Fear Inoculum
Fear Inoculum is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Tool. It was released on August 30, 2019, through Tool Dissectional, Volcano Entertainment, and RCA Records. It is the band's first album in 13 years, due to creative, personal, and legal issues band members encountered since the release of 10,000 Days. It was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers generally agreeing that the band had successfully refined their established sound. The album topped the US Billboard 200 chart, their third in a row to do so, selling over 270,000 album-equivalent units. The album topped five other national album charts in its opening week as well. Two songs off the album received Grammy nominations, the first single "Fear Inoculum", for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song, and "7empest",[1] for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance, with the latter winning the award.
For the album's title track, see Fear Inoculum (song).Fear Inoculum
August 30, 2019
March 2018 – January 2019
- Henson, Hollywood
- United Recording, Los Angeles
- The Loft, Los Angeles
79:10 (CD)
84:29 (Vinyl)
86:43 (Digital)
Tool
Background[edit]
Writing[edit]
In 2006, Tool released their fourth studio album, 10,000 Days.[2] It topped the US Billboard 200 album chart and was certified platinum by the RIAA, indicating more than one million units sold, a month later.[2][3] The band toured heavily in support of the album, playing more than 200 shows through 2007.[4] After this, frontman Maynard James Keenan mentioned that he saw Tool breaking up in the near future, and focused on his side project, Puscifer.[5] However, by early 2008, at the 50th Grammy Awards, Keenan announced to MTV that the band would begin writing new material for their fifth studio album "right away".[6]
The band was quiet over the next few years, only with Tool's website announcing that guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor, and drummer Danny Carey were working on instrumental material while Keenan focused his efforts on Puscifer.[5][7] The approach was consistent with what the band had done in the past, with Keenan waiting to write vocals and lyrics until instrumentals were completed.[8] In 2012, the band's website was updated again, with the webmaster writing that they had heard instrumental material that had "sounded like Tool…some of it reminiscent to earlier Tool stuff, with other parts pushing the envelope" and that they estimated that the album was around half done.[5][9]
Outside problems slowed progress on the album over the following years. In 2013, it was reported that two separate scooter accidents injured two undisclosed members of the band, eliminating nine days of planned “jamming” time.[10] Carey later revealed himself as one of the involved members, noting that he had been involved in a motorcycle accident that resulted in multiple cracked ribs, which caused him pain that further slowed recording.[5] Keenan summed up the album's progress at the time in a cooking analogy, explaining that "Basically right now it's a lot of ideas. There's no actual songs…It's still kind of noodles in a big basket. Lots of noodles, just no dishes."[5] In 2014, Jones and Carey revealed that complicated legal issues and court battles stemming from a 2007 lawsuit had been slowing down the process as well.[11] The issues stemmed from a lawsuit from a friend who claimed credit for artwork the band had used, but escalated after an insurance company involved sued the band over technicalities, leading to the band then counter-suing the insurance company.[11] The constant court battles and delays, coupled with other life obligations, limited the band's time for working on music, and drained members of their motivation to be creative and write music.[11] At the time, Carey stated that only one song was “pretty much done”, an untitled ten-minute track.[11] In 2015, Jones announced that the legal issues were completely over.[12]
Composition and themes[edit]
The album consists of seven main tracks of music, and a run time just short of 80 minutes, the maximum runtime of CDs.[28] The digital version of the album contains three short interlude tracks, stemming from Carey's scrapped plan to have the album be entirely one long song.[29] Jones and Carey described the songs as lengthy, but containing multiple movements within each track.[30] The concept of seven is a recurring theme of the album both musically and conceptually; Chancellor and Jones wrote guitar riffs in unusual time signatures related to the number seven, while Keenan introduced ideas related to seven as well.[28] Music videos also covered the theme.[28] The album also explores the concept of growing "older and wiser".[31] Keenan explained that the album covers the idea of "embracing where we are right now, acknowledging where we've come from and some of the things we've gone through."[31] Keenan also advised that patience and multiple listens were required in understanding the album, comparing it to a slowly developing movie.[31] Jones described it as very different from their prior album 10,000 Days.[32] Music critics and journalists have described the album as progressive rock,[33][34] progressive metal,[35] and alternative metal.[33]
Release[edit]
The album was released on August 30, 2019, through the band's own Tool Dissectional imprint as well as Volcano Entertainment and RCA Records.[36][37] Prior to release, the band toured in May 2019 in North America.[38] It was reported in March that Jones had been working on album artwork, generally one of the last steps in the process.[39] The band began pre-album release touring in May, kicking it off with a headlining show at Welcome to Rockville, where they debuted two new songs, "Descending" and "Invincible".[40][41] The title was announced on July 29, 2019.[42] On August 2, 2019, the band's back catalog was added to digital download and streaming outlets to promote the release,[43] with Tool being one of the few holdouts among major artists.[44] The album's cover art, revealed on August 5, was created by Alex Grey, who also created the art for the band's prior two albums.[28] The album's opening track and first single to be released from the album, also titled "Fear Inoculum" was released on August 7.[45] The song charted at number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100, and with its 10:21 runtime, became the longest song to ever enter the chart.[46][47][48]
Packaging and artwork[edit]
A deluxe edition of the album, which includes a full 4-inch HD screen (featuring original video material), a 2-watt speaker (featuring an additional song called "Recusant Ad Infinitum") and a 36-page insert book, was made available for pre-order on the same day as the digital edition of the album.[49] The band's European distributor Napalm Records has this available as well.[50] In November 2019, an "expanded book edition" of the album was announced containing all of the songs on the deluxe edition but without the electronic screen, speakers, etc. This edition included lenticular lens graphics, a book of lyrics and additional artwork, links to download the video experience and bonus song from the deluxe edition, and the audio CD.[51][52]