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    Fear Inoculum, Was It Worth the 13 Year Wait?

    Fear Inoculum, Was It Worth the 13 Year Wait?

    Tools 2019 album Fear Inoculum comes 13 years after the release of 10,000 days and it has been long anticipated by myself and the entire metal community.

     

    The title track comes on strong with a rising synth and a groovy clean guitar. This leads into a simple effective bongo beat, and ambient piano. The focal point of this track is obviously the vocals, which fall short of other tool releases. The simplicity of the vocals takes away from the edge that tool has had in the past. However, the distorted guitar riffs and heavy bass tone breathes life back into this track.

     

    The second track Pneuma brings a heavy hitting lyrics that discuss the soul and being bound to a mortal body. This track combines an operatic composition combined with ambient spoken word vocals allows this track to deliver its deeper message and intrigue the listener to stay engaged.

     

    Descending is an extreme, and groovy song which uses the idea of drifting through the endless expanse of the universe and consciousness. Tool uses a creepy ambient guitar to give the vibe of being lost and confused which adds to the lyrical content to create an amazing atmosphere. This is arguably the best track on this album and shows off a lot of what tool can do.

     

    The long 2-3 minute interludes on this album seem unnecessary and lack a depth someone would expect from tool.

     

    The deeper cuts on this album bring in lots of flavor to the album. 7empest is one of the most complex and interesting. 7empest brings the explosive guitar riffs and wild vocals of Maynard and comes with a more fleshed out and more professional mixing and mastering. 

     

    As a whole, this album is very groovy and interesting. I enjoyed a cool night walk and listened to this album for the first time. The interludes between tracks take away from the experience, it breaks up the flow and ability to tell a story. The album does not seem like a whole concept. It seems more like many different ideas shoved into one 90 minute album.

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