Credit: Travis ShinnTool‘s last album, 10,000 Days, was released May 2, 2006. Nearly 5,000 days later, a new record has finally arrived.
Fear Inoculum, the fifth studio effort from the enigmatic metallers, is out now, and includes over 86 minutes of new music.
Many Tool fans, who are known for being an intense bunch, had feared this day would never come, as the album increasingly looked as though it might be the new Chinese Democracy.
Here’s how we got here:
2007-2015: Tool is involved in a complicated lawsuit, which began with an employee claiming credit for a piece of artwork and led to the band being sued by the very same insurance company originally hired to defend them. The suit was finally settled in Tool’s favor in 2015, and guitarist Adam Jones said he hoped to release a new album later that year. That, of course, didn’t happen.
2016: In an interview, frontman Maynard James Keenan said that Tool couldn’t “seem to move forward” on new music.
2017: In another interview, Keenan further explained Tool’s “tedious” recording process, saying that his band mates continually changed and updated songs, making it difficult for him write lyrics and vocal melodies.
2018: In February, Keenan tweeted that he’d received files featuring the “final” versions of the new songs. While accepting an award in June, Keenan promised that new music would arrive the next year.
2019: Keenan revealed in January that his vocals were tracked “months ago.” During a show in May, Tool revealed an August 30 release date for the album. The title Fear Inoculum was announced in July, and the title track premiered in August.
With all that in the past, you can now listen to Fear Inoculum in all its glory. The title track’s already made history as the longest song ever to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
Here’s the track list:
“Fear Inoculum”
“Pneuma”
“Litanie contre la Peur”
“Invincible”
“Legion Inoculant”
“Descending”
“Culling Voices”
“Chocolate Chip Trip”
“7empest”
“Mockingbeat”
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