Review by Xephyr for Tool - Fear Inoculum (2019)
Fear Inoculum: A substance or idea used to rid oneself and protect against fear.
As humans there are inherent fears that are pushed to the back of the mind each day in order to not dip into insanity. Constantly contemplating the 1 in 100 chance I have of dying in a car crash each time I drive to and from work isn't in my best interest if I want to be productive and hopeful for the future. Weighing the odds of success when releasing an album 13 years in the making against the hopeful but voracious clamors of devoted fans is also something I wouldn't want to think too heavily about. After all this time Fear Inoculum feels like a reboot more than a continuation, with Tool holding on to the same sound style but taking it in a different direction. With all the craze around this release it's easy and convenient to jump to whatever conclusions suit a chosen narrative, so I've found myself taking a step back to look at some objective facts regarding the creation and overall nonsense that Fear Inoculum had to go through to hit the shelves and streaming services.
After the release of 10000 Days in 2006 and its preceding tour, Tool had announced that they were beginning to work on a new album in early 2008. From there, the next announcement came in 2012 when it was stating that the album was "half done". Plagued by legal issues, injuries, and family matters, progress on the album slowed to a crawl with no songs being truly finalized. Many of these issues resolved by 2015 and the band got back to work, albeit slowly. It wasn't until early 2018 that the instrumentals were fully written, agreed upon, and sent to Maynard Keenan, the vocalist, to begin writing the vocal melodies and lyrics. These final instrumentals came from years of tweaking and rewriting over 20 different song ideas that would eventually turn into Fear Inoculum.
So, what does this mean for Fear Inoculum? The most substantial takeaway is that this album was legitimately 13 years in the making, with jam and recording sessions spread out along this downtime in between court hearings and other projects. The 80 minutes of music isn't something that was written 13 years ago and only performed now, but it also isn't something that was written just last year. Whether or not Fear Inoculum is subjectively genius or idiotic, it's objectively what Tool finally wanted to release after who knows how many hours of jamming, arguing, rewriting, and jamming again.
What Tool released is definitely not an instant classic, but a glimpse of the band focusing on different aspects of their sound and how musical ideas can form over the course of many years. My first experience with the album wasn't the greatest, with most of the 80 minutes blending together with no real deviation in sound except for memorable moments during "Invincible" and "7empest". I thought they established some nice grooves with the obvious use of wacky time signatures having to do with the number 7, which seems arbitrary but it's nothing new for Tool. Other than the instrumental grooves and some skillful drumming from Danny Carey, there wasn't anything to latch onto, with Keenan's vocals being much more subdued and sparse than in their previous albums. After "7empest" ended I left feeling slightly bored and perplexed, but not disappointed. For whatever reason, I just wanted to listen to it again.
After multiple listens I'm finally able to form enough coherent opinions about Fear Inoculum to say that it's an example of both success and failure from a long, drawn out iterative process. After 13 years of jam sessions and refining one project, it's easy to lose the excitement of unbridled creativity, and that's what Fear Inoculum lacks the most of. Every note, every chord, every drum flourish, and every strange electronic sound effect in the interludes have been meticulously chosen and run through some algorithm to fit into the equation of Fear Inoculum's sound. Couple that with Keenan's previously mentioned softer singing and you're left with an album that lacks the same punch and passion as previous albums, although that's partially by design.
Where Fear Inoculum succeeds is creating an atmosphere of subtlety. There are no massive moments like the climaxes of "Vicarious", "Right In Two", or "Parabola", there are no crunchy riffs like "Stinkfist" or "The Grudge", and there are no powerful vocal performances like "Lateralus" or "Sober". Fear Inoculum forces the listener to create a new spectrum on which to judge what is powerful or interesting, since it never reaches the aggressiveness of their previous albums. Once I familiarized myself a bit more with the album, Keenan's vocals on "Culling Voices" and "7empest" had a much more resounding effect compared to my first listen. I even found myself humming the chorus and riff of "Pneuma" randomly throughout my day, which made me realize that Fear Inoculum isn't as repetitive as I initially thought. Although seemingly simple and stripped down, the riffs and grooves stuck with me in a unique way. It makes me wish I knew more about music theory and composition, as there's probably some very smart choices being made with how they created these rhythms.
The ultimatum for Fear Inoculum comes down what the listener's expectations are coming into it, and that's why I believe it will remain as Tool's first misstep. This release isn't for everyone and it's difficult to point to any of its successes without running into its failures simultaneously. While the riffs are great, it can get monotonous after 80 minutes of it. While Keenan's vocals are used for great dramatic effect on some tracks, his overall presence on the album is extremely thin compared to 10000 Days or Lateralus. While the subtlety of the composition choices can be exciting, a lot of the tracks drag and can easily be called boring. It's all about how the pros interact with the cons for each listener.
In the end, the pros outweighed the cons for me. I've consistently been noticing exciting new details and rhythms I hadn't picked up on before and it's been a refreshing experience hearing Tool break some new ground after all this time. The percussion is insanely interesting throughout the album and the grooves and overall vibe of the album is unique and thought provoking. What holds Fear Inoculum back is that the listener has to be ready and willing to invest themselves and look for an experience, which conversely means that on the surface it very much is a sluggish 80 minute riff-fest with little payoff. I believe it's worth the investment, but it's not difficult to empathize with the other side that feels like it's a whole lot of nothing. Ultimately I'm happy that Tool was able to reach enough agreements that they were finally able to release their meticulously crafted product, so the only thing left to do is find out which side of Fear Inoculum you fall on.