Genre(s): Progressive Metal, Alternative Metal
Starter Tracks: Fear Inoculum, Invincible
Label: Tool Dissectional, Volcano, RCA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5. A most triumphant and rewarding return.
Review: Asking whether it was worth waiting 13 years for a new Tool record is somewhat asinine. After all, almost nothing in life is worth 13 full years of your time. And no Tool record, no matter how simultaneously nostalgic and progressive it may be, would be worth that wait. But assuming you’ve spent the last 13 years leading a normal productive and meaningful life, managing to find time to discover some great music along the way, then we could perhaps begin to make the claim that Fear Inoculum was “worth” the wait.
Musically, this album is an antidote to some of the worst trends plaguing modern popular music. In a world where short and punchy singles compete for your precious and fickle streaming time, Fear Inoculum demands that a listener make a conscious investment into what he or she is listening to at any moment. This album is nearly devoid of any "hooks." Instead, songs take their time (between 7 and a half and 15 minutes) to develop a theme that rarely ever leaps out and grabs you. It is for this reason that the album can so effectively reward repeat listens.
This is not Tool’s best record. But it also didn’t need to be. Being one of the best progressive metal albums of the 2010’s is good enough.
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