Tool

[theimage13]

So I’m the OGT? It better come with a cover in as awesome quality as the Donkey Punch The Night EP.

Technically, I'm the OGT - you guys just ran with it :P

[cdm]

I beleived Maynard when he said May to June sometime. He’s been pretty trustworthy in the past. And from living in the shit climate that is Milwaukee, it’s basically at the end of summer. Just kind of puts things in a weird perspective for me personally. The album basically drops right before the NFL season and it’s been done for how many weeks now?

There was no way they were releasing this album without at least 3 months of promotional buildup. June was never going to happen.

[allegate]

they've had 13 years for buildup, what could they possibly do in the next three months to make a difference?

[Frozen Beach]

I wonder if the new version of Opiate is gonna be on the album.

[ItsChrisRoss]

they've had 13 years for buildup, what could they possibly do in the next three months to make a difference?

THIS! Agreed on all accounts. This album is shaping up to be the new Chinese Democracy in terms of how long fans have had to wait for it.

Also, regarding album release and season...At first I thought I remembered 10,000 days being released in the fall of 2006 but turns out it was April. Interesting to see if we will get it in the next three months or so.

[Amaro]

I like when Maynard air drums in "Invincible". <3

[BrokenSpiral]

It’d be cool to get something before then. Like the discography going digital.

[SM Rollinger]

It’d be cool to get something before then. Like the discography going digital.

I've had it all digitally for years... Just ripped my own CD's.

But I get what you guys are saying though, with streaming services and the such.

[Reznor2112]

I just want Descending (studio) NOW

[zecho]

It’d be cool to get something before then. Like the discography going digital.

I'm interested to see how they'll display the album art for Lateralus and Aenima.

[ManBurning]

Last night's show in Birmingham had something called ""CCTrip" listed on the setlist as the song right after the encore.
Another new song possibly? Apparently it was just a Danny Carrey drum solo. But if it has an actual name that was printed on the setlist, it must mean something.

[cdm]

they've had 13 years for buildup, what could they possibly do in the next three months to make a difference?

I assume Sony / Volcano put a decent amount of money into the recording of this album. They're going to milk this as much as they can.

[ManBurning]

I assume Sony / Volcano put a decent amount of money into the recording of this album. They're going to milk this as much as they can.

Actually, this makes perfect sense. They are still under contract with a record label for this record. They have to play by their rules. I no doubt believe that if they were running independently, we would have had this by now. I think the band is just as frustrated with the waiting process as the fans are. I truly believe they want to get their music out to the world sooner rather than later.

[pulse]

I assume Sony / Volcano put a decent amount of money into the recording of this album. They're going to milk this as much as they can.

Actually, this makes perfect sense. They are still under contract with a record label for this record. They have to play by their rules. I no doubt believe that if they were running independently, we would have had this by now. I think the band is just as frustrated with the waiting process as the fans are. I truly believe they want to get their music out to the world sooner rather than later.

Logical speculation. Sony/Volcano know this album has a high chance of being a platinum album. Every one of Tools albums have gone platinum, some of those 2x-3x. Tool have a huge following that perhaps has even grown since their last release. They still manage to sell out every venue and headline most festivals.

With respect to physical albums, vinyl has had a resurgence, and even considering poor CD sales, a sizable portion of the fan base will probably still buy some type of physical product regardless of how Tool's streaming service contract plays out. Yes, Sony/Volcano will milk that. There will be several months of advertising and preordering that will most likely include physical and digital packaging. We may also get a drop of previous albums on streaming services in anticipation of the new album. Additonally, Adam has said many times that the remake of Opiate would come out before the new album. That COULD still be possible, but again, this is speculative.

On the other hand, we never got the release of 10,000 Days on vinyl and the band has had big legal issues with their label in the past, so who knows. I don't know if Sony being involved now will help or hurt how this all plays out.

[TheRealNs1]

man I can't stop listening to A/Descending. straight fire.

[gerbil]

Logical speculation. Sony/Volcano know this album has a high chance of being a platinum album. Every one of Tools albums have gone platinum, some of those 2x-3x. Tool have a huge following that perhaps has even grown since their last release. They still manage to sell out every venue and headline most festivals.

With respect to physical albums, vinyl has had a resurgence, and even considering poor CD sales, a sizable portion of the fan base will probably still buy some type of physical product regardless of how Tool's streaming service contract plays out. Yes, Sony/Volcano will milk that. There will be several months of advertising and preordering that will most likely include physical and digital packaging. We may also get a drop of previous albums on streaming services in anticipation of the new album. Additonally, Adam has said many times that the remake of Opiate would come out before the new album. That COULD still be possible, but again, this is speculative.

On the other hand, we never got the release of 10,000 Days on vinyl and the band has had big legal issues with their label in the past, so who knows. I don't know if Sony being involved now will help or hurt how this all plays out.

One of the big legal issues was whether or not Tool got anything from digital sales. The label claimed the band was entitled to zero. That’s either been ironed out or the band is just going to take the hit to terminate the contract and move on.

I honestly believe the digital royalties issue was/is the number one thing keeping the band from issuing any new material since 2006. It means that Tool would be getting an advance for recording, touring, marketing, and everything else and getting absolutely nothing to pay it back from YouTube videos, digital sales, or streaming services.


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[Reznor2112]

man I can't stop listening to A/Descending. straight fire.

No joke. I get goosebumps every time Maynard sings "stay alive" and the fucking badass riff Adam plays when the Suspiria chest thing lights up on the screen (same riff from the instagram video)haha.

[Amaro]

No joke. I get goosebumps every time Maynard sings "stay alive" and the fucking badass riff Adam plays when the Suspiria chest thing lights up on the screen (same riff from the instagram video)haha.

RE: the sick "...stay alive!" moment - I somehow only just noticed that part today (on what was my 4th or 5th listen of the song)...

A testament to how shitty it is to experience the songs like this. Every moment counts in a song (especially in Tool, derp), and this is some shit. Alas, we do it to ourselves.

As far as I'm concerned, these two songs are very different beasts from anything before, particularly for the fact that vocals are placed where they are (unexpected), combined with the songs being as long as they are. As much as it's recognizably Tool, the songs themselves leave me with a new feeling(!), as I replay parts of either songs just in my head. I started to acknowledge some more 'forward' Tool tendencies others have brought up in this thread, but that's really quite easy to point to when it comes to live footage... We shall see how it all cuts through and comes across from the actual album's presentation.

One thing I'd been having trouble with from the start (day of show leaks) was simply hearing Maynard's voice... We've only heard him in non-Tool acts in the past 13 years (APC's last album was an incredible load of dung, IMHO, so I'm coming from there), my mind wasn't registering how to place it in Tool all over again, since it's been so long. Seriously weird, but I'm happy to say some dots really started connecting today (Ahhhhhh...).

Going forward, I'm gonna continue to take it easy on listens...only one a day of each song, if that. More than this new music being exposed now, it's just nice to breath in this breakaway period at last... All the years and years of mounting uncertainty's finally gone, and that in and of itself is hard enough to believe. lol August ain't hateful at all.

I hope they ditch that same logo for the artwork. *smh*

Hopefully they don't debut more than one new song live (if that) before the album drops.

I've already got a bet with myself that this album will outrank 10,000 Days, and rather easily.

[Jinsai]

a 3 to 4 month window for release is normal. It's only been a recent trend to surprise-release something, and that's been a way to thwart leaks.
At the same time, there's a lot of aspects that go into the release of a record after the mastering stage. There's promotional materials, artwork finalizations, advertising pushes (though true, Tool probably doesn't really need much of that in the traditional sense), music video creation... then there's variant forms of the music in clip and other forms, quality testing... then there's the actual physical production, and this includes the separate vinyl lacquer cut. You'd think a lot of these things would already be manufactured, and it's possible, but the physical production process is generally end stage, and not just because that's when the leaks generally happen.

Personally, I prefer things like what Radiohead's done, where the digital release for their last few albums has been surprise digital download, and the physical version comes later.

Either way, it's not THAT long of a wait.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Guys... These three months are gonna fly by. I'm preparing for a little Tool marathon, with giving myself time to sit and listen to each album close to when the new one drops. I tend to give myself a break from them like I do with Seinfeld. Both new songs gave me that same feeling their previous efforts did, so I'm psyched.

[Erneuert]

I’ve only seen the title and thumbnail but I know I’ll get angry if I hit play:

[fillow]

Anyone made a Hitler rant parody over the new songs yet?

Meanwhile here's one from 5 years ago

[Kodiak33]

Better sounding versions of the new songs are here. These are from Birmingham, found on Reddit.

[EndlessLoveless]

As hyped as I am for new tool, I feel I've heard all of these riffs before. And for a guitar based band, riffs are everything.
I am telling myself that the cell phone quality is hindering my view. Ive listened to parts of each song only once but all I hear is the grudge, 46 & 2 and other tool songs done slightly different. As if a tool cover band decided to write some "by the numbers" new tool songs.
If these 2 songs were chosen to increase hype, I think they chose the wrong songs. On the other hand, if they chose these 2 to pacify the fans with new material, and are leaving the really exciting, new direction songs for the album, then mission accomplished.

[Toadflax]

If these 2 songs were chosen to increase hype, I think they chose the wrong songs. On the other hand, if they chose these 2 to pacify the fans with new material, and are leaving the really exciting, new direction songs for the album, then mission accomplished.

Based on what we understand about Maynard and the guys spending very little time in the same room together, I'd wager they just went for a couple songs that were easy on everyone to learn and rehearse. Assuming they do a post-release tour in the fall, they can spend more time leading up to it working on other songs.

Also, and this is just pure speculation, it could be they don't want best / most hype-inducing songs to be heard by most people for the first time via cell phone recordings, but I have no idea how that might factor into these decisions.

[Kodiak33]

As hyped as I am for new tool, I feel I've heard all of these riffs before. And for a guitar based band, riffs are everything.
I am telling myself that the cell phone quality is hindering my view. Ive listened to parts of each song only once but all I hear is the grudge, 46 & 2 and other tool songs done slightly different. As if a tool cover band decided to write some "by the numbers" new tool songs.
If these 2 songs were chosen to increase hype, I think they chose the wrong songs. On the other hand, if they chose these 2 to pacify the fans with new material, and are leaving the really exciting, new direction songs for the album, then mission accomplished.

I agree with the structure, and I think it has quite a bit to do with Adam's guitar tone where everything sounds similar. I still do really like these songs, I feel some fat could've been trimmed out of them though.

[cahernandez]

Based on what we understand about Maynard and the guys spending very little time in the same room together, I'd wager they just went for a couple songs that were easy on everyone to learn and rehearse. Assuming they do a post-release tour in the fall, they can spend more time leading up to it working on other songs.

Also, and this is just pure speculation, it could be they don't want best / most hype-inducing songs to be heard by most people for the first time via cell phone recordings, but I have no idea how that might factor into these decisions.

I'm no musician, don't play any instruments but I really don't think that these two songs 'are easy to learn and rehearse'. They sound really complex!

In my opinion, this will be better than '10,000 Days', hopefully on par with Lateralus.

[Toadflax]

I'm no musician, don't play any instruments but I really don't think that these two songs 'are easy to learn and rehearse'. They sound really complex!

Well, I meant more from Maynard's perspective and adding him into the mix. The band has been jamming on these songs for years, whereas Maynard did his vocals months ago and possibly didn't listen to the new stuff again until rehearsals were coming up.

[Amaro]

Better sounding versions of the new songs are here. These are from Birmingham, found on Reddit.

Amazeballs, thanks.

I just got chills in "Descending"... This shit is fire.

[ryanmcfly]

What if they just announce the album's name on August 30th with a single? That would be Grade A trolling.