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Tool Vinyl BUYING GUIDE (Original/Boots, etc.)


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Someone asked how we knew this would be hard to find? The fact it was pulled from Amazon after a short while being available for pre-order. That even made me get several orders just in case as I didn't want to miss out after all these years of waiting!

 

protip....when the vinyl release pre-order is up...get on it! 

/Endrant

Edited by bigdz68
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14 minutes ago, bigdz68 said:

Someone asked how we knew this would be hard to find? The fact it was pulled from Amazon after a short while being available for pre-order. That even made me get several orders just in case as I didn't want to miss out after all these years of waiting!

 

protip....when the vinyl release pre-order is up...get on it! 

/Endrant

Good thinking. I should have gotten the hint from that. When vinyl goes up, I'm killin' old ladies who aren't even in my path to get to the first device I can get my hands on to  pre-order this motherfucker from.

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4 minutes ago, Fowty Dollaz said:

So, this album is really impressive. I kind of anticipated being let down, so that probably helped it (for me). I really like it. Looking forward to seeing them in November. 

Yeah, I gotta say, there are a couple parts that feel like they drag a bit but I'm not even trippin'. Overall, this is a magnificent offering. As I stated earlier, I'm gonna flip shit when vinyl goes up for pre.

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3 minutes ago, dantheriver said:

Bump. Anybody know? I wanna sit close enough to have Maynard spit on me.

Doubting it since regular sales are only a few days away and there is no mention of fan club presale codes that I've sen through Ticketmatser. Plus doesn't the tool army generally do nothing for their regular tours? But I do know the Detroit gig has "Platinum Tickets" as an option meaning the best seats will be reserved for those looking to spend hundreds more than the people 5 rows behind them.

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Ok. Ranking time

 

6. Opiate - Unfair to compare to a bunch of other full albums with it being an EP but its integral to the catalog. I pretty much only still care to hear the title track.

5. 10,000 Days - Plenty of strong stuff on here and a couple of tracks I could never live without but as a full album, the sequencing doesn't thrill me and the something about it still feels a little off to this day. Not shitting on it at all but something about it simply doesn't gel into the catalog like I thought it would. I think it might make all the difference in the world for me if "Intension" were placed earlier in the track list or was just shorter. I don't know. Rubs me the wrong way.

4. Undertow - The beginning of it all proper for me. There is only one song that I feel is weak but all the rest is really killer. Very raw compositionally and not overproduced. Killer aggression and production has the right amount of sludge.

3. Fear Inoculum - Such a surprise out of the gate. This album will probably rotate around the top three spots of this ranking as time goes on. Too much wild riffage. Lacks some of the energy I was hoping to get from Maynard. There's no "I don't miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind" or "Before we piiiiiiiiiiiiiine away" moment for him here. Most tool albums have about 3 or 4 of those moments but the vocal attack is pretty well gelled into the music and doesn't really rock the boat. Its a shortcoming but one I can come to grips with. Musically and compositionally this thing is a fucking monster and a tasty as fuck one at that. Just the right amount of riff and time sig fuckery I was needing. Still not as jarring as "Schism" feels 18 years later. How the fuck was that the lead single? LOL Love the song but goddamn.

2. Lateralus - The Spiritual peak of the band for the most part. FI feels like a fitting sequel but without feeling rehashed at all. They both have the ethereal smoothness but combined with the raunchy attack. Not sure what else to say. Some monstrous classics on this bad boy. The Grudge. The Patient. Reflection. Lateralus. This is gargantuan. Not a fan of ending the music with Triad. Hurts this album for me. Faaip De Oiad is probably the greatest segue finish ever. EVER.

1. Ænima - There are about three tracks on this disc that I'm pretty much sick of hearing and two of them are segues. Given that fact, and the fact that every other actual song and segue are just about pure gold across the board, its got to go to first place.  Was the first album I heard all the way through. Contains "Eulogy."

 End of story. Or just the beginning.

 

How about y'all?

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2 minutes ago, fish said:

Doubting it since regular sales are only a few days away and there is no mention of fan club presale codes that I've sen through Ticketmatser. Plus doesn't the tool army generally do nothing for their regular tours? But I do know the Detroit gig has "Platinum Tickets" as an option meaning the best seats will be reserved for those looking to spend hundreds more than the people 5 rows behind them.

Website says tomorrow at 10am local

time is tool army presale via their store, just didn’t know if i could get in on it via the free tier or if I needed to pony up the $50 yearly fee.

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25 minutes ago, mcpherson123 said:

Ok. Ranking time

 

6. Opiate - Unfair to compare to a bunch of other full albums with it being an EP but its integral to the catalog. I pretty much only still care to hear the title track.

5. 10,000 Days - Plenty of strong stuff on here and a couple of tracks I could never live without but as a full album, the sequencing doesn't thrill me and the something about it still feels a little off to this day. Not shitting on it at all but something about it simply doesn't gel into the catalog like I thought it would. I think it might make all the difference in the world for me if "Intension" were placed earlier in the track list or was just shorter. I don't know. Rubs me the wrong way.

4. Undertow - The beginning of it all proper for me. There is only one song that I feel is weak but all the rest is really killer. Very raw compositionally and not overproduced. Killer aggression and production has the right amount of sludge.

3. Fear Inoculum - Such a surprise out of the gate. This album will probably rotate around the top three spots of this ranking as time goes on. Too much wild riffage. Lacks some of the energy I was hoping to get from Maynard. There's no "I don't miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind" or "Before we piiiiiiiiiiiiiine away" moment for him here. Most tool albums have about 3 or 4 of those moments but the vocal attack is pretty well gelled into the music and doesn't really rock the boat. Its a shortcoming but one I can come to grips with. Musically and compositionally this thing is a fucking monster and a tasty as fuck one at that. Just the right amount of riff and time sig fuckery I was needing. Still not as jarring as "Schism" feels 18 years later. How the fuck was that the lead single? LOL Love the song but goddamn.

2. Lateralus - The Spiritual peak of the band for the most part. FI feels like a fitting sequel but without feeling rehashed at all. They both have the ethereal smoothness but combined with the raunchy attack. Not sure what else to say. Some monstrous classics on this bad boy. The Grudge. The Patient. Reflection. Lateralus. This is gargantuan. Not a fan of ending the music with Triad. Hurts this album for me. Faaip De Oiad is probably the greatest segue finish ever. EVER.

1. Ænima - There are about three tracks on this disc that I'm pretty much sick of hearing and two of them are segues. Given that fact, and the fact that every other actual song and segue are just about pure gold across the board, its got to go to first place.  Was the first album I heard all the way through. Contains "Eulogy."

 End of story. Or just the beginning.

 

How about y'all?

I like your list a lot. Everything but 10,000 Days is gold to me so I have a really hard time ranking them. I’d probably flip flop Undertow for Fear Inoculum but over time I could easily see FE sneaking into my top 3, it’s that good. Undertow although raw sounding just has so many great tracks that I’ve loved for so many years now that I gotta have it in my top 3. Opiate is last only because of length. I wish I liked 10,000 Days more but besides a handful of tracks it just doesn’t grab my attention like the other albums.

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38 minutes ago, morfiend said:

I like your list a lot. Everything but 10,000 Days is gold to me so I have a really hard time ranking them. I’d probably flip flop Undertow for Fear Inoculum but over time I could easily see FE sneaking into my top 3, it’s that good. Undertow although raw sounding just has so many great tracks that I’ve loved for so many years now that I gotta have it in my top 3. Opiate is last only because of length. I wish I liked 10,000 Days more but besides a handful of tracks it just doesn’t grab my attention like the other albums.

Thanks. Glad you dig.  I get what you mean about 10K.  I'm certainly not complaining about the rawness of Undertow though. A lot of heavy bands fall into that trap of over polishing the mix. I think Lateralus still kept a good balance of raw attack and polish.  

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2 hours ago, dantheriver said:

Website says tomorrow at 10am local

time is tool army presale via their store, just didn’t know if i could get in on it via the free tier or if I needed to pony up the $50 yearly fee.

That's cool.  I remember people complaining about how much they paid and then not getting a chance at presales in the past. Still sucks that live nation/ tm are holding back some of the beast seats just so they can scalp them themselves. 

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6 hours ago, mcpherson123 said:

Ok. Ranking time

 

How about y'all?

 

FI has already topped Opiate and Undertow IMO. FI is fighting for second place. Lateralus being number one for obvious reasons. Second is Ænima. FI is a strong third right now. Very consistent album IMO. Strong from the get go. The riffing and rhythms that Adam and Justin conjured up are fantastic! And Danny is a fuckin polyrhythmic God! 10k is in 4th and Undertow is 5th 😔 and Opiate, like you said deserves to be counted albeit in last place. But I love them all. It's just not fair!

I can't stress this enough, but Adam really deserves aoty! This is a guitar first album, then drum. It's filled to the gills with riff after riff. And Danny! Ugh I'm repeating myself...

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I think that’s why I may be enjoying this one as much as I am.  I agree that it’s riffs after riffs and not at all in an excessively ambitious way.  It’s late, big posts are scary, and I’m too “new” a Tool fan to have my opinion taken seriously, but I’ll weigh in on a pleb’s ranking of the albums thus far, sometime tomorrow.  For now I’ll say that I’m super puzzled reading comments about the album feeling bloated, pointless, or downright boring.  Opinions and all, sure.  But yowza.

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It's hard for me to fathom ranking Undertow anywhere less than 2nd place, personally. That's when I started listening to Tool and it blew my brains. Then Ænima blew my brains too. Lateralus was more of a slow burn when it came out and, although that album definitely differs from the previous two, at the time I felt that's when they plateaued a bit and were settling into trademark sound. Familiar-sounding riffs, etc. It didn't seem as fresh and mind-blowing as the other two had been. And yes, it's amazing, but it didn't have the same impact on me of sounding really unique. I've only played Fear Inoculum twice at this point but I'm comfortable with this ranking. Leaving out Opiate because it's not an album.

 

1. Ænima

2. Undertow

3. Lateralus

4. Fear Inoculum

5. 10,000 Days

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I have to say something about 7empest. This song's first few movements feel like if you took attitudes and styles of the heaviest and sludgiest riffs and rhythms from Undertow, Badmotorfinger(Soundgarden) and Dirt (AIC) and then whisked them all together and dumped them out. The sound of them hitting the pavement in a spiral formation is what the opening few minutes of this song are. I love that fucking wild wah heavy lead that starts the shit off. Adam has pretty much turned over a new leaf in his guitar playing vocabulary and it really gives an incredible added luster to this album. Even Maynard's voice trickles lightly into the middle-ish range of Cornell's vocal territory for a brief moment and yet also at some instances recalls a touch of Staley. Essentially it is an early 90's Alt/"Grunge"/Metal lover's dream. I am on of those. This whole song rips life apart and reconstructs it in the greatest possible way. The only thing this track is missing is just a couple of really big, high pitched, and high energy vocal notes from Maynard that would have just taken this fucker even further over the edge but I hate to complain about that. Really I just want to celebrate the gorgeousness of this song. I can't get enough of it and I love that its the closer. It makes traversing through the rest of the record that much more rewarding.

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7empest seems to be an early favorite for most listeners.  It could have easily been the single they chose to release but it wouldn’t been the wrong decision to do so, without a doubt.  Maynard sounds the most like “classic Maynard” on it, in my opinion, whereas a lot of his vocal deliveries on the rest of the album feel like newer angles and twists from what he’s done in the past.  It feels like the most “authentic” Tool song but is not necessarily the most rewarding, depending on who you ask.  It is the perfect closer though and would feel completely wrong anywhere else on the record.

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It’s pretty cut and  dry, if u like Tool u will like the album. Tool picked the perfect song for the single. It wet the appetite.  I disagree strongly with 7empst being a fan favorite.  Maynard is Maynard. No such thing as being “classic Maynard”. Most ridiculous statement I have ever heard in my life. Just enjoy the album fellas. It’s been 13 long years 

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7 minutes ago, JOEYBUCKETS said:

It’s pretty cut and  dry, if u like Tool u will like the album. Tool picked the perfect song for the single. It wet the appetite.  I disagree strongly with 7empst being a fan favorite.  Maynard is Maynard. No such thing as being “classic Maynard”. Most ridiculous statement I have ever heard in my life. Just enjoy the album fellas. It’s been 13 long years 

I can appreciate your approach but I do personally agree that the assessment of the vocal tonality on 7empest mostly sounding like "classic Maynard" does ring true. He is human and his voice has altered through the decades and he has found new and relatively different ways to use it. There are distinct characteristics of his vocal attack that fluctuate from album to album but overall the majority of this album showcases a vocal tone that feels "new" or "recent" for him where most of the vocal passages early in this song sound like they were ripped directly out of Undertow or Ænima. Either way, I think the album is tits and I'm glad you are enjoying it as well.

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24 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

7empest seems to be an early favorite for most listeners.  It could have easily been the single they chose to release but it wouldn’t been the wrong decision to do so, without a doubt.  Maynard sounds the most like “classic Maynard” on it, in my opinion, whereas a lot of his vocal deliveries on the rest of the album feel like newer angles and twists from what he’s done in the past.  It feels like the most “authentic” Tool song but is not necessarily the most rewarding, depending on who you ask.  It is the perfect closer though and would feel completely wrong anywhere else on the record.

Honestly, it might just be the most rewarding for me and I don't chalk that up to the fact of Maynard's vocals coming off as the familiar old style. For me it really is the newness of Adam's approach and how complexly the rhythm section integrates into his riffage. Not sure whose actually responsible for "leading" in this song as it pertains to the way they composed it but Adam's contribution is the biggest surprise here. There definitely feels like there is a kinship between 7emptest and Rosetta Stoned in terms of ever-evolving and altering musical movements and themes but 7empest ends up feeling like it actually runs rhythmic circles around the relatively much more linear feeling of Rosetta Stoned.

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Yeah, Rosetta Stoned is definitely the first thing that came to mind for comparison’s sake.  Just the runtime and scope in general, but some of the zanier lyrics are an obvious similarity too.  (“Calm as cookies & cream” is easily the most ridiculous line Maynard sings on Fear Inoculum.  Tell me I’m wrong.)  Agreed that Adam holds back no punches too.

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4 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

Yeah, Rosetta Stoned is definitely the first thing that came to mind for comparison’s sake.  Just the runtime and scope in general, but some of the zanier lyrics are an obvious similarity too.  (“Calm as cookies & cream” is easily the most ridiculous line Maynard sings on Fear Inoculum.  Tell me I’m wrong.)  Agreed that Adam holds back no punches too.

Yeah, lyrical references to mundane and modern "manufactured product" type objects really kind of bother me though I'd say it worked well on Rosetta Stoned. 7empest feels too otherwise sanctified for lack of a better word to have that type of whimsy in the lyrics especially in the high relief of the seeming solemnity of the rest of the lyrics of this song but I'll take it because the rest is just so goddamn good. It kind of feels like the very first spoken bits of lyrics are the key indication that the song is somehow related to Rosetta what with the call back phrase of "Here we go again..." uttered in a very similar overdrive effect and vocal tone to Rosetta.

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