Fear Inoculum

The first time I heard Tool's music, they were the opening act for Guns N Roses drummer Steven Adler's solo project Roadhouse at NYC's Limelight, and were just about to release their "Opiate" E.P.. I loved them so much, I left the Limelight before Steven Adler took the stage. That was the early 90's. Almost 30 years and only 5 albums later, Tool has finally released something new, an epic 6th album titled "Fear Inoculum." I lost track of the band during this time, and though their brand of hard prog and metal is right in my "I love King Crimson" wheelhouse, I never gave their output a proper visit after that first E.P.. Occasionally, a song would cross my radar and it would remind me that I liked this band. So I have always been interested. With the hype leading up to the new record, I turned to one of my oldest pals, a true fan, for guidance. Here he is now, DBA Itsok2bright, with his review of "Fear Inocolum."

 FEAR INOCULUM

“I’m afraid, I’m really afraid."

That was my thought before I listened to this album. As a Tool fan since the early days, the fear of disappointment after 13 years on the DL was great. As the adage goes, you never want to meet your heroes. To me this was extremely similar. Are Tool fans headed for a disappointment? Is this album going to be their version of Guns N Roses ‘Chinese Democracy’?

The music scene has changed dramatically since 2006. Hard media for the most part is past history, though vinyl is having a mini renaissance, sadly not available for this album at first. Listening habits have changed, sounds have changed, music distribution has changed, AOR is a distant memory and more. The iPod was less than 5 years old. Hell, there weren’t even smartphones when Tool released their last album. Ironically, their last album titled 10,000 Days was released almost 5,000 days ago (4,872 to be exact). The greatness of that album has set the expectations of Tool fans very high.

Now, just four weeks ago Tool finally made it into the 21st century and authorized digital versions of their library. Those of us who have been fans since the 20th century were at least able to burn our CD’s and create mp3’s. Any new fans living off of iTunes, Spotify, etc. were lost. The bands decision to withhold digital distribution has prevented them from growing their fan base substantially.

In typical Tool fashion, time constraints and radio length songs are never an issue. This new album checks in at about 80 minutes, with six songs clocking in at 10:00 or more. As they have been evolving since Undertow, each new album has gotten more Prog-Metal and musical than the previous, thanks in part to British prog bassist, Justin Chancellor coming along for the ride beginning with 1995's Aenima.

Tool fans know that the number of tracks on previous albums does not generally mean number of ‘songs’. They have a tendency to break up their songs with interludes and atmosphere, that I wouldn’t classify as songs. Let’s hope these are actually 7 songs.

Track List:

Fear Inoculum

Pneuma

Invincible

Descending

Culling Voices

Chocolate Chip Trip

7empest

Fear Inoculum is a good start for the album. A bit different than usual, while maintaining some of the classic Tool sound. Good dynamics and phrasing, with a nice pounding bass riff, ending with a tasty guitar solo. It might make the alternative airwaves for a short time, but after the furor dies down, I don’t expect to hear it anymore. Their three jam sessions Pneuma, Invincible and Culling Voices are all non-descript in that by next month most people will forget their names and not be able to distinguish one from the other. At some point these seem very contrived and repetitive. For the classic Tool fan, Descending and 7empest will bring some joy. Good metal rockers with the usual assortment of solid time changes done well, keeping you on your toes. They drift off for a while, then come back after some well-timed wails by vocalist Maynard Keenan and great sounding solos by Adam Jones, with one of his best on Descending. Those are the only two songs I’d look forward to hearing in concert. Chocolate Chip Trip is equivalent to their typical interlude, though, at nearly five minutes, it’s a bit too long for that.

Were my fears realized? Sorry to say, but yes. While this is not the Guns N Roses ‘Chinese Democracy’ disaster, this album really wasn’t worth the wait, even though Tool didn’t abandon their basic recipe. You can’t define an album by the number of hits on it, but there are way too many low points for this to be considered one of the finer efforts. The urge to force long winded prog-monsters had them create songs that seemingly had no direction and too many sections that repeated and dragged on. Nearly every song had me thinking, “haven’t I heard this before”? Then I realized, these tracks are more suited for vocalist Maynard's side project, A Perfect Circle.

More time changes than you can count, drum patterns from Danny that make you wonder if this man is human, superhuman bass riffs, ascending and descending tempos with corresponding changing volume, and the sounds of tuning down 2 steps from Jones--and, one of the hallmarks of Tool, their use of one of the most important notes in music, the Rest. They do a great job of letting notes sustain for a few measures with a dramatic pause that really works. Yes, it is all there, just on songs that won’t grab you the way Vicarious, Jambi or The Pot may have on 10,000 Days. At some point a detailed analysis of the lyrics will reveal something bigger and deeper on most of these songs, but for now it is too soon to tell.

For those of you are new to Tool, those who aren’t comparing this to 10,000 Days, I strongly suggest you actually listen to "Fear Inoculum," and not just hear it. Put on a set of head phones and block out the world. Listen to the bass lines, then go back and play the song again. Then listen to the guitar tracks. Then again for the drum tracks. In the current world of "30 seconds and out," this may sound like a monumental task. But, the depth of their music goes far beyond that of any contemporary band, regardless of genre. After listening (again, not just hearing) to "Fear Inoculum," go back and listen to their catalog chronologically and be amazed at the evolution. You’ll wonder how you missed out on Tool for all these years. But, you then also may be disappointed with this new release.