TOOL | Fear Inoculum | Album Review

The legends are back after a lengthy time in hiding. For 13 years, Tool's longtime fans and newcomers have been waiting for new material to come from the highly acclaimed band since 2006's "10,000 Days". In the timespan between that album's release and today, many historical events have happened both musically and in our world. Some people left us, others have grown older. Some of us waited anxiously for thirteen years for Tool to come back, while others became new fans and joined the thirteen-year ride. Several memes and jokes were made referencing the album's impending release, but until now it was uncertain if or when we'd actually arrive at that day. Well, now it's a reality, and the fifth studio album from Tool, "Fear Inoculum", is now available for listening and buying. The reason for the long wait was due to legal troubles and creative differences the band had. After all, frontman Maynard James Keenan is a consistent member in three bands, the other two being A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, and that's not even scratching the surface. As with any album that has come after a lengthy period of waiting, there are lofty expectations. Many people were worried that Tool would disappoint fans with a new album, meanwhile others were sure that Tool would make another great album in line with their prior works that have got them the status of being masters of their art. And with that comes the question: did the wait pay off? Is "Fear Inoculum" the album that everyone anticipating it wanted after over a decade of waiting? 

Many bands these days rush out several singles in advance, many of those being four or five pre-released singles, and that's not the best way to tease the album. In the case of "Fear Inoculum", aside from two of the songs on the tracklist being played live at their Welcome To Rockville appearance, we only got one studio-recorded single which was the title track. This is how you kick off an album. You need to have a great opening track in order to set up the style of the album and what the band is going for. In my opinion, this is a Tool song in every way imaginable. The song runs over 10 minutes long and they use each of those minutes wisely. The start of the song features some atmospheric sounds that utilizes different elements to set the song up. Then, we hear Maynard's vocals at the two-minute mark which reveals that he hasn't lost his touch even after the lengthy break from releasing any music under the name of this band. The song stays consistent with its musicality and pacing throughout and even though there is an odd section at the 3:12 mark, everything going on with Danny Carey's drumwork as well as the guitar riffs and vocals give this song its appeal. As a single, it works well to promote the album and to get Tool fans excited for what's to come. This may be one of the album's highlights and what I'd consider the best song on the album but that's not saying much considering the fact that every track on this album is just as much of a highlight as this. 

One of the prominent themes of the album is the number 7. While this could be attributed to the lyrical themes which revolve around getting older and looking back, this particular theme appears more frequently in the music. Several tracks on the project were intentionally sequenced by the band with unusual time signatures that are related to the number seven. Some tracks sound like they are going for a 7/8 time signature riff pattern in any given section, but turn out to be an entirely different time signature. It's playing with your expectations in a good way, and the riffs they utilize on album sound excellent as they are. Every song on this album contains a runtime of over ten minutes in length long minus the interlude "Chocolate Chip Trip", which is probably the best song title of the year, and it works in making the songs grab your attention. Going back to my point about the title track being well paced and sequenced to not feel boring, that's what other tracks on "Fear Inoculum" feels like. The shortest song on the album, "Culling Voices" is slightly over the ten minute mark but it feels like three minutes. The two songs that were played live before the album's release, "Descending" and "Invincible" have enough musicality that carries each track through its insanely long runtime, and the songs themselves don't drag or stop dead in their tracks. Then, there's the closing track "7empest", which was described as the heaviest song on the album primarily due to the guitar performance from Justin Chancellor. This is also the longest song on the album at nearly sixteen minutes but it does not feel that lengthy. All of the tracks on "Fear Inoculum" feel like experiences that you instantly feel obligated to go through as many times as possible which I think is the best descriptor of the album, or at least one of them. 

It would seem wrong to many fans for a Tool album to have some sort of flaw within it, let alone the first piece of music from the band in 13 years, but there are minor flaws here and there across this album. For one, this album includes three two-three minute interlude tracks if you're streaming or downloading it and not buying the super expensive physical album. I can understand why these were cut from the 79-minute standard edition aside from the fact that there's an 80-minute cutoff for albums sold physically. They don't add that much to the album as a whole, and the only interlude that does is standard edition track "Chocolate Chip Trip" which features that awesome drum solo. Also, putting aside the more melodic cut "Culling Voices", most of these songs sound very similar to each other. Whether you're going to "Pneuma" or "7empest", they're easily comparable as far as sound and musicality goes. However, with these tracks you are also getting excellent music that pushes the boundaries of what the legendary alt-metal band is known for while staying faithful to the sound that they've been associated with since the 1990's. Fans who have waited this long for new material WILL have their expectations met and some of them succeeded. Overall, "Fear Inoculum" accomplishes what some albums can't in terms of long waits in between albums. The album is quintessential Tool and there's no way that this album would get any hate or dislike by any Tool fan. If you're wary of this album as it might not live up to the classic works of this band, all your fears can be set aside. 

RATING: 9/10 

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