Clown Exposure: Made to Last

We've always thought Slipknot masks were freaky, but this is some scary stuff. Disembodied and up close, drummer Joey Jordison's latest mask reminds us of the Indian legend of the evil Manitou, the spirit of a netherworld that's close enough to haunt our dreams and shatter our reality.

It's part Jason Voorhees, part cursed relic, and while the mouth appears sewn shut and the forehead is only held together by stitches, there's enough bad mojo in there to wipe out entire civilizations. We're not too sure what the ten raised, circular objects above the eye sockets are, but if they were elevator buttons, we know where they'd all lead -- straight down.

"Joey actually said something very interesting recently that really blew me away," Crahan tells Noisecreep when discussing his photo. "Someone asked him, 'Well, what's your new mask about?' And he said, 'It's everything I am that you don't want to know.' And that hit me hard."

For Crahan, 'Made to Last' represents the evolution of Jordison's creative vision. "When we first started, he just wore a straight up white mask and it slowly started going and going," Crahan says. "To me, this looks like an artifact. It looks like something that's made out of bone that's lasted forever and it's still gonna last. It's serious stability, but at the same time very detached and just beautifully gone."

Like the rest of the band, Jordison has experimented with different looks and has taken his Japanese Kabuki concept into a new realm of expression. "I feel like this is light years from where he was in the beginning, and that doesn't mean it's better, but you can feel the time spent behind what we are in this," Crahan says. "That's what I was looking for. Time, time, time, time, and as far as I'm concerned, time well spent."

Crahan shot 'Made to Last' by placing Jordison's mask on a clean black carpet and focusing on entire image. Then he boosted the contrast a little to give it a starker, more dramatic look. "I really like this photo," he says. "I've been with him forever, so I really enjoy what he's done with his concept of where he's going and how he's manipulated his evolution, and I really feel it in this."