Guitarist Jim Root Is Sacked From Stone Sour

Stone Sour have confirmed the departure of guitarist Jim Root, who also plays guitar in Slipknot, a band fronted by Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor. An official statement was released via Taylor’s Twitter channel.

“As some of you might have heard by now, Stone Sour and Jim Root have indeed parted ways. We were trying to wait until the completion of the new Slipknot album, but in light of recent events, we are going to confirm this information and move on. We feel it’s best for both bands and hope that is reflected in the days to come. We will give you more information when the time comes,” it read.

The frontman quickly followed-up the statement by insisting that he and Root “are still working together in Slipknot” and provided good news for Slipknot fans — who’ve been waiting for the band’s long-teased follow-up to 2008′s All Hope Is Gone — by writing, “and the album is almost done.”

News of Root’s departure came after the guitarist replied to a commenter on his Instagram account, who asked if he would be taking time off from Stone Sour as he’d done during a recent North American tour. “I’m not in that band anymore,” Root replied. “Not my decision. Not happy about it.”

As Blabbermouth reports, Root reportedly chose to sit out a recent Stone Sour tour to concentrate on writing music for the forthcoming Slipknot album. Root was replaced by The Chelsea Smiles Christian Martucci, a decision Taylor reportedly told radio station 93X “everybody was cool with.”