Tool - Fear Inoculum (August 30th, 2019)

Yeah really liking it so far (think i might already prefer it to 10,000 days) 

I actually quite liked the more chilled and minimal use of vocals. Think it suites the vibe of the album and  really enjoying the instrumental sections.  

ignored all posts since leak 

*presses play*

subconsciously I have high hopes for this, not sure why, the title track was like an exploding light of brilliance within the dark murk of the watmm thread. Tool seemed dead and buried. Yet that tune seemed to suggest otherwise...

  On 8/30/2019 at 7:39 PM, kirm said:

Yeah really liking it so far (think i might already prefer it to 10,000 days) 

I'm feeling the same after revisiting 10,000 Days yesterday and having one listen to Fear Inoculum this morning. This feels more solid, confident, and accomplished, whereas 10,000 Days had some cringe moments and dragged. That said, I'm not the Tool fan I used to be so I'm not going to be obsessing over this. I'll probably have another listen next week.

The open string "duh-duh-duh-duh... duh-duh-duh-duh..." guitar cliches and comedic autotune moments hurt the album a lot for me, along with that signature song ending thing they keep doing.  But the drum arrangements are excellent, and I really dig the more psychedelic passages.  The way the album kicks off with that really stark sample leading into the organ-like guitar swells is perfect.  Their albums always have fantastic intros. 

Danny Carey really spazzes out on this one. 

Adam Jones can be a little... stubborn(?) at times if you know what I mean. Like he’s not actually that musically inclined but that riff goes there anyway? I dunno, he has his moments on here though for sure. 

i like it a lot.

Good endings for a lot of these tracks.

Chocolate Chip Trip make Vsnares cry.

7empest really is epic isn't it

Tüül 

I think it's ace

Quite good, hated 10,000 Days so this is better. Almost ambient, good background music.

What are the extra instrumental tracks like?

they are just interludes of various interest. just haven't listened enough to see how they alter the flow of the album. i guess they have a point since they released them.

  On 8/29/2019 at 9:49 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

Also yeah, shame about the clipping.  I really like how the album sounds overall, but the crackles are completely unnecessary and so easy to avoid.  That must have been in the engineering stage.   I can't imagine someone with as much experience as Bob Ludwig would let that fly on his end.  At least it's not an issue throughout every song... I think there was only one song near the beginning where it happened several times.

I don't know in which state were the tapes/recordings, but the remasters he did around 2004/2005 for the first Black Sabbath albums  were not flawless...

danny programs a nice modular song. 

Plan B Toolbox Modular Synthesizer, built for Danny Carey of Tool

Holy Detonator!!!

This blew me socks off!!!

Finally had first listen. A much better album than 10000 days wtf. And I think 10k days is decent with some good songs.

7empest is killer. the interlude tracks are the best they've done as well. no wankey weirdness this time, just good interludes.

Yep as soon as the album finished I went straight back to 7empest

wow

Loving this more with each listen. Is far better than I expected and may even be one of my fav albums by them, but time will tell!

Also agree (and suprised) that the interludes are good!..Well apart from mockingbeat which feels a bit pointless after the beast which is 7empest! 

If you want one of these CD's at the original asking price I think the only place left is Sister Ray. 

They went pretty fast!

burning man: friend of mine posted this..  cracks me up for various reasons. 

Joining this convo way too late, my daughter arrived around the same time this album was announced and dropped. 

Upon initial listening, I don't think this is the best tool album ever, I do think its one I feel blessed to have. 7empest might be the second best tool song ever.

I've never listened to a Tool album before but I threw this on last night and it was exactly like I expected a Tool album to sound.

Quite like it. Couple of really nice moments on there, especially that tune with the drum and percussion solo over the modular loop.

I don't think there is a bad minute on this whole album (maybe somewhere on those shorter tracks, but I'll turn a blind eye to that). It's just so fucking grrreat!!!

Available on Norman:

https://www.normanrecords.com/records/177777-tool-fear-inoculum

lol

  On 9/3/2019 at 4:22 PM, beer badger said:

I don't think there is a bad minute on this whole album (maybe somewhere on those shorter tracks, but I'll turn a blind eye to that). It's just so fucking grrreat!!!

yeah... what a treat. i can see why danny laid down his tracks for the whole album first thing. danny is always changing the way he plays songs, and there are a lot of little touches. very appropriate that it was mixed and mastered to have the drums in the forefront, instead of getting buried. the bass on this album finally does justice to justin's live sound. danny and justin are kind of the core of the band, and you can tell that they spent 10 years sharpening their tools and working on music.

just got my physical copy. wow! the packaging video is a full-bore video with a long ambient track. gorgeous packaging/art.