TOOL - C/D!?

I'm not sure Meshuggah is a remotely comparable band.

this is comfort food. not mad at it. if you like and want tool then here you go. the drums sound good loud, might be enough for me to stay on board.

I'm not sure Meshuggah is a remotely comparable band.

They tried pretty hard to be Tool on obZen.

I'd be a terrible reviewer, I only know it can take months or longer for an album like this to suddenly click for me - if it ever does (but it's Tool, so it's probably gonna)

I listened to an interview with Danny Carey on the Trap Set, it was entertaining enough, but he seemed really stuck on this idea that no one can fuck with them because of the sheer time & rigor they spent on these tunes, four hours a day for 5+ years or whatever. Which is admirable if you can afford to do so, but doesn't necessarily guarantee anything.

on the contrary I don't know if I've ever really loved an album that's been workshopped that much

For sure. He did talk about a drum solo and a guitar solo/jam section on the album that were unplanned, curious to hear those moments.

Descending: "to be or not to be" + Tempest: are we supposed to look for Shakespeare references or are those the only two?

Excellent album. "Pneuma" is an early favourite.

still early days but I'd say the download is better than the CD - not because the interludes are that good but because they break it up a little bit.

pomenitul at 3:28 30 aug. 19

A tempest. Must. Be. Just. That.

Ok, MJK.

Ok I listened to the Cobham-esque track that's a drum solo over a modular synth pattern and I liked it

some sick drumming on this record

there's so much silence

Did you press play

just finished listening all the way through for the first time, Simon is otm about the interludes, definitely some good chooglin' in here, and some sick drumming for sure. good background music for reading

xp I was just typing "is the shiny side of the cd on the top?" but you were faster :-)

Listening to the Trap set episode with Carey, I thought he'd be a little more erudite, he sounds like some 70s burnout guy, with endless repetition of 'maaaan', 'dude' and 'fuckin...' was jarring to listen to.

7empest reminds me of Muse a bit

...until Adam Jones takes us on a ten-minute tour of The Guitar

photo of Mackie (art director for this album) by Buzz (who also had a hand in introducing Joe Barresi to Tool) : https://www.instagram.com/p/B1z9iruHWVn/

I really love the record and feel that "7empest" might be the quintessential Tool song.

this album is pretty tight

“pneuma” initially feels recycled and then unfolds really wonderfully. synth solo section + the actual guitar solo at the end are both pretty sick

best interludes of any tool album for sure

whole thing kinda feels like 10,000 days but even more sedated and meditative and minus all the goofy shit

Listening to the Trap set episode with Carey, I thought he'd be a little more erudite, he sounds like some 70s burnout guy, with endless repetition of 'maaaan', 'dude' and 'fuckin...' was jarring to listen to.

pneuma has a really sick syncopated something going on

this is the random access memories of stoner rock

this is sold out everywhere, hoping i'll be able to snag a copy at some point

After a couple listens I don’t feel like any of these songs are staying with me. I don’t dislike anything I’ve heard - but I couldn’t tell you how any of them goes after the fact.

^ sums up most Tool for me

The vocal melodies & lyrics are more forgettable than their previous albums. Most of the songs would have been improved a lot if Maynard shot for some hookiness (also known as Radiohead syndrome). A few of these have really memorable guitar hooks tho, especially 7empest.

Quite like the album, but there are some things that stand out:

it feels less concept-driven than previously albums on first two listens, but I can't tell if it's because I'm missing something or if it's just not there. I'm trying to meet the album where it is, and I think that means losing myself to the journey from song to song, rather than waiting for moments that are explicitly emotionally arresting.

Danny is unbelievable, feels somewhat like he's carrying the team.

a buddy pointed out to me that Maynarde is just absent at a lot of the climax moments on the album, which has been a mainstay of Tool--and that struck me as a thoughtful point I hadn't realized just listening to the album.

All in all, I don't think it's the greatest album I've ever heard, but it's new Tool that sounds like Tool and that's enough for me.

It's fine and about exactly what I was expecting once I knew the song lengths. It plays better with the interludes but it still lacks those releases and crescendoes they do so well. Maynard never screams, there are some (painful) eye-roll-inducing lyrics (wish MJK's sense of humor was still kicking around), and the whole thing isn't particularly catchy. I'll be shocked if this isn't their final album. As others have said, Danny's drumming is unreal, which it always has been, but "Chocolate Chip Trip" blows away every Dead "Drums" track I've ever heard...in under five minutes, at that.

It is the best packaged CD I've ever seen. Well worth $45.

“7empest” is the best tool song goddamn

I feel like I'm missing out on so much by not knowing music theory :-/

12/8 & 5/4 guitar over 11/8 rhythm section in Fear Inoculum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybgz0QvaE5k

7/16 & 7/3 drum rhythm in Invincible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLvxWix_Pzw

for me what sets tool apart from other prog metal acts i've heard (and makes them actually listenable) is that they are able to coax out visceral and enjoyable grooves out of complex meters and polyrhythms that feel natural and not forced. compare that with a group like 'animals as leaders' whose work seems to be just exercises in stringing together complex patterns to be appreciated at an intellectual level

Very tribal/drum circle metal.

xpost: well put - I didn't get that invincible thing at all until 7:14 when he played it over the music, then it suddenly worked

It's 3/16 :) (the point is combining 3 x 7/16 with 7 x 3/16, which in both cases ends up as 21/16)

Reviewed it:

https://t.co/rhiwrEeHnu

The guitar has always been the least interesting part of Tool

I still haven't finished this. Hurricane stress has me playing all death metal

I have liked what i have heard tho

love this record I decided.

same

It's definitely growing on me. It helps to focus on the drumming. I think on first listen I was just hearing a lot of flat empty space where it seemed like they were avoiding songcraft. Probably why 7empest stood out first.

Every few years I’ll catch Sober somewhere and I’m surprised by how much I still like it. Special kind of eeriness that sticks out in that early 90s rock landscape. Won’t rep for Maynard as a person or a lyricist but “Waiting like a stalking butler/Who upon the finger rests” is forever buried in my brain. Great haunted house of a song.

The more prog they got the less I cared.

"Eulogy" is my all time fav

Yeah that was a fav from AEnima too at the time. I really loved these guys in high school (up to the Lateralus era, which I half dug) so can’t fully get on the lol-TOOL train.

Can’t make it through a whole album anymore, but still have some appreciation for the pre-Lateralus jams. Debuting your big deal followup album with a single about fisting buttholes was pretty good imo.

I liked your review, Whiney.

if there's one album I'd completely trust Whiney to review well it's this lol