Tool. Thirteen years later.
The American rock band Tool formed in 1990 in Los Angeles. The band has released five albums during its existence. The first release, however, was an EP (extended play, longer than a single but shorter than an LP) called Opiate. The current line-up of musicians was established in 1996 during the recording of the second studio album Ænima. There was a change in the bassist position. The departing D'Amour was replaced by Justin Chancellor. During a subsequent tour of Australia and New Zealand, the first of many April Fool's Day "pranks" was launched, in which the band's then webmaster stated on The Tool Page that at least three members of Tool were in critical condition following a highway car crash involving the band's bus. Ænima catapulted the Californians to the top of the progressive metal genre. On their subsequent highly successful seventy-six-minute album Lateralus, Tool also added art rock and progressive rock to their style description. A fourth album, 10,000 Days, was released in April 2006. The magical black cover art containing artwork is complemented by special 3D vision glasses. In the same year Tool performed at the Holešovice Arena in Prague. The singer Maynard James Keenen opened the unusual concert with a request not to smoke in the hall, otherwise he would not be able to give a flawless vocal performance. Not only Keenan, visible only as a silhouette on the big screen, but also guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Chancellor and drummer Danny Carey, with a giant battery of percussion instruments, offered the then not entirely full sports hall an excellent musical experience. The following years saw Tool more in America and Asia. After a hiatus of thirteen years, they finally come up with the new album they have long promised. Its title is Fear Inoculum. Seven tracks that together last an hour and nineteen minutes make up the basic version. But there is also a digital version, which has a running time of over eighty-six minutes. Except for the instrumental Chocolate Chip Trip, which is a drumming exhibition, all the tracks are over ten minutes long. With Tool, we're used not only to dimensional opuses, but also to unusual rhythms. Coming across a song, or at least part of it, in a conventional four-quarter bar is not easy. However, even this is eventually managed. The honest, rock-metal bottom end is graced with plenty of transitions, in which Carey uses perhaps the entire arsenal at his disposal in his kit. The treatment of the vocals is extraordinary, as they are sophisticated, colourful and at times a reminder of how Jon Anderson (Yes) approached the vocal line. A frequently used form is staccato, which Kennen resorts to precisely because of the various seven-eighths or two, consecutive three-quarter bars with added time. Fear Inoculum misses a hit, but it's not that surprising. Tool don't indulge in footage or song structures that suit radio stations and their DJs. Overall, the album is rather quiet, with good riffs, wonderful rhythms and excellent vocals. Culling Voices and 7empest are tracks that deserve attention, among other things, because they fulfill what the band members themselves mentioned, namely that they enjoy incorporating song within song. Hopefully we won't have to wait another thirteen years for another work by these extraordinary musicians.