Gray died in a hotel room in the band's home town, Iowa, after an accidental overdose. He'd been struggling with addiction issues for some time. His passing sent Slipknot into freefall, from which they've only recently begun recovering with the recent launch of .5: The Gray Chapter, named after him.

Taylor's feelings are recorded in the album track Goodbye. He tells MusikUniverse: "It's about the day we lost him. We were all sitting in my house - me, Clown and Fehn has just come from the hotel where they found him. We got everyone to meet at my house; we were trying to keep them away from the hotel. The three of us, we didn't listen - we went right down there.