A black S logo on a red background, with the city name printed below — this almost brutally minimalist poster appeared on the same day, September 22, in Los Angeles, New York, Hershey, Houston, Mexico City, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, Toronto, and Ontario — at least ten cities. The next day, the same poster was spotted on the streets of London. Fans matched up the locations on social media faster than the official announcements could keep up.
Every poster has the same URL printed in the corner: unlock.slipknot1.com. After entering an email to subscribe, the website displays two numbers — 9 and 28 — instantly suggesting September 28 (a Monday), the date when this batch of posters is supposedly set to "unlock" its answer. The official KNOTFEST account also reposted news of the posters' appearance on social media, effectively confirming this is a planned buildup.
Looking back at the timeline, this wave of posters follows Slipknot's surprise release of the new single "Arsenal" earlier this month — the band's first new song in three years, and their first studio output since Sid Wilson's departure and drummer Eloy Casagrande's arrival. But guitarist Jim Root specifically clarified the song's role in an interview: "'Arsenal' is a single we could put out quickly while we're working on the whole album — it's not really representative of what the other songs sound like." He also explicitly stated that the track won't be included on the new album.
This clarification actually makes the poster's meaning clearer: if "Arsenal" is just an interlude during album production, then the poster is more likely pointing toward a tour announcement rather than another single drop. The band has revealed they're working on the new album with producer Matt Wallace, describing having "more material than we know what to do with." This will be their first proper studio album since 2022's The End, So Far. During this same gap period, the band also released the unreleased track "Long May You Die" — recorded shortly after Casagrande joined, replacing former drummer Jay Weinberg — and put out the long-shelved "lost album" Look Outside Your Window for this year's Record Store Day.
The poster doesn't reveal any tour cities or dates — everything remains speculation for now, with the answer set to be revealed on September 28.
