I'm going to keep it as I love the artwork and sound on the rest of the album but sad that the pressing quality didn't live up to the mastering and packaging. The band’s discography roared back into the digital marketplace, smashing Billboard records in the process. So I have already commented on this in the past and I stand by that the sound quality of it is great but I have a question about the lyrics on the last disk. The stoners of Sleep or the experimentalists of Sumac own this lane of daring, hypnotic metal songs because they bring stakes; you hear people moving in on the instruments and ripping out the notes. To me seems like there may be a touch less compression and a bit more bass/low mids than the digital release, but some of that could be down to the vinyl mastering/manufacturing process.

TOOL - Fear Inoculum Vinyl at Juno Records. TOOL - Fear Inoculum Vinyl at Juno Records.

Outer sleeve artwork is cool not blurry like some cover art that you can tell has been printed several times over to the point where you can barely make out any details. My previoulsy purchased copies of Undertow and Opiate were underwhelming, particularly given that I generally have appreciated early punk rock tool more than later prog rock Tool.But honestly I’m just glad they decided not to do stupid picture discs like they did with Lateralus. I realise there are Tool fans from back in the day who prefer other works but this is a fully-formed musical masterwork that fully justifies the extreme artistic presentation.

Tool to release triple vinyl edition of Fear Inoculum with Tool to release triple vinyl edition of Fear Inoculum with

Almost three years after Tool's long-awaited fifth studio album Fear Inoculum was released comes this triple vinyl edition. Confused because I’d heard absolutely nothing about it and shocked that it was at such a steep discount.Forged in the mad-at-my-dad fires of ’90s post-grunge and nu-metal, the progressive metal quartet has sustained a decades-long career on equal parts technical precision and psychedelic bullshit. The discs are packaged in a hard shell box with new album art, and a bound casebook holding the vinyl along with new imagery not previously seen. This package features five 180-gram black vinyl discs, with album tracks featured on Side A, and unique etchings featured on Side B. Fear Inoculum scored well with critics with the exception of Pitchfork, which usually I take with a grain of salt because they are often critical of just about any album they review.

Tool – Fear Inoculum (2019, Silver, Vinyl) - Discogs Tool – Fear Inoculum (2019, Silver, Vinyl) - Discogs

They're still masters of odd time signatures and 10+ minute songs but other than that, it was tough to find anything that really stood out to me while listening. It doesn't sound like the band challenged themselves or grew in any meaningful way over the last thirteen years. Songs like the opening title track feel long because they exist in protracted straight lines of mechanical riffs, as if assembled through an instruction manual. In a recent interview, Keenan said that one of the main reasons this album took 13 years to make was fear, crippling self-doubt, and constant second-guessing. Their multi-part songs are loosely about embracing pain, grief, desire, transgression, until all your chakras are open and you know exactly why the pieces fit.It looks like an aging quartet betting on being calculating and precise, carefully reining things in and keeping everything familiar. As the meaning behind their label name suggests (a rough translation from Spanish as 'hill view') Loma Vista has climbed to the summit of today's musical landscape, engaging and representing a sweeping range of the most popular scenes and genres of today.

TOOL - Fear Inoculum (reissue) Vinyl at Juno Records.

The stripped-down purity of sound here means that everything hangs on the songs themselves, all of which run over 10 minutes, save for a few ambient interludes and a palate-cleansing, nearly five-minute Carey drum solo backed by a giant custom synth. Above all, Fear Inoculum pays homage to Tool itself, a long-delayed encore that has fans racing back to the arena.All image and audio content is used by permission of the copyright holders or their agents, and/or according to fair dealing as per the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music. Records housed inside a full-colour, mirror-board printed, hardcover book featuring alternate front cover artwork, extra artwork, lyrics and credits all within a full-colour, mirror-board printed hardcover slide-out box, although not advertised as a box-set. Having just received their personal allotment of the forthcoming (TBA) FEAR INOCULUM ULTRA DELUXE LP, they were inspired to offer for sale this very limited number of advance pressings to TOOLARMY VIP PACKAGE holders (taking advantage of their early merch access) beginning with tonight’s show in Philadelphia and extending to the remaining shows in Elmont, Newark, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and so forth, or until there are no more available (prior to the worldwide release that’s projected for sometime in April).