[Originally posted on Facebook: 09/03/2019]

So I haven’t done one of these in a little while. With all the moving I had to do last week, I almost forgot that the new Tool album released last week.

Favorite songs:

• 1. Fear Inoculum
• 2. 7empest
• 3. Pneuma

Pros: Tool’s first album in 13 years. Does it live up to the hype? Honestly, it’s tough to say, but one thing can be said for certain, it’s a good album.Without a doubt the title track is the best on the album and one of my personal favorites of all of Tool. Even though it clocks in at just over 10 minutes long, it’s one of the least self-indulgent tracks on the record. Which, by the way, all of the actual songs are over 10 minutes, with “7empest” clocking over 15.

And yet somehow Tool makes it work. Each song feels like the guys in tool took 3 or 4 songs from each album, put them back to back, and then “remade” them, with just a sprinkle of new sounds and vocals here and there. It can be said though, that this is easily Tool’s most progressive work, no other album goes as over the top as this one in that regard, so progressive rock / metal fans will love it.

Least Favorite songs: N/A

Cons: Fear Inoculum (the album as a whole) is a really weird beast, in that I don’t dislike any of the songs, but I feel like some of them could be a lot more especially if they had been separated into simpler more digestible songs. I’m also disappointed in the lack of angry Maynard, and hell really Maynard at all, I feel like his vocals take even more of a backseat than they usually do. That’s why I said self-indulgent above, because you don’t ever feel like you’re missing a drum beat or guitar fill. Some could say that’s being satisfied, but to me, it kinda feels like Adam and Danny said “Nope, I’m gonna put in 3 minutes of just this riff, and that’s that.” I’m not satisfied with the album, but I’m content.

Rating: 7.9 / 10

Overall: The Tool of “Fear Inoculum” in a lot of ways has completely abandoned (or one could even say “evolved beyond”) the Tool of old. Even though Tool has always been progressive, they were always able to put it into digestible bite-size chunks until “10,000 Days”. And even though you had “Rosetta Stoned” and the “Wings” songs, you still could balance that with “Jambi”, “The Pot”, and “Vicarious”. But “Fear Inoculum” is literally 7 Rosetta Stoned’s. If you’re into that like me for the most part, you’ll enjoy it, but if you don’t? You’re probably not going to like this album.

[New note: Only change would be I listen to “Pneuma” significantly more than “7empest”. Score stays the same as well. If there is another EP now that Tool is free from their label or even another album, hopefully they go back to their roots a bit. Because if a 20 minute song comes out of Tool after this, they are just jacking off at that point.]