Tool - FEAR INOCULUM

Sep 27, 2008
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First impressions of the new song was that it was alright but nothing mind-blowing, as with a lot of Tool songs Danny Carey's drumming was the highlight.

It reminded me a bit of Forty Six and 2 with the way it leads in with the percussion and then at the end with the guitar riffs, lacks the powerful chorus though.

I know it will probably grow on me but I hope there is better to come with the rest of the album.
 
It's solid and does sound a lot like their last 2 albums.

Middle part of the song is my favourite.
The 11/8 time sig part,I like that too but then it regresses after that,might need a few more listens but it’s so depressing in melody.

I used to obsess over Tool but have gone off them,seen em 3 times back in the distant glory days.

Danny Carey is a great drummer though,just not into it like I used to be.
 

revo333

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The 11/8 time sig part,I like that too but then it regresses after that,might need a few more listens but it’s so depressing in melody.

Nothing worse than multi millionaire musos whinging about the World.
Sounds like an extension of Lateralus.

The part where he sings over the heavy guitar.

The song doesn't sound very fresh at all.

Maynard said on Joe Rogan last week the reason for long waits in between albums is that they have meetings and can never all agree on the same thing.
 
First impressions of the new song was that it was alright but nothing mind-blowing, as with a lot of Tool songs Danny Carey's drumming was the highlight.

It reminded me a bit of Forty Six and 2 with the way it leads in with the percussion and then at the end with the guitar riffs, lacks the powerful chorus though.

I know it will probably grow on me but I hope there is better to come with the rest of the album.

Forty Six And Two was a great track,this is more coffee shop prog metal.
 
The part where he sings over the heavy guitar.

The song doesn't sound very fresh at all.

Maynard said on Joe Rogan last week the reason for long waits in between albums is that they have meetings and can never all agree on the same thing.

I actually prefer Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step was a great album and they were awesome ,saw em with Josh Freese on drums,incredible and James Iha from the Pumpkins on guitar,Festering Hall or was it the glass house?
 

revo333

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I actually prefer Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step was a great album and they were awesome ,saw em with Josh Freese on drums,incredible and James Iha from the Pumpkins on guitar,Festering Hall or was it the glass house?

I think Mer de Noms has gotten better with age.
 
Maynard is 55 and Carey is nearly 60.

Bands usually start sounding coffee shop at that age!

I don’t hate the track but Tool’s later albums grinded my brain a bit whereas their early albums,especially Aenema were incredible.
 
Sep 27, 2008
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I've never been able to get into A Perfect Circle despite the link they have to Tool with Maynard.

I don’t hate the track but Tool’s later albums grinded my brain a bit whereas their early albums,especially Aenema were incredible.

Yeah they peaked with Aenima but their first 3 albums were all great albums, hard to live up to that and not many bands of Tool's vintage can produce another great album that matches the stuff they produced at their peak. Yet to see if this new album can buck the trend but going by that first track I have my doubts.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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If you look at their singles discography to date, almost all of them are stellar singles, with arguably things like H., Jambi & Lateralus the relative lessers bringing up the rear but still really decent. I think Fear Inoculum falls well short of even that base standard, especially as a lead single:

(loose order)
Stinkfist (lead single)
46 & 2
Vicarious
(lead single)
Sober (lead single)
Prison Sex
Schism
(lead single)
Parabola
Eulogy
The Pot
Aenema

^all 4/5+ bangers
Jambi
Lateralus
H.

^not quite of the same caliber, but still easy 3.5/5
Fear Inoculum (lead single)
^2.5/5

But that's just me, others may see it differently
 
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Cyzzametimbres

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It’s a bit like the jump from aenima to lateralus. Modernising their style and doing something different. I doubt they’d want to bring out an album that sounds like aenima again after playing those songs for 20 odd years. They always seem to evolve as a band but keep their style. I reckon it’s pretty good after a couple of listens and expect I’ll think it’s amazing after more listens. The best music takes time to sink in after multiple listens.
 

Badesumofu

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If you look at their singles discography to date, almost all of them are stellar singles, with arguably things like H., Jambi & Lateralus the relative lessers bringing up the rear but still really decent. I think Fear Inoculum falls well short of even that base standard, especially as a lead single:

I guess it depends on what you like. Vicarious is maybe my 6th favourite song on 10k Days. Stinkfist wouldn't even be close to my top 10 Tool songs. Lateralus is probably my favourite song (of any band, of all time). I think it's purely a matter of taste, not a matter of quality.

FI is very different to the sorts of tracks they've picked as singles, and especially first singles in the past.
 
It’s a bit like the jump from aenima to lateralus. Modernising their style and doing something different. I doubt they’d want to bring out an album that sounds like aenima again after playing those songs for 20 odd years. They always seem to evolve as a band but keep their style. I reckon it’s pretty good after a couple of listens and expect I’ll think it’s amazing after more listens. The best music takes time to sink in after multiple listens.

It’s not that complicated,it’s actually a bit bland,no keyboards or other sounds,the 11/8 section is great but the rest wanders a bit.

I am a progger from the 70’s though where every instrument in the band made a single unified sound,there is no i in prog.

P.S. some muppets blasting doof doof across the street ,probably on drugs,dam millenials with their push button music,don’t mind some of it but boring as * live,you do need drugs to really enjoy it,no thanks.
 
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Cyzzametimbres

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It’s not that complicated,it’s actually a bit bland,no keyboards or other sounds,the 11/8 section is great but the rest wanders a bit.

I am a progger from the 70’s though where every instrument in the band made a single unified sound,there is no i in prog.
Fair enough. They have said they’re not metal enough for the metal heads or prog enough for the prof fans either. I remember hearing the lateralus album through a handful of times and I thought what the hell is this? After maybe a dozen listens I was about to give up on it but then it sort of clicked and I couldn’t stop listening to it. I still think that’s their best album nothing really sounds like it and it’s a whole album experience. I’m expecting the album as a whole to be an experience and take multiple listens. What’s your fav prog stuff from the 70’s out of interest? Might give a few a listen.
 
Fair enough. They have said they’re not metal enough for the metal heads or prog enough for the prof fans either. I remember hearing the lateralus album through a handful of times and I thought what the hell is this? After maybe a dozen listens I was about to give up on it but then it sort of clicked and I couldn’t stop listening to it. I still think that’s their best album nothing really sounds like it and it’s a whole album experience. I’m expecting the album as a whole to be an experience and take multiple listens. What’s your fav prog stuff from the 70’s out of interest? Might give a few a listen.

Give Madtiger a pm,he knows more prog than me.

I’d get some Jethro Tull,Thick As A Brick and Heavy Horses.
King Crimson’s first album and Red.
Yes,The Yes Album and Close To The Edge.
Genesis,The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway,Trespass,A Trick Of The Tail.
Rush,Moving Pictures and Hemispheres.

Or other crossover bands The Tubes first album is fantastic.
Frank Zappa,Overnite Sensation,One Size Fits All,Joe’s Garage,The Grand Wazoo,Zappa was a genius,not really a bad album.

Prog from the 70’s is like a deep ocean,still find new bands all the time from all over the World.

Check out Italian prog PFMLe Orne or Osanna or Goblin who wrote music for alot of horror films of the 70’s.

Then there is the German krautrock movement with bands like Neu! and Can.

I brt you the members of Tool listen to all this stuff for inspiration,Dany Carey is a massive King Crimson,Jethro Tull fan.

The purely keyboard stuff Jean Michel Jarre,Tangerine Dream.

“music is the best!” FZ

P.S. Madtiger likes canterbury prog,bands like National Health.

Like I said 70’s prog is unending ,still finding new bands especially from Europe but there are bands from everywhere,prog ruled from about 67-74 like the Tigers,after 74 it was still around but died off a little.

Miss the 70’s,there are prog bands around today but a bit cheesy for my taste,sound more like heavy metal and horrible keyboard sounds,,the keyboard sounds of the 70’s are what makes 70’s prog incredible.
 
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Cyzzametimbres

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Give Madtiger a pm,he knows more prog than me.

I’d get some Jethro Tull,Thick As A Brick and Heavy Horses.
King Crimson’s first album and Red.
Yes,The Yes Album and Close To The Edge.
Genesis,The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway,Trespass,A Trick Of The Tail.
Rush,Moving Pictures and Hemispheres.

Or other crossover bands The Tubes first album is fantastic.
Frank Zappa,Overnite Sensation,One Size Fits All,Joe’s Garage,The Grand Wazoo,Zappa was a genius,not really a bad album.

Prog from the 70’s is like a deep ocean,still find new bands all the time from all over the World.

Check out Italian prog PFMLe Orne or Osanna or Goblin who wrote music for alot of horror films of the 70’s.

Then there is the German krautrock movement with bands like Neu! and Can.

I brt you the members of Tool listen to all this stuff for inspiration,Dany Carey is a massive King Crimson,Jethro Tull fan.

The purely keyboard stuff Jean Michel Jarre,Tangerine Dream.

“music is the best!” FZ
Yeah good stuff I know a lot of that. There’s a good YouTube channel stonedfieldsofdoomII that plays newer metal and prog from all over the world. *en great way to find new music in an ever more plastic manufactured world of radio hits and hipster nonsense.
 
I am a proud Aussie but we really hate prog especially the old stuff,the usa play Rush on mainstream radio,our music industry is controlled like the mafia.

The internet has changed that abit,bands like King Gizzard write for different genres each album and own their own record company.

The one half decent 70’s Aussie prog band I have heard is Aleph from Sydney who were like Yes,the singer’s voice is a bit grating though.

Sebastion Hardie,another one from Sydney,lots of mellotron.
 

Cyzzametimbres

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I am a proud Aussie but we really hate prog especially the old stuff,the usa play Rush on mainstream radio,our music industry is controlled like the mafia.

The internet has changed that abit,bands like King Gizzard write for different genres each album and own their own record company.

The one half decent 70’s Aussie prog band I have heard is Aleph from Sydney who were like Yes,the singer’s voice is a bit grating though.

Sebastion Hardie,another one from Sydney,lots of mellotron.
My mrs loves king giz. There’s a few pretty good progish bands from oz around. Karnivools sound awake album is brilliant and is one of my fav bands. Dead letter circus. Circles. Cog. Breaking orbit. Dunno if sleepmakeswaves is oz but their a good instrumental and. Blatherskite is an older one. There’s be a fair few other around. I know that the alternative/underground scene has been pretty big in oz for a long time. I grew up in country SA and late 90’s early 00’s everyone was listening to tool Metallica and the grunge scene and a lot of older stuff for the 60’s and 70’s. Still do now.
 
My mrs loves king giz. There’s a few pretty good progish bands from oz around. Karnivools sound awake album is brilliant and is one of my fav bands. Dead letter circus. Circles. Cog. Breaking orbit. Dunno if sleepmakeswaves is oz but their a good instrumental and. Blatherskite is an older one. There’s be a fair few other around. I know that the alternative/underground scene has been pretty big in oz for a long time. I grew up in country SA and late 90’s early 00’s everyone was listening to tool Metallica and the grunge scene and a lot of older stuff for the 60’s and 70’s. Still do now.
That’s the metal stuff ,not much symphonic type prog in Oz.
 

Cyzzametimbres

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That’s the metal stuff ,not much symphonic type prog in Oz.
Yeah prog elements (Metallica not so much) but nothing like 70’s prog. Still good stuff though. Isis albums in the absence of truth and wavering radiant are awesome too I’d you can get passed the singing.
 

Badesumofu

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Further thoughts on FI: it's a track (and I suspect this will be true of the album) that you have to listen to it for what it is to properly enjoy it. If you wanted that lead track to be a Stinkfist or a Vicarious then you're not getting what you want. But maybe you can grow to want what you got. Or something.

For example on my first listen I found the vocals quite jarring. The opening sounded Pusciferish more than Toolish and then the bit at 7:35 is basically Grand Canyon. But I thought to myself firstly that I will accept this vocal style for what it is and enjoy it. I also realised that every Puscifer album has come out since 10K Days, so what I had thought of as Maynard's Puscifer voice is actually just his voice in 2019. Now I'm really enjoying all the different vocal styles he uses in the song and as a bonus I can sing along to all of it without being reminded of how much less my vocal range is than Maynard's.

It's both recognisably Tool and also distinct from their previous work. It wouldn't surprise me if this is actually the shortest song on the album, either.

The lyrical content is just what I wanted. ETE-style lyrics have their place, but that place is not a Tool album. I've seen it described as a banishing spell set to music which is a great description, but I think it's more story about someone who got taken in by fear-infused rhetoric but then realises (too late) that it's a load of poison and lies. Too late for the character in the song, but not too late for us. I only sort of came to this view today while I was thinking about 'recast my tale, weave my allegorical elegy'. An allegory is basically a story with a message (often a hidden meaning, often a political meaning), and an elegy is a kind of tragedy (a sad poem, often written to express sorrow for the dead). So an allegorical elegy is basically the sad story of someone's death (either literal or figurative) with a hidden political meaning. Now consider the other parts of the song like exhale, expel. You don't exhale/expel something unless it was inside you to begin with.

I'm still not sure what is meant by 'my own mitosis' in this context, since mitosis is cell division when the cell divides into two identical copies.

There could be an even darker interpretation from here, where the message is basically "it's too late for all these people, we can't save them but we can learn from them".

It's also quite interesting to consider the lyrics to Descending in this context, but I'll leave that sort of analysis until I've heard the full album.
 
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