We're still waiting on your report, buddy.

Alright, here it goes.

Overall, I do think it's probably very slightly better than 10,000 Days, but there's still a lot about it I wish were better. Let's get into it.

The title track just lacks dynamics as an opener. It sounds nice at any given moment, and I like how subtle it is vs. something as jagged and scrambled as The Grudge, which with a ton of retrospect feels like a very patched-together song. However, I really wish it exploded with a lot more force than it does.

Pneuma is a step up, but ultimately I think it's sort of disappointing that the "payoff" in this song is sort of that chorus riff that comes back a few times and is pretty much the same each time. There are parts of this that really feel jammy, which feels like a strange turn for Tool. The tracks that have gone this way before tended to be the longer, more exploratory passages, rather than like "main tracks" if that makes sense. Also, Maynard seems really subdued in this song.

Invincible has a number of issues. For one, while it starts strong, later in the song Maynard seems to lose a lot of steam and doesn't ever explode vocally like I wanted him to do here. Also, that marching chug riff - I really like it, but the production really hurts it. It has the first part, then the drums drop out for the guitar solo part, then the drums come back in for the super dumb caveman stomp part under the same riff, but the production on the guitars remains unchanged. They really, really needed to pull an Aenima trick here and throw in a ton more rhythm guitar overdubs at this section to make it heavy as living fuck, but they didn't.

Ok, let's talk interludes for a second. What the fuck are these? Basically everything here sounds like something that would be a "hidden track" after a bunch of silence on the last track from an album from the 90's. Basically thrown together stuff that doesn't seem like very much effort was put in, with very little connection to the music around these tracks - probably a necessity due to the two different versions of the album. But man, I really do miss the quirky humor of "Harry Manback," the cheery-yet-scary circus organ of "Intermission" that also previewed the main riff/melody of the haunting "Jimmy," and the beauty of stuff like "Eon Blue Apocalypse" that just melded so damn well with the songs before and after. Every single interlude track on this is totally throwaway material, and that's a cryin' shame.

Descending - Another mixed bag. I like how Maynard's a lot more interesting and forceful on this track than he is in a lot of other places on the album. I really think exsiccation two posts back made a really great point about the band leaving room for Maynard, and with the general sentiment that this album feels more "post-rock" than anything they've done in a long time. I certainly think that drawn-out writing process results in the Maynard-less band eventually coming to write a lot of music that doesn't really have room for (or need, really) vocals, while maybe the shorter writing and recording cycles of earlier albums naturally resulted in them leaving more room for him. Descending is really one case where it feels like his vocals are on equal footing with the rest of the instrumentation. But, despite this high water mark for the vocals, most of the rest of the song is somewhat forgettable and comes the closest to A Perfect Circle of any track on the album (not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but we already have a band for that). Also, the first guitar solo in this might be Tool's least interesting one ever, and the synthesizer sounds wayyyy too similar to "Reflection." At least the last third or so is really, really good!

Culling Voices...ugh, what a waste! I really like the intro of this one, probably the best example of a really engaging introduction piece (so much tension!) shifting into the actual song, where we get another fairly strong Maynard performance. But then, it just meanders and meanders, like a slightly more normal/song-like "Disposition." And then, once again, the production doesn't really help out a ton when the dynamics ramp up halfway through the track, or maybe it's that the loud part that comes in is just like, regular old power chords playing something kind of dull? Maybe this track, and the album as a whole, are sort of symptomatic of trying and failing to have your cake and eat it, too. The more mellow bits work fine enough, but not so much so that they could be stretched out to ten minutes on their own to become "real" Tool tracks, so instead there's some sort of lazy big loud powerchord parts thrown in to have something to build up to and make a crescendo and all that. The song probably should've been way shorter, maybe as part of a suite of tracks, instead of shoehorned into being a full length Tool track.

7empest - Ok, first of all, I hate this song title. The fuck is this? Some kind of advanced wordplay that's far beyond me, or just some nonsense 1337 5p34|<? That out of the way, this is probably the best track on this thing, though again, I have some reservations! Cool riffs everywhere, yeah, and musically just way more engaging than something like Rosetta Stoned. And sure, yeah, it is good to hear Maynard bellowing nearly on the same level he did on Opiate and Undertow about things that irritate him (I guess?), these lyrics are just lame as shit. Cookies and cream? This reads a lot like soundcloud rapper stuff, which maybe it is, who knows. Luckily the riffs in this just have enough energy to carry it for that length, because there's just way less going on here than in something like Third Eye. Just sorta riff slideshow-esque for a Tool track, strung together with little chunks of lead guitar and a token sorta ambient breakdown/solo in the center part. Thankfully the guitar stays as juicy as it does throughout, or this could be a real borefest.

Mockingbeat is a horrible ending to the album.

On the whole, I'd make a comparison to one of my favorite bands, Mogwai - ignoring the fact that these guys have gotten pretty dull in recent years, for a good while they were pretty good about putting out engaging albums, then putting the more "mood music" onto soundtracks for films and shows about French soccer players and (also French) quasi-zombies. Playing to the audience, etc. Tool, on the other hand, has never soundtracked anything, but I feel like doing so might help them, creatively. Put out some lower-energy instrumental tracks as soundtrack material, then put the shorter and more controlled/direct tracks on proper studio albums. But eh, unless they totally revamp their approach to writing and recording, try to get things finished faster and incorporate Maynard in a more significant way earlier in the songwriting process, I don't think they're ever going to rise back above making stuff like this that serves well enough as background noise but will never capture my mind or heart like past opuses.

I first got the version without the interludes and could listen to them later. What a waste!

I suppose the album is Ok but was it REALLY necessary to wait 13 years for this?!? Or worth? I don't think so.

Oh, it's not *THAT* bad. It will get more replays than 10,000 Days or Opiate, and maybe even Undertow. Nowhere near the classic status of Aenima or Lateralus, though, and based on how the band is operating in terms of songwriting, I doubt they ever will be again.

Yeah, I like all their albums but this yatus... Let's hope for, at least, another one.

Track by track. Dismissed.

I keep forgetting to listen to this album. What the hell is wrong with me.. I will respond to this report once I get off .. wait .. back on my ass and do so.


Similarly, it came on when I was on a road trip in New England last month. Tool makes terrible radio music. It's not mixed for it. It's mixed for .. like .. surround sound stereos in sound-proofed hot tub outbuildings.

While I listen to the new album I think it's fine - I like it. But it really has nothing that draws me back in. It's been a couple of weeks now and I haven't listened to it once. That's not a good sign. I see two major and one minor problem with it. I think it lacks hooks. It's just not all that memorable once the music has actually stopped. And second, I do love how slow and methodically the music builds but I also think that the album generally misses that release or climax which is absolutely necessary if one is to build song in that way. The minor problem are the interludes. I don't mind interludes - I actually love interludes when used right. In this case however they do nothing for me. In this regard they remind me of the pointless in-between-tracks that Morbid Angel often uses :-/

^Nailed it. It's interesting but not catchy. It's very Tool but not in a way that grabs you. The music builds and blends nicely but doesn't get to a powerful place. I found it ok.

I bought this this past weekend, have yet to open it yet.

As far as Fear Inoculum, I thought it was just passable. A lot of folks seem to rag on 10,000 Days in this thread, and while I would agree that some of the album is blatant filler/weak, the highs of 10,000 Days are much higher than the highs on Fear Inoculum. Fear never has any soaring "eureka" moments like all of the past Tool albums. It's pretty samey same throughout each song, you don't get the orgasmic climaxes you did on previous albums like in the song "Eulogy" towards the end when that closing verse hits, it's extremely powerful. Gives me goosebumps every time, there's an anticipation and build up to that climax and I can't wait for it every time I play that song. There's really no shocking/surprising moments like that on Fear, it's very streamlined and jammy, kind of like Tool, but on tranquilizers or clonazepam or something. 10,000 Days two opening songs are bombastic and high energy with extremely varied and surprising songwriting. Fear feels very predictable.

I'm going to see them for the first time in Austin tonight, I couldn't be more pumped!

Seen 'em twice, once on the Lateralus tour and once on some rando summer event thing in between albums. They put on a good show. A complete audio/visual experience. They sounded better outdoors.

I saw them last summer at an outdoors festival and it was great. The visuals were a bit underwhelming and nothing out of the ordinary but the band was great.

The setlists are a joke though, they've been playing the same stuff for almost 10 years.

Actually, they were playing some songs that they hadn't played in over a decade on the last tour:

https://loudwire.com/tool-merkaba-first ... ince-2002/

https://loudwire.com/tool-swamp-song-li ... ince-2007/

On this one though, it was about what you would expect. There was nothing in the set from Opiate or Undertow, and they played four songs from the new album. I was honestly okay with anything that they would have played, because I love all their albums. The show was incredible, I was up in the nosebleed section, but there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. If you get the chance and haven't seen them yet, I would highly recommend it. They are definitely one of the greatest live acts of our time.

Are there any Tool fans that actually didn't like it? I'm talking about people who genuinely like Tool.

I consider myself a Tool fan and wasn't really blown away byt it. Since its initial release I haven't even gone back to listen to it.

They've played those 2-3 times each afaik and aren't regular songs in their setlist. They've been playing Ænema, Parabol+Parabola, Jambi, Schism, Vicarious, Stinkfist, The Pot and Forty Six & 2 for ages with little to no variation. They're pretty much a greatest hits band nowadays, like it or not. At least they play a couple of songs from the new album but their shows could be a lot better.

I was/am a massive Tool fan, I've no doubt listened to them more than any other band, though it'd been years since I listened to them much at all. I really never cared for 10,000 days when it came out, and was somewhat underwhelmed by FI at first. It's grown on me a lot though, and I find it significantly better than 10,000 days, if not up to their masterpieces of Lateralus and Ænima. 7empest definitely the standout, though the album is quite solid all the way through. The new songs are great live having seen them just the other day, they played all but two. I'd have liked to see something off of undertow/opiate, but I can't complain. It's definitely a grower though, not as immediately catchy as their others.

My brothers did see them last year and they played Sweat, I can't imagine they play that much. One I'd like to see them play that they haven't in forever is jimmy. Their setlists have some that stay on there consistently, but they play other stuff too-- they've recently play Third Eye, The Patient, Opiate, etc.

I'm waiting for my chance.

I was a Tool fan, since shortly after Undertow. Can't recall that I thought it was a breakthrough album or anything, but fuck I was so goddamn sick to the back teeth of all the grunge shit we were forced to suffer through back in the early 90s. The younger set is probably thinking what? Soundgarden? Alice in Chains? but remember those guys were the outliers. For every one of those there were a thousand intolerable one hit clones that MTV and popular media shoved at us all day, every day.

Tool was a breath of fresh air. Truly original, talented, and giving zero fucks. And they upped their game with Ænima, without getting gimmicky. Lateralus is a masterpiece. I even like 10,000 Days.

And no, I didn't like the new album.

This is cool.



I still listen to the new album regularly. It may not be as good as Aenima and Lateralus but I definetely think it's better than Undertow and 10,000 Days.

What an incredible video of Danny Carey. Guy is just an unreal talent. The limb independence he has is unparalleled. Blows my mind.

That also happens to be my favorite song on the new album by far. It's undoubtedly a great song.

Still yet to properly listened to it, I've enjoyed what I've heard though. Still, not to shit on their evolution as a band, but I've always preferred the first two albums, largely because they're the band's most metallic.

Which is weird, because generally a gradual softening to a band's sound doesn't bother me. That said, Undertow and Aenima are both straight 10/10's for me, so it's kinda hard to top that.

Fwiw, I've never got the hype for Lateralus - it's a cool album for sure, but it feels overlong at times.

That's a weird thing to say and I completely disagree. Lateralus is their most "metal" imho, both Aenima and Undertow have the strongest alt rock/grunge feeling of their entire discography. I would never describe those albums as metal whereas their later stuff sound a lot closer to progressive metal.

idk, in hindsight Undertow not so much, but I certainly get a metallic vibe from Aenima (probably due to the production, gives the guitar a really heavy sound on the louder tracks). Lateralus I felt was certainly a step down in heaviness over Aenima. And it's been ages since I listened to 10,000 Days, I honestly can't remember much of it.