 2022. By late 2023, Crahan promised the album would finally see the light in 2024. Yet here we are, still waiting.
Adding to the mystique, one track from the album, “’Til We Die,” made it onto the deluxe edition of “All Hope Is Gone” and is often heard at the close of Slipknot’s concerts. But for fans eager to hear the rest, the ongoing delays have been agonizing.
Root’s comments underscore the growing impatience within the band itself. “Maybe I’ll go find [Crahan] after we are done talking, and I’ll be like, ‘Let’s listen to Look Outside Your Window, and let’s release it tonight,’” he mused, half-joking but fully exasperated.
For now, Slipknot enthusiasts must keep waiting for what has become nu metal’s equivalent of a lost treasure—a project tantalizingly close yet seemingly out of reach. Will “Look Outside Your Window” ever escape its purgatory?