New Tool Album (No, Really)

[muted]

First round of tour dates announced for next month.
https://toolband.com/events/tool-north-american-tour/

I'm not too motivated to see them in a stadium again, ugh. I vaguely remember them doing the first leg of the tour in stadiums, then coming back much later to do the Red Rocks/Gorge/etc. but it's a gamble to wait and see...so looks like a future date night with the wife is Oct 18th for me.

[SkiBall]

Killing Joke opening is bad-ass.
Now pray I get tickets and hopefully a pre-sale code.

[AK47bp]

Really enjoying Descending now.

“Sound the dread alarm, through the primal body..”

Makes me want to rip my rib cage open and molt into a claymation worm and move in stop-motion.

Tool gives me flashbacks sometimes, took a lot of acid in the 90’s while listening to them.


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[Tippster]

Dammit - the DC stop is Monday of Thanksgiving week. We plan on being on vacation that week, either in Santa Barbara or (hopefully) Costa Rica.

[Buzzworthy]

I think I made it through 3 songs so far. I think I am also tripping balls.

I listened to it watching the live Burning Man steam, def trippy.

Dammit - the DC stop is Monday of Thanksgiving week. We plan on being on vacation that week, either in Santa Barbara or (hopefully) Costa Rica.

I hear ya Tipp. Wife is out of town at a conference the night of the SLC show. I have spawn and dogs duty. Shit.

[undertow2]

My jaw is still on the ground from the new album... I have not stopped playing it since it was released and by far my two favorite songs are Pneuma and 7empest and will go as far as to say 7empest is probably one of my favorite TOOL songs...

It is so diff from 10,000 days and the songs just take you all over the place... And Danny absolutley crushed it...! I have always been a huge fan of his but he just owns it on Inoculum...

Pittsburgh and Cinci TOOL dates booked...


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[AK47bp]

7empest has a sort of Opiate vibe with the lyrics. Cut it to half the length it would fit in there maybe.


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[Ripzalot]

[406]

^^^ha, that is almost word for word conversations I have had with my wife.

[zion zig zag]

I'm very solidly in the "meh" category on this album. Although, I'm not sure that I'm the target audience because, if I ranked Tool albums it'd go; 1. Opiate 2. Undertow 3. Aenima 4. Can't really tell a difference.

[The Reverend Floater]

This is very much a coherent evolution of their music. If you take Opiate alone, then FI, they're not horribly similar (save a few moments). Listen to Lateralus and FI and they sound like long lost brothers. The band is older, more refined, more talented and less forgiving. Also, arguably wiser and maybe more pensive, if that's possible.

It'll take me about four years to form an opinion on my ranking of the album relative to the others but I agree, this is way less Maynard's than Danny's, and I'm fine with that...Danny has to be one of the very best percussionists in Rock history. The toned down vocals make way for the others' prominence.

Every interview I've ever heard by any member maintains that they are very much a collective--maybe OCD and dysfunctionally so, but still, no "leader" dynamic. Peeps like to assume Maynard is the man but if you listen to him talk, he has definite disdain for that assumption. See them in concert and it's pretty visual how horizontal this band is. I feel like this album really encompasses that magic.

[muted]

this is way less Maynard's than Danny's, and I'm fine with that...the toned down vocals make way for the others' prominence.
.

I agree, and I would guess Maynard's voice can't carry a song/album or make a song something much, much more, like it once could. That's why this is less Maynard's. This guess is based on all the old vocal-cord-wrecking songs he can't/won't sing live anymore. He couldn't write/sing another Stinkfist or Aenema if he wanted too, right? His body won't let him perform it like did, so he's moved out of the way on this album. The band doesn't have to complement his crazy range or match an intense scream/tone anymore (wasn't every song they had to in the past, I know), they can let songs take a different path now as they write. In a lot of ways it's a huge bummer and why there's isn't an intense gut-wrenching rocking single on this album. On the other hand, they are talented enough to come out with something interesting without Maynard leading the way, and in the past they did this on some mellower songs already, so it's not out of place.

90's Tool is never coming back, they have gotten old, but they are evolving.

[Norseman]

It's worth noting that Maynard has never "led the way" with their tunes... he's always written vocal parts in reaction to finished musical tracks, and I think it's valuable for the listener to consider this.

Also... they are getting older, and have more mature artistic expression than when they were 30 and full of anger when writing Opiate. To play and compose at their level, at their age, is mind blowing. Danny is 58.

They are talented dudes, all. This record is amazing. They've always kinda cringed at being lumped in with "metal"... this ain't no 4/4 buttrock. I still hear new shit in the old albums... this one is on another plane.

[muted]

... he's always written vocal parts in reaction to finished musical tracks, and I think it's valuable for the listener to consider this.

If he wrote the lyrics to Aenema after the track was laid down and finished....that is incredible. And same with some other dynamic songs.

You sure about this, all tracks were done, 'finished' and then he added lyrics?

[Norseman]

I don't think they're 100% "finished" until they're actually tracked, but yeah, they've described their writing process in various interviews. I'll see if I can dig up a couple.

[Norseman]

Interview snips in this YouTube vid come from a longer BBC show:

https://youtu.be/xW6FOQ5sGKw

From JRE:

https://youtu.be/HRYbQWBq3UI

[The Reverend Floater]

It's worth noting that Maynard has never "led the way" with their tunes... he's always written vocal parts in reaction to finished musical tracks, and I think it's valuable for the listener to consider this.

Also... they are getting older, and have more mature artistic expression than when they were 30 and full of anger when writing Opiate. To play and compose at their level, at their age, is mind blowing. Danny is 58.

They are talented dudes, all. This record is amazing. They've always kinda cringed at being lumped in with "metal"... this ain't no 4/4 buttrock. I still hear new shit in the old albums... this one is on another plane.

True and well said. My wife always asks why they're so special to me and it's nearly impossible to articulate other than how I still discover nuances in their music, twenty plus years later. It seems to have unlimited complexities.

[The Reverend Floater]

I agree, and I would guess Maynard's voice can't carry a song/album or make a song something much, much more, like it once could. That's why this is less Maynard's. This guess is based on all the old vocal-cord-wrecking songs he can't/won't sing live anymore. He couldn't write/sing another Stinkfist or Aenema if he wanted too, right? His body won't let him perform it like did, so he's moved out of the way on this album. The band doesn't have to complement his crazy range or match an intense scream/tone anymore (wasn't every song they had to in the past, I know), they can let songs take a different path now as they write. In a lot of ways it's a huge bummer and why there's isn't an intense gut-wrenching rocking single on this album. On the other hand, they are talented enough to come out with something interesting without Maynard leading the way, and in the past they did this on some mellower songs already, so it's not out of place.

90's Tool is never coming back, they have gotten old, but they are evolving.

When I saw them last, Maynard was still hitting probably 90% of the notes. I remember being blown away by H. and Jiambi. But you're likely right.. probably not as easy as it used to be.

[SkiBall]

Take what the world gives. Like it, love it, leave it, rank it. It is new Tool music, and I will take what they give and enjoy it as I see fit. Just happy we have this music put out into the universe.

I just better get fucking tickets when they go on sale Friday. My last experience with this kind of show and Altitude tickets was a disappointing goose egg. (Pearl Jam).

[AK47bp]

Opiate and Undertow are my favorites, however, all the albums after are serious works of art, they require more immersion for a bigger payoff. After the long building and set up, the crescendos are just amazing.

The best thing about this new album to me is they still sound like Tool, haven’t missed a beat, I can close my eyes and can be back in the 90’s. We needed this, I needed this. music nowadays just sucks balls in my opinion.

Tool is super nostalgic for me, I was 14 when Undertow came out.

Forgot to add this. Should be on on every page
https://youtu.be/u7lweNCCwS0

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[Ripzalot]

i'm determined to be the last tool fan alive who hasn't heard the new album.

[muted]

I don't think they're 100% "finished" until they're actually tracked, but yeah, they've described their writing process in various interviews. I'll see if I can dig up a couple.

That blows my theory out of the water, but I still have to think they polished and fit the music somewhat to fit maynards tone on earlier albums, even if it was just a few songs. I can see 100% how he could have written everything after the tracks were finished on the last album though.

When I saw them last, Maynard was still hitting probably 90% of the notes. I remember being blown away by H. and Jiambi. But you're likely right.. probably not as easy as it used to be.

For a 55 year old he sounds really good, don't get me wrong, but he set a high frickin' bar in his twenties that had to be hard to maintain night-after-night performing live. I saw Tool last fall (maybe it was fall of 2017?), I can't say he blew me away like he used to. Still great though.

Tix on sale in 2.2 hours...

[skideeppow]

i just bought the album on I Tunes. I thought they didnt sell their stuff on I tunes?

[Tippster]

Forgot to add this. Should be on on every page
https://youtu.be/u7lweNCCwS0

So fucking strong.

Reminds me of this show: Lollapalooza Tour 06/26/1993 – Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre... first time I saw them Live.

What a show: Primus, Alice in Chains, Dinosaur Jr., Fishbone, Arrested Development, Front 242 (first half), George Clinton (second half), Babes in Toyland (first half), Tool (second half), Rage Against the Machine

[Norseman]

That blows my theory out of the water, but I still have to think they polished and fit the music somewhat to fit maynards tone on earlier albums, even if it was just a few songs. I can see 100% how he could have written everything after the tracks were finished on the last album though.

I have to correct myself after hearing this interview published today, in which Maynard clarifies the statements he made previously:

https://youtu.be/iWYvB6sfOks

He said that he started writing lyrics to fully finished tracks when Billy Howerdel brought them to him for A Perfect Circle... so that'd be late 90's.

With the early Tool material, he was at least somewhat involved in arrangement work.