TOOL - Fear Inoculum (30 Aug 2019 release)

[BuzzzFuzzz 2,720]

G'day lads.

 

After staying up to date with your posts on this thread, my interest in hearing this album gained much momentum.

 

I was not disappointed!!!

 

Thanks to the help of another generous member I obtained a digital copy in AIFF format a couple of days ago.

I was able to listen to the first three tracks upon arrival, before family commitments interfered.

 

This morning I am able to have a listen in full, undivided attention.

 

I have a few TOOL albums on the hard drives, and one on CD, but I have not listened to them very much.  I have no reason for this, but it has allowed me to approach this album without any expectations, other than those generated by you guys here.

 

It sounds great, and as posted on this thread the drumming is superb.  My musical tastes normally centre around the drumming, especially with Metal.

I love the guitar tones too and the odd time signatures.

 

Looking forward to further immersion in this album and the lyrics, although I am always careful not to overexpose initially, I have made that mistake before.

 

Thanks one and all.

Ant.

[needlerunner 689]

Guys, guys. I've worked it all out.
Spent the afternoon drinking beers and bourbans, watching the grand final with mates.

Then decided afterwards, time for a bit of Tool.

Then in my inebriated state. Thought this is chill, this is mellow. This is soooo good.Then l thought, same as me. I grew up with this band and they have mellowed and have progressed, same as l have. Then l am their age(bit more).

The more l listen to this album the better it gets. It's so layered, so polished, so well produced. So for me. This is by far far their best album. It just gets in your head and gets better with each listen.

But maybe it's age specific, or the alcohol talking. Nah its none, or all of the above... But this album sounds phenomenal to me.

So to avoid any further embarrasment. Playing it again with another bourbon and staying quiet.

[Iano 170]

If you can't get (or don't want) a physical copy, Tidal Hifi sounds really really good.  Plus you get an additional 8 minutes of filler tracks that couldn't make the 80 minute cutoff.

 

In terms of production, they spared no expense.  Bob Ludwig is still the best in the business and you can hear it.  What I'm going to do once I get another kid & wife free listening time (rare af  ), is play tracks from Lateralus and Fear Inoc and see which sounds better.  Anybody remember HDCD?  My player supports it, and Lateralus was one of the best HDCD albums ever made. 

[awayward 1,294]

17 minutes ago, Iano said:

If you can't get (or don't want) a physical copy, Tidal Hifi sounds really really good.  Plus you get an additional 8 minutes of filler tracks that couldn't make the 80 minute cutoff.

 

In terms of production, they spared no expense.  Bob Ludwig is still the best in the business and you can hear it.  What I'm going to do once I get another kid & wife free listening time (rare af  ), is play tracks from Lateralus and Fear Inoc and see which sounds better.  Anybody remember HDCD?  My player supports it, and Lateralus was one of the best HDCD albums ever made. 

I don’t think Tidal HiFi quite matches the SQ of a locally stored track or HDCD, obviously this will depend on the quality of your streaming playback, but interested to know your opinion of your comparison 👍

[Darren69 9,929]

I have given it a pasting and I think I still prefer 10,000 Days. I like all of their albums but I think 10,000 is still my fave.

 

After blasting the newie I revisited their back catalogue and came to this conclusion. Aenima is awesome too, I have re-discovered.

[Sime 1,052]

Yup, I pretty much don’t listen to the new one anymore. 

[Satanica 1,316]

18 hours ago, Iano said:

If you can't get (or don't want) a physical copy, Tidal Hifi sounds really really good.  Plus you get an additional 8 minutes of filler tracks that couldn't make the 80 minute cutoff.

 

In terms of production, they spared no expense.  Bob Ludwig is still the best in the business and you can hear it.  What I'm going to do once I get another kid & wife free listening time (rare af  ), is play tracks from Lateralus and Fear Inoc and see which sounds better.  Anybody remember HDCD?  My player supports it, and Lateralus was one of the best HDCD albums ever made. 

Fear Inolculum has been mastered louder than Lateralus.

I'm not saying the latter is better overall in terms of production but you would need to level match them to do a "proper" subjective assessment as we humans have a tendency to like the louder one.

Yes I remember HDCD and I used to have a CD player that supported it many moons ago.

My software player of choice (JRiver MC) has just recently added support for HDCD CD's and Files.

I think the TOOL album with the most dynamic range is the Undertow CD but not the recent digital download which has been compressed.

[zippi 1,896]

2 hours ago, Darren69 said:

I have given it a pasting and I think I still prefer 10,000 Days. I like all of their albums but I think 10,000 is still my fave.

 

After blasting the newie I revisited their back catalogue and came to this conclusion. Aenima is awesome too, I have re-discovered.

1 hour ago, Sime said:

Yup, I pretty much don’t listen to the new one anymore. 

The song-writing on FI is just nowhere near as good as Aenima or other albums. No amount of top notch production can make up for this. You can produce Incy Wincy Spider until the cows come home - it still be Incy Wincy Spider. I called them out on it a day or two after the album was released on youtube here in this thread.

 

There are moments of Tool brilliance etc on the new album but that's all it is. The amount of material on FI, when you take most of the fat off (like a stake for bbq - so leave a decent amount on of course) would fit comfortably on a 60-65 minutes record -  the interludes included. There's just not enough material to justify an album that long, therefore most songs overstay the welcome.

 

From commercial/financial return point of view - a masterstroke, and that's the only way I can explain it. Buy the effin CD with pretty pictures for a hundy (there's so much freakin hype, oh it's running short you betta hurry), oh but it don't got all the itty bitty interludes on it and it don't sound like the album - sorry couldn't all fit. But that's ok buddy, just scoot on over to HDTracks and buy digital you get the whole album.

 

From Aenima album -

(I love this song and am sorry to have to quote it here in this context as I too am a big fan of Tool, however what's right is right, a spade is a spade and a dud is a dud):

 

" I've got some bad advice for you, little buddy.

All you read and wear or see and hear on TV is a product waiting for your fatass dirty dollar

So, shut up and buy, buy, buy my new record
Buy, buy, buy,
Send more money "

 

Edited October 11 by zippi

[needlerunner 689]

2 hours ago, Darren69 said:

I have given it a pasting and I think I still prefer 10,000 Days. I like all of their albums but I think 10,000 is still my fave.

 

After blasting the newie I revisited their back catalogue and came to this conclusion. Aenima is awesome too, I have re-discovered.

I think your conclussion is that they are all good. As William Shakespere said: Better to have loved than not loved at all.

[Gambit 1870 64]

After blasting the newie I revisited their back catalogue and came to this conclusion. Aenima is awesome too, I have re-discovered.

Always been my favorite Tool album mate

[Darren69 9,929]

9 minutes ago, needlerunner said:

I think your conclussion is that they are all good. As William Shakespere said: Better to have loved than not loved at all.

Yes, the problem about saying this or that is 'better' sorta kinda implies something else is un-better, maybe even not that good, which isn't the case, they are all good in their own ways.

[candyflip 2,998]

2 hours ago, zippi said:

The song-writing on FI is just nowhere near as good as Aenima or other albums. No amount of top notch production can make up for this. You can produce Incy Wincy Spider until the cows come home - it still be Incy Wincy Spider. I called them out on it a day or two after the album was released on youtube here in this thread.

100%.

 

After spending quite a few weeks with it while commuting, on FLAC, thru headphones:  some great playing, but the songs just aren't there.   

[Satanica 1,316]

3 hours ago, zippi said:

From commercial/financial return point of view - a masterstroke, and that's the only way I can explain it. Buy the effin CD with pretty pictures for a hundy (there's so much freakin hype, oh it's running short you betta hurry), oh but it don't got all the itty bitty interludes on it and it don't sound like the album - sorry couldn't all fit. But that's ok buddy, just scoot on over to HDTracks and buy digital you get the whole album.

One can download the three extra tracks in MP3 (320 kbps) for free with a code provided in the CD packaging.

[zippi 1,896]

11 minutes ago, Satanica said:

One can download the three extra tracks in MP3 (320 kbps) for free with a code provided in the CD packaging.

Well at least that is cool, however the situation of the whole album not fitting on the media produces umpteen versions of the same thing that can (of course should - cause who wants to listen to Tool on mp3 it's not 2001 FFS) be purchased, plus also artificially produces a kind of notoriety and specialness, where the material doesn't even require such extreme album length.

Edited October 11 by zippi

[Satanica 1,316]

15 minutes ago, zippi said:

Well at least that is cool, however the situation of the whole album not fitting on the media produces umpteen versions of the same thing that can (of course should - cause who wants to listen to Tool on mp3 it's not 2001 FFS) be purchased, plus also artificially produces a kind of notoriety and specialness, where the material doesn't even require such extreme album length.

I think they should have released it as a double CD album and fit the whole thing.

I was sucked into buying both the CD and the HD Tracks version so it's been a $90.00 album in total for me.

I'm listening to it now for about the 5th or 6th time.

 

I've found it to be good background music but it's a bit too slow paced to get me excited.

The instrument players wrote and arranged the music and Maynard added some vocals at the end and really does sound like it.

7empest is the best track IMO with a bit more of a rocket up it's clanger.

 

I think next time (if there is one) they all need to work on it together.

I think with Maynard in there more closely it would become more song focused again and less of a jam.

Edited October 11 by Satanica

[Gambit 1870 64]

I think next time (if there is one) they all need to work on it together.
I think with Maynard in there more closely it would become more song focused again and less of a jam.

Agreed, but if you listen to interviews with Maynard, he gets the sh1ts with the process as the other 3 keep re arranging and changing constantly so now he won't write the lyrics until the instruments are a lock.

I find Invincible and Descending the speed humps in the album, neither song really pique my interest and now I just skip CCT, Culling Voices has an awesome slow build and 7empest reminds me of Undertows sound.