Tool - Fear Inoculum

chris said:
Their whole “no streaming” thing left a bad taste in my mouth for a while. Yet I completely understand. So haven’t listened to Tool for years and years. Glad we have something now that can be accessed like all my other favorite artists
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It didn’t really upset me, but it was a major inconvenience. I’ve completely switched over to Tidal for music. Spotify before that. Because of that, I hadn’t listened to Tool in years. Before this album, I was about to finally rip all my Tool cds to my phone. I now have them downloaded in the Tidal app.
 
iaresee said:
I can definitely see this point of view. Lot of very long tracks on the album. It’s more instrumental than anything previous.
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I’m cool with instrumentals. I’m a giant Phish fan and we all know how lo their songs can be. But the difference is that their ideas develop and change. Someone else in this thread nailed it for me. There’s lots of unfinished ideas. Kind of my same issue with Metallica Hardwired. Some great riffs that don’t go anywhere. They just repeat a bunch. And Maynard does sound like it was a half hearted effort. Same cadence for all the songs. You could cut a paste the vocals between many of the songs and no one would know the difference.

I hope it grows on me cause I love them. But the last album that I couldn’t put down was Lateralus.10,000 Days is good, but I feel like all the gripes I’m making started to surface on that album.
 
Listened to it on my way to work this morning.... sounds like Tool obviously....lol

Pretty good overall, I think it’s got a nice vibe tying all the songs together, as an album, instead of just a few singles and filler. I like that...

Some of the atmospheric stuff sounds a little cliche, but I do some sound track work, synth stuff etc, so I’m used to hearing a lot of that stuff, and sometimes certain synths or sample libraries can start to be used a bit too often....

One thing I really liked at the album was the restraint... just when you think the guitar and drums are going to go into full on chugg mode... double bass runs etc, it stays kind of held back, your waiting for a break down that just doesn’t seem to come.... kind of cool sense of tension by that and Tool is really good with doing this

I’ll listen again on the way home.... can’t say I think it will be heavy rotation but I’ve never been a huge Tool fan either, so take that for what it’s worth.

I will say I liked it better than some of their latest works, but I’m kind of partial to their real old stuff like “prison sex” which to me was the classic Tool sound, and it was so fresh and new and emotionally powerful..... growing up on typical metal stuff and silly Slayer lyrics it was like “whoa” hearing this type of lyrical content.... which of course then yielded stuff like Korn and Jonathan Davis etc.... but really have to credit that to Maynard and Tool....pioneers

Just long story short, seems like a great new album for Tool fans
 
I just got mine as well. I have to pull a graveyard at work to match up with some people on the other side of the planet, so here alone. I've got it cranked in my office, and I have to say, I'm digging the whole mood it sets. It's obviously Tool from note one and I haven't heard anything so far that would make me not recognize in about half a second. Digging it.
 
I like it, but it definitely has that 10,000 Days kind of feel with constantly repeating, mantra like, riffs.

The song that really jumped out at me for being superlative is "7empest". The song sounds like the career of Tool condensed into one song. If you like Undertow, Ænima, Lateralus,or 10,000 Days, then each era has a song section that should make a fan happy.

It's one of those albums that is almost crushed by the gravity of expectations placed on the band after a long gap between releases (akin to Chinese Democracy). Once you divorce the album of such expectations, it does grow on you.
 
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attn. @2112
 
Any clues as to the guitar tone on this album? It's got this kind of buzziness to it that's interesting.
 
Jimmytwotimes said:
Anyone know why this cd is like $150 ??
I can't seem to find anywhere a " normal" cd price?
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In typical Tool fashion it isn't just a CD in a case, it has a built-in video player, so from what I remember reading they didn't or couldn't make enough of them for the initial demand.
 
iaresee said:
It’s out of stock so resellers cashing in.
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ahhh - gottcha... I'm sitting here like - why does every place I look either not have it - or are selling it for like $150...
I was expecting it to at least be on Amazon for like $15 max... Well I'll be waiting for the "regular" version to come out I guess... haha
Thanks all !
 
I was initially kind of cold on the album when I heard the first single, but after listening to it a few times I really like it. It's a pretty different direction for Tool I think, way less aggressive than their previous works, and more of an ambient / drone / mantra thing going on as others have pointed out. Maynard has definitely mellowed out a lot and his voice isn't what it used to be, so that in itself kind of necessitates a bit of a change in style. A lot less angry screaming :) Tool has always been a big influence on me musically, I love repeating patterns and riffs that gradually change over time.

If there's one major gripe I have about the album it's that I wish they would have explored more in different directions harmonically. They're basically still using the same chords / scales / tonality they always have. It definitely has that Tool vibe, but it would have been nice to hear them try something out in other directions.
 
I love the tone and production of the album. That's the big take away for me. The songs however sound like a bunch of intros that never evolve. Fair enough. It's all artistic expression.
 
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