Slipknot rise again to join the ARIA Albums Chart sprint

To the collective delight of maggots everywhere, Slipknot’s long-awaited sixth studio record is finally here.

ARIA midweek data suggests We Are Not Your Kind is on course to land a Top 3 debut, with sources telling TMN that it has a “good chance” of displacing Ed Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project at the top.

The veiled heavy metal act is looking to build on their already impressive charting record in Australia.

Previous studio albums All Hope Is Gone (2008) and .5: The Gray Chapter (2014) both debuted at #1, while Iowa (2001) and Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (2004) bowed in second spot.

In fact, only one of Slipknot’s studio albums has failed to reach the Top 2 in Australia, coming in the form of 1999’s eponymous record (#32).

We Are Not Your Kind is also primed for the Top 3 in the UK and Slipknot’s native USA, with critics continuing to praise the album as some of the band’s best work yet.

Other notable Albums Chart debuts this week come from Bon Iver and Aussie trio SAFIA, who are both positioned in the Top 10 at the halfway point.

The latter hit #2 on the chart in 2016 with their debut record Internal.