Corey Taylor has revealed he’s planning to record his “darker” second solo album early next year.

The Slipknot frontman released his debut solo record ‘CMFT’ in October 2020 via Roadrunner Records. He’s set to play his first UK headline shows next month, beginning with a performance at The London Palladium.

During a new interview with SiriusXM (via Blabbermouth), Taylor said that he’ll head back to the studio in January and February 2023. “We’re gonna go in and bang [my second solo album] out and get it ready,” he told the station.

“And then once I’m done touring with Slipknot, I’m gonna throw together a really rad, ‘rock is back’ kind of tour for the solo stuff and start bringing out some of the younger – maybe not even some of the younger rock bands, but just some of the bands that don’t get the chance or just don’t get the looks that are afforded to either pop bands and hip-hop bands or people like me who are kind of grandfathered in.”

Taylor continued: “So I’m gonna try and really kind of fly the rock flag and give some opportunities to some of the younger bands and maybe even just the mid-level bands that just haven’t had a shot. ‘Cause there’s so many great bands out there.”

The singer went on to confirm that he’s already written all of the material to be included on the ‘CMFT’ follow-up. “It’s about 15 songs,” he said. “And it’s one of those cool things where some of it’s older stuff that I’ve written over the years.”

Taylor added: “There’s actually a couple of songs that some of the fans know because I debuted them live when I was doing the JBKB [Corey Taylor & The Junk Beer Kidnap Band] thing.”

He went on to mention two songs – ‘Beyond’ and ‘Breath Of Fresh Smoke’ – that are “finally” getting recorded and released “about 14 [to] 16 years” after they were first written.

But Taylor said there’ll also be “a bunch of newer stuff”, adding that the forthcoming album will “definitely” have a “darker edge” while still being “very melodic”.

“So there’s still great rock and roll on it,” he explained. “There’s some heavier stuff, but there’s some really great slower stuff. It’s gonna be really rad.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Taylor said that “nothing’s changed” in regard to Stone Sour‘s ongoing hiatus. Asked about the possibility of revisiting the band in the future, he replied: “I don’t know. The solo thing’s more where my heart is, to be honest.”

• READ MORE: Corey Taylor – ‘CMFT’ review: the most fun record the Slipknot frontman has ever produced

Taylor added: “There’s still so much drama and issues [between the members of Stone Sour]. To me, it’s just not something I desire to do.”

Back in February, Taylor released ‘CMFB… Sides’ –  a collection of unreleased B-sides, acoustic renditions, live versions and covers that had inspired him.

Meanwhile, Slipknot are due to release their seventh studio album ‘The End, So Far’ on September 30. The band have already previewed the record with the tracks ‘The Dying Song (Time To Sing)’, ‘Yen’ and ‘The Chapeltown Rag’.

During a recent interview, Corey Taylor said that the upcoming album – the follow-up to 2019’s ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ – “felt almost like a reset” for the metal titans.