Fear Inoculum
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I could see people not liking this album, particularly people that really like the style of the older albums. To each their own. Fear Inoculum is the next evolution of Tool in a long progression of changes. And its amazing how far they have come.\n\nI love introspective tool and this album feels like disposition/reflection, but for a full album. It’s a very slow burn, which again I really like and for this moment in my life, this is exactly what I want.\n\nThis is a deep and beautiful album. An album that I can put on and just sit there and think. Its like someone is messaging my brain and helping me work through the problems in my mind. That means a lot to me and I really dig it.\n\nAs far as the transition songs go, I have deleted them. They just screw with the flow of the album and its long enough as it is without having to sit through random noise in-between great tracks. My digital album now reflects the physical release, which didn't bother including them either.\n\nBesides that, I think I love this album."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Having heard my first song from Tool in 1994 they are the only band I can think of who's sound has aged like wine. It's never been trendy, it's always been what they wanted to produce and always evolved album to album. This is no exception. They posted the album for free. I don't think they need the money but I paid for it anyways. Each track is a carefully constructed piece of musical art. I've thought of many bars set by artists from the 1960's to now and feel like this album and their body of work has set it."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'If "10,000 Days" and "Lateralus" had a baby that was delivered by Dr. "AEnima" that baby\'s spirit name would be "Fear Inoculum". I\'m not going to say something stupid like "OMFG !@@$ it was worth the 13 year wait!!" because having to wait 13 years -sucked-. However, this new album delivers on everything I want to hear from Tool.\n\nThe album is full of long drawn out "Tool" music tracks with extended waves of sound crashing into a wall of pounding guitar, bass and Danny\'s drumming at the peak. All the progressive boxes are checked for me, and, I wouldn\'t call this some new direction or departure for Tool (who wants that anyway) the band definitely added some musical elements you have not heard from them before.\n\nThroughout the entire album, you hear the added ingredients of synthesizers and voice effects - all of which are perfectly placed.\n\nAt the end of the day, I feel the band picked up beautifully where they left off and stuck to their stubborn guns of \'we will release something when it\'s *ready*\'. As frustrated as I was with not having new music from the Tool in over a decade I am glad the band didn\'t release music [just] for the sake of pumping out music.\n\nIf you\'re looking for Godsmack or Chevelle you\'re looking in the wrong place. If you\'re looking for the Pink Floyd of our time, (but, it\'s TOOL,) then this is the right place for you to be - welcome home.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': 'The single release of the song "Fear Inoculum" definitely got my hopes up as it\'s a very good song, much in the vein of their "10,000 Days" style. But overall I find myself to be somewhat let down. Pneuma has great moments, and 7empest is fantastic for the first 9 minutes or so (the rest of the 15+ minute playtime is just instrumental jam). But beyond that, nothing else is particularly memorable for me. It\'s really too bad they didn\'t capture more of the energy of 7empest across more of the album. Just seems like a bit of a lackluster affair for this long time fan.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Am I OK with TOOL releasing an album that sounds very much like everything they\'ve ever done? Absolutely; and that\'s what I was expecting. Some of their best work strongly reminds me of "something from their last album" and they\'ve always been a great example of how arrangement of a song is important. But Fear Inoculum is easily the most repetitive album I\'ve heard in years. Every song sounds the same. And I don\'t mean the same riffs over and over. I mean the same order of arrangement with slightly different riffs and very little imagination. It\'s an album that spends 60 minutes trying to be the same song over and over again, before it finally realizes that maybe it\'s time to write something good. I literally get half way through these songs and go "now they\'re going to do that riff they do where it\'s just 4 chords" and low and behold, "DUN dun DOOOOOOONE" Chocolate Chip Trip is Danny Carry fully utilizing his kit: something we haven\'t really seen from him outside of a live performance. But it ends before it takes off. 7empest is probably one of the best TOOL songs of all time and arguably Adam Jones\' best work. It\'s a great example of TOOL sounding like TOOL. I guess what I\'m trying to say is there\'s a difference between taking a song where the listener hopes it to go (with sometimes exceeding expectations) and taking every song to a safe destination. Fear Inoculum is good, but it\'s also very, very boring.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I have been listening to Tool for 20 years and probably seen them 50 times live. Tempest is a sick song, but most of this record is just filler.\n\nWe waited 13 years for this? please....'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Great band. Great music. Great new album after 13 years. But, clearly they are making a statement about finally having to put all their music out in digital format by only releasing a $150.00 Limited release CD version of the new album \'Fear Inoculum\'. I\'m a luddite sure-- but it would have been nice to just get a CD version for the standard 15 -16 bucks so I could play it in the CD player in my dumb old Toyota Matrix while I drive to my dumb old job everyday and then be able to look at the CD booklet while I eat my dumb old lunch. Tool you made us all look like fools. DAMN FOOLS!!! Your true fans with disposable income gobbled up the $150.00 version (with 4" tv screen) and your true poor fans only could afford get the MP3 digital option and then had to burn their own dumb CD to play in their dumb old car. But, you guys finally just showed me just how DUMB I really am! If only Justin Bieber will now admit to just how dumb he is for saying he likes your music, you will have finally cured the world of it\'s sickness. Fear Inoculum is still a great offering of new music from a great band that has just taught us a valuable lesson in why we are all so dumb.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I bought this on the digital download and bought the rest of the albums I didn't have. I am a Tool fan since the Aenima days, backtracked to pick up Undertow and moved forward with the rest. I've been rocking out for the past 2 weeks day and night with surround sound and headphones. I can't get enough of this album. I love how Maynard sets the tone for the song and gives the band their time to shine. If you know Tool you will dig this album, if you are unfamiliar with Tool I will say it like this... One does not simply listen to Tool. You experience Tool."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': '13 years in the making, 5 solid years of blood and sweat in the music studio, threads of musical exploration abandoned and restarted, every note, every complex rhythm meticulously crafted, and finally the wait is over - Tool thrust an epic masterpiece of heavy musical art into our collective consciousness. These guys are now into their 50\'s, at the very peak of their artistic genius, and this album reflects their growth and perfected precision. Yes every tool album prior to this has been great, with some terrific songs but with a few flaws - some meandering filler pieces or a few songs that didn\'t quite gel. But this one is different, sure, unmistakably Tool with their strange time signatures and embedding complexity within complexity in an almost fractal way, but now with a maturity and focus and consistent musical brilliance that permeates every one of their multiple 10-12+ minute long songs on this album. It\'s as though they, like us, suffered through a decade of music industry tripe, bubble gum pop and mindless rap promoted to the lowest common denominator, and then said "step aside kids, this is how to make music that stands the test of time - music that hits you like a sledgehammer but also music as art in the purest truest sense." Mesmerizing, haunting, at times blissfully beautiful and at other times (e.g. 7empest) brutally aggressive and soaring. This folks is their Magnum Opus, their Moby Dick, their Guernica, their Sistine Chapel of musical brilliance. The only adjective that comes close to capturing this masterpiece is Transcendent. This isn\'t just an album we have waited for for 13 years, this the the Tool masterpiece we have always been waiting for. Epic, brilliant. I will get nothing done for the next two weeks because I will be listening to this over and over and over...'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Tool is back, and they have shown the world that age has not compromised their musical brilliance. Once again they have kindly invited us along through the psychedelic journey and they did not disappoint. This time around they turned down the tempo just a tad and Maynards vocals stepped back as frontman and just served as a contributing instrument along with Adam and Dannys phenomenal performances. With this one they channel their inner Floyd more than they ever have and they executed it brilliantly. The only problem I can seem to find with the album is there isn't a standout best track to go to, they're all pretty much perfect. This stands only behind Aenima and Lateralus as my favorite album and I honestly couldnt even tell you why, those two are just so special to me that I cant with an honest heart put this one above them. If you listen to Tool for the experience you absolutely need to own this. However if you're more of a casual fan and find 'The Pot' or 'Prison Sex' to be among their better songs then this one might not be for you. By far one of the greatest musical experiences I've ever had."}]