There is a new Tool song
 

It sounds like Tool. Closest to 10,000 days I would say. Pretty solid imo.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nme...rs-2536050/amp

please be good please be good please be good

*goes off to listen*

sounds just like 10,000 days it's almost disappointing
but that guitar solo in the end is pretty good

It exceeded my expectations a bit tbh. Second half substantially more interesting.

I really like about 75% of 10,000 days though. Ymmv

7,500 days

thanks

Business as usual. Uninspiring, but it's fine. I wasn't expecting a massive departure from their sound tbh

Still kind of mixed on this, although the song did kind of grow on me after a couple of listens. It pretty much sounds like Tool, and I don't mind that. The song didn't bore me. I think there are some really good grooves, nice vocals on this, although I'm not really big on the production. When the vocals first came in I felt like I'm listening to an APC song because of how upfront the vocals were, which is really unusual for tool. Later they sounded more like I would expect.

But I really feel like after 4 records and going into the 5th, Adam Jones should just fucking stop using the minor pentatonic scale. Erase it from his memory. Or at least play in a key other than D or A, for god's sake. There are passages and riffs in the song that sound almost identical to stuff they've recorded in the past. They also sure still love to use that overused crazy-sincopated-odd time-chugging ending cliche with the unexpected stop (Vicarious, Schism, 46&2, The Grudge, Eulogy and a bunch of other songs). The only interesting part guitar wise was that chromatic shift near the end with the busy drums.

And even though these things were present on the first 4 records, imo they had enough of a sonical and stylistic difference to make them all good in their own way (especially the first 3 records). Maynard also had an obvious difference in delivery on each one and developed a slightly different singing technique over the years (props to him though cause he sounds pretty much the same as 13 years ago).
This time around, I just feel like I'm listening to some 10,000 days outtake. And it doesn't help that 10,000 days is my least favorite record of theirs.

I probably agree on that last point, which is too bad. But I don’t think we can expect a return to undertow-aenima-lateralus. Just not realistic. Showed a lot of range there imo.

It's a very pretty song

So having their shit on streaming has led me to revisit a lot and you know what

I still like tool.

just sounds like more of the same to me. it's basically a self-parody at this point. a set of dudes in their 50s and taking more than a decade for an album... it's not likely to be fresh. and it's just rinse and repeat tool gimmicks. there are a couple moments in the song that i liked but it's become pretty tedious

a month or two ago i had dinner with a friend i hadn't seen in years and we used to both liked tool and i asked him he felt about them and he put it something like this "it's like the band stands naked over a mirror, squats down and is just super obsessed with staring up their own asshole"

at the time i thought that was a little harsh but i'm coming around to his point of view

i really used to love this band, particularly aenima and lateralus. they lost me at 10000 days. i'll give the new record a listen but i don't have any high hopes


side note / side question -- before their stuff was on streaming, i never really consciously appreciated the difference in tone and message between aenima and lateralus. but having a playlist with several songs from each and hitting shuffle made it impossible to ignore. do we know if there was anything specific that inspired the shift, or do we think it was just general growing up and becoming wiser and less angry?

I believe there are interviews in which Maynard hints at the latter - he felt like he screamed out what he needed to, and naturally he moved on. Whatever issues made him write lyrics and sing them like he did on the first two albums were in some way resolved. (edit: I found one interview where he says something to that effect: https://youtu.be/VkNmsy2V7uw?t=137)
It was with the Lateralus tour that he moved to the back of the stage as well if I'm correct.
Although I do miss the old sound. Even to this day I can put on Aenima and it's still an amazing record. Same with Undertow.

Well it sounds like Tool. I’m impressed how easy they recaptured their sound

The last minute or so lol copy and paste

serious contender for ugliest album cover of the year

or the last couple years, if not for the APC album cover of last year

at least the apc cover didn't look like it was made on someone's basement PC 20 years ago.. it looks like a shitty flash banner from 1997 for a scientology website

I actually liked that APC cover quite a bit, and even the couple of tracks I heard off that album

this one, however, well let's just say I think panda show's assessment is as apt as whatcolor's friend's assessment of the band (that is to say, very apt!)

never realized that Eulogy took his nickname from the Tool song

but very toolesque, don't you think?

that was really cool, thanks man. (aside from him saying "here i am, making wine", that part was not cool)

agree with you

I ended up loving that album on second/third spin
His vocals are amazing

Beat me to it.

I heard the last half of the song on the radio while driving yesterday. While it sounded like Tool it didn't real make me go "Oh shit, new Tool!" if that makes sense. I have heard it a few times since then but I would generally still agree with wHATcOLOR in that it sounds like the guys from Tool trying to write a song that sounds like Tool after reading a Wikipedia article of what Tool songs generally sound like. I do not know how better to describe it. Maybe it will grow on me.

"The album will be available digitally, and in a special Limited Edition physical package that includes a CD in a tri-fold Soft Pack Video Brochure featuring a 4" HD rechargeable screen with exclusive video footage, a USB charging cable, a 2 watt speaker and a 36 page insert book and MP3 download card."

So the album artwork is basically a still from an Alex Grey 3D animation which is why it looks like butt.

Also the digital version of the thing is 10 minutes longer than the CD version.

Anyway, sounds like Tool to me. I'm not expecting them to revolutionize their sound after not working together for over a decade barring the odd tour.

It’s growing on me but still haven’t seen anyone talk about how stunning it is that this sounds EXACTLY like Tool. Normally when bands go on extended breaks and come back they’re almost unrecognizable. I don’t know whether or not that’s a good thing, but look at Corgan who has been desperately hunting for the SP sound, or fuck, even Metallica.

Some props need to be given to Tool in that they are just doing what they want to, not really trying to be super commercial, or giving into the modern brickwalled electronic sound that is so prevalent. Eat the Elephant’s vocals were so loud and the album was produced so poppy.

they probably cut all the filler interludes from the CD version lol
I agree. I think it comes down to the fact that they're simply good musicians and they're smart, in that they know how to maintain the sound that they've patented over the years. Not chasing trends is a big part of it, but that's kind of expected, I mean we are talking about Tool here.

Listened to 10,000 Days. Jambi, wings pt 2, and right in two are top tier songs imo

no disrespect toward you intended but my take is almost the opposite.. i don't think it's impressive that they are continuing to repeat themselves. it's a formula they developed and i think it takes more work and creativity to break from the formula than it does to continue repeating it.

whereas corgan has, for the most part, always been trying to move in different directions and not repeat his sounds. i mean, there's more nuance to it than that with pumpkins, and we as fans notice that the sound without d'arcy and james is lacking, but it's not as if corgan has been trying to create MCIS or SD part 2 and has simply been unable to, in fact he always makes a big deal out of trashing fans that want him to do that

so basically it doesn't impress me at all that tool playing together with no lineup changes sounds just like they've sounded for a long time. lord knows they've had enough time to try to evolve their sound, if they had wanted to do that

I don’t think they played together outside of tours for at least ten of these thirteen years. I’m ok with them not being groundbreaking. They already did that. I don’t think there should be shame in doing what you’re good at.

*cue wwmm late night performance*