On Sunday May 5th, mega-popular hard alternative / prog-influenced esoteric psychedelic rock act Tool premiered two new full songs during the opening performance of their Summer 2019 tour.
These tracks — “Descending” and “Invincible,” the former of which the band had already been playing live in an abridged instrumental form for the past few years — are the first new material the band has released since 2006.
These pieces are of course the first public snippets of the band’s upcoming fifth album which apparently finished recording last year, mixing/mastering early this year, and is expected to be released August 30.
With quite possibly the single most infamously obsessive fanbase in all of Rock Music to the point that the “obnoxious/cringe Tool fan” is one of the most well-known commonly derided archetypes amongst contemporary music fans in general, as well as generally being darlings of the large rock and metal publications, this release of Tool’s first album since George Bush was president and cellphones/“social media” became culturally ubiquitous is unquestionably going to be the most intensively covered subject among the rock and “metal” world throughout the year of 2019.
Expect in the upcoming months for the possibility of articles covering developments in this new album from perhaps a slightly different perspective than the Mainstream Eye, as well as focusing on the generally peculiar qualities of this act both musical and otherwise…
Tags: 2019, hard alternative, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, tool, USA
Tool sucks and haven’t been good since Lateralus. They showed promise early on as a continuation of King Crimson prog rock exploration but have lost focus of their goals.
Tool – the only band named after their fans
This band is still relevant?
Dude, their fanbase will never let them not be relevant.
Except people wised up and started pulling guns and knives on the fans along time ago. I’m surprised people are even allowed to talk about Tool on this site.
When I first joined this site as a writer, I was essentially told when asked that I am “allowed to talk about” any artist or subject from any perspective I see fit, provided a certain standard of writing is upheld. (Which I believe I have more or less done so far to date.)
At any rate, whether either of us like it or not, THIS is going to be the single biggest topic that people in the distorted-guitar-based-music world will be “talking about” throughout the year of 2019.
Accordingly, it is fitting that DMU should cover this topic – both to gain some potential exposure, and to as always present a divergent perspective from the mainstream outlets and general surface-level perception on contemporary acts and trends.
Rip that motherfucker to shreds.
their core fanbase is now made up of 30something heroin junkies who barely stay out of court for child support payment. tool is considerably less relevant insofar as their influence on music creators than they were 20 years ago and their diminishment continues
I went back to college starting two years ago and had to take a mandatory music class. In this class were two young drum corps kids who would snicker when discussing time signatures, “You should play Tool. I bet nobody could keep time.” It was truly bizarre and embarrassing to behold.
lol
fuck that promo pic just screams of doctor who fandom. like the living manifestation of the phrase “keep calm and play prog metal LIKE A SIR”
lol
Have you ever enjoyed a Tool album or song? Be honest.
I have their entire discography memorized in my head since middle school.
Impressive! All of their albums except 10,000 Days were really good.
Yeah bro! Their songs are like so fucking deep man… Like about my shadow and changing my Jungian thingy… man…
Someone transcribed the lyrics of ‘Invincible’ in one of those videos, and it’s an explicitly anti-White song. Not that any sensible person would listen to this shlock, anyway.
Very interesting, could you post a link to this? Most of the transcribed lyrics I’ve seen seem to just be a sort of meditation on aging. (I’m sure the “struggling to remain relevant” line is going to be yet more easy fodder for snark to come)
https://genius.com/Tool-invincible-live-lyrics
What you linked is what I read. Seems to me to be a mockery of Western man, especially the bit about mythical fountains. Lyrics like ‘Warrior struggling to remain relevant’ and ‘Weapon out and belly in’ read like a critique of contemporary nationalist movements — white people who think they’re Ponce de Leon, but they’re really Peter Griffen. It’s possible I’m reading something into it, but Maynard has the lyrical subtlety of a Mack truck, so I kinda doubt it.
Their demo for Part Of Me at least had some death metal vocalizations.
LOL
Lol
This is shemale music for faggots! Rape the transsexual ass! Sodomize the shemale anus! No tranny shall be spared.
“all of our songs are about anal sex” – MJK
Tool is basically just syncopated Korn.
Also Ram Ranch really rocks.
A rare instance in which I agree with Pitchfork:
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8104-lateralus/
What an obnoxious and lame piece of writing that doesn’t convey any actual information, and a reminder of why I’ve always detested Pitchfork and similar outlets.
Note how most of the article is just comprised of irrelevant narcissistic anecdotes of the author’s life, and the rare instances it actually attempts to describe the music, it’s just written in an unfunny hipster snark that obscures any actual point they were trying to make by their unsuccessful attempts at “irony”.
If one really wants a douchey “clever” supercilious quip-style write-up on Tool (and any other popular music act in general), you would be better off going back to a much more succinct “analysis” from the spiritual godfather of these types himself:
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=3934
I take it as poking fun at their obsessive fanbase. Tool is a decent rock band but holy shit talking to their fans is tedious as fuck.
For sure. That specific style of “humour”/writing is just not my thing man
Fair enough
All of Pitchforks reviews are about the reviewer, not the music.
Tool’s alright man
Shemale!
Tool, what is it like a hammer or sumptin? Tsssss
Their logo is like a Rorschach test, do you see the dick or the wrench. Obviously I see the dick because I’m a massive homosexual. For you, your own.