Tool's NEW ALBUM Fear Inoculum - August 30th, 2019

If I was Tool, I'd release as much good live music as I could. One from each tour please. Even from some of the non-tours, like when I saw them in Toledo about 8 years ago. They always bring it live IMO.

 

Anyone feel like there is a couple of instances where Jambi-like riffs show up again?
I’m sure someone else has brought it up but hey - 168 page thread n’ all...

 

It’s Tool. Basically every riff and progression is a recycled bit with a slight tweak.

 

Love these guys, I prefer their earlier EP and first full-length the most, Persona and Themata.



I've heard Karnivool have been in the studio for awhile as well, so I'm very excited about their next release.

 

FLOATER is another fabulous band that ticks a lot of the same boxes as TOOL (and Karnivool).

 

To whomever said that declipping software can't possibly work: I am not an audio engineer and I do not claim to be. I do, however, have quite a bit of listening gear and I am an engineer (software - not saying it means anything but I do have technical analytical abilities and general mathematics knowledge), it definitely "helps" smooth things out. It does not 100% work in my experience, and I notice some drawbacks. When maynard says "Shame on you" in that semi-faded-out voice in 7empest, almost all of my declipping trials have fudged this as almost being inaudible. Not sure why?

I'm listening on HD650s/HD630Bs/HD595/ShureSRH1595/ES90xx XMOS USB DAC/Darkvoice 336SE + custom tubes/HD380Pro/KantoYU3/BicPL200/Sony SRTDN1060/Klipsch RF42. It is hardly noticeable on anything except the higher end open headphones, but man is it irritable. It literally makes me want to stop listening, which is a shame.

My situation is rather unique, I listen to 8+ hours of music a day, so I would always prefer warm vinyl masters to any sort of digital. My ears simply get tired. I assume it has to do with the fact that digital waveforms, as high resolution as they may be, present certain "unnatural" characteristics that our ears were not really evolved to process and create minor "irritable" subconscious moments which over 8 hours can add up to a lot. For millions of years we heard nothing but analog, and now we are just tossing clipped artificial jagged waveforms at our purely analog ears and expecting them to kinda interpolate the data for us.... that seems like a lot to ask and maybe why they get tired. I could be way off here... lol.

 

Hello again... Grain of salt review of Pnuema on some different gear...

So my initial listen, which favored the fan declipped version, was through some nice Sony WH-1000XM3
headphones straight through a laptop (over Bluetooth, no less) The fan declipped version had a bit more air and offered some of the nuances in the recording up just enough to where it was noticeable and enjoyable. I still enjoy that version in the same manner as of today...

Tonight I did a back to back listen through of Pnuema on a modest Denon receiver through a Jolida FOZ XX-S (your mileage may vary but I like it in this setup) all fed from a laptop with a Meridian Explorer2 DAC . Again I did the normal samples, Tidal, Wav Download, Flac Download, and the fan made version...

This time I absolutely favored the Tidal version. On this setup it was the clearest and most revealing version I spun tonight. It also had the best volume overall at lower volumes (for me) so I felt no need to overly crank it to achieve a nice medium. All the nuances are there and this is is the only way I would listen to this recording on this system for now. I wonder if Tool didn't plan it like this on purpose??? I'm hopeful the vinyl version will top everything but, we will need to wait a bit for that.

 

I've been going back and forth between the official files and the "remastered" files for the past week and I've determined that I prefer the remastered files. They are less fatiguing than the the official files. The remastered files' volume is lower, but even after turning up the volume to what sounds like the same level as the official files, the remastered files sound better. More cohesive, less smashing-head-against-wall-ish. YMMV, and my opinion may change over time. At a minimum, I'm glad to have them as a counterpoint to the official files. Thanks @proedros for sharing.

 

I agree, sometimes I wish I knew a thing or 2 about engineering or mastering so I can give stuff like this a shot.

 

I dunno maybe it's just me but I feel like if you need to go back and forth to determine the best sounding version of something, the difference isn't significant enough to really matter.

 

True, but sometimes that's when it's fun to compare them.

 

Definitely! It's tempting but it sometimes sacrifices enjoying the music itself, at least for me.

 

I went back and forth a few times. I wasn't constantly flipping every 10 seconds like a crazy person. Every time I went back to the official files, they seemed harsh in comparison. So now I stick with the 'remastered' files.

 

This would be great, but for me the Lateralus tour 2001-2002 would be the peak. It was pure epic wonder.

 

everyone has his favorite era it's normal , 2001 was very good but you can sense something mising

Maynard is in the shadows , gone are his talking rants and his weird colour/costume changes

2001 was very good but it feels like a band going through the motions a bit ,being professionals but not really laying their souls out on the table

so for me the only real question , is which of the 2 years is their best tour era ever - 1996 or 1998 ? (1997 was a notch down)

i tend to go with 1998 , for the most varied setlists (stranglehold /no quarter played very often there) and Maynard being on top of his stand-up routine thing/costumes changes

after 1998 ,the only way was down , they had destroyed every known notion of 'mindf.uck rock concert'

 

TOOL - Skeleton in a Rocking Chair - the vinyl box set.....patience patience patience

 

I'm surprised the orders from their site haven't shipped yet. I haven't missed anything have I?

 

Today I received my 2nd copy of the CD from ImportCDs! It took 1 month via non-tracked normal mail shipment.
It came with the same back cover design as the copy I received earlier from Amazon.
Reason for ordering 2 copies was me freaking out Amazon would cancel the preorder.

 

well, the cd spins, too. not my 24/96 files, though

 

in an interview he said that in the studio he used all kinds of gear, both amp- and guitar-wise. live it's diezel, marshall (i think) and les paul silverburst

 

Me too....I havent received an email about it even shipping yet. I already have one, so I'm not in a hurry, but I am surprised too.

 

true, you can write heavy music in every key. but an integral part of adam's playing is the use open strings (not only "homing onto the bottom three open strings", but also pull-offs he couldn't pull off otherwise). he'd need a different guitar for each key, which is not ideal for touring. they do have one song in c, though (parabol/a).
for me, the key has just become part of the tool sound, the variations come from their dance between time signatures and use of poly rhythms

 

Stumbled across this may be of interest to some. Tool’s 'Fear Inoculum': Decoded

 

Thanks for the link.

 

7empest and Descending are too short.