Fear Inoculum

This is, I think, the 4th TOOL album on the Finishers Club list and I know, the people who love them just really love them, but give it a rest please. Dig up something obscure, everybody knows TOOL exists. I've got nothing new to say about this music. Having written all that before actually listening to this I'm compelled to address that I think this is my favorite offering from this band so far. Overly long and with some material towards the end I found to be self-indulgent twaddle but I'll even boost it an extra star for taking things to some interesting places lyrically, vocally, and musically.

Great album, but not as good as Lateralus and Aenima. As the guy who nominated Lateralus, I can say that we probably don’t need four Tool albums on the list, but the fact that we don’t know which other albums have been nominated before selecting our own makes it difficult to get that balance. Anyway, that’s my excuse for the four Tool albums. What’s the 1001 albums committee’s excuse for the 20 fucking Nick Cave albums on that list? Tool over Nick Cave any day of the week.

This was already an album that I listen to regularly. I would consider TOOL one of my favorite bands. From reading the comments nearly every one of their albums made the user submitted list. While I think they are great, I’m hesitant to see any artist have more than 2 albums on the list unless they absolutely transcend a decade or genre. They are fantastic musicians for sure, but I think variety is what makes these projects fun. I’m not a fan of the filler/skit songs that they do, but the rest of the album is amazing. Still a 5/5 from me.

I am good with like one TOOL song mixed into a playlist, I do not need 1.5 hours of consistent TOOL. Every TOOL album is not a must hear before you die. TOOL

Tool is not as good as people would have you believe. This is the 4th album on the user list and I'm so incredibly tired of this. I really wanted to like it, but they're not making it easy. It's not only uncomfortable, it's boring. It numbs my mind in such an unremarkable way. 1

OK… there are a lot of Tool fans who finished the list. Too many for me to love, but I’m sure one of these Tool albums should be acknowledged. I think maybe this one suffers because I still struggle to love Tool.

For people who like math, Joe Rogan, and GHB.

ANOTHER fucking Tool album? are you kidding me? fuck off, losers. 2/5.

Surely we have ran out of TOOL albums to add to this list now?

This is my least favorite TOOL album. It sounds much too overthought due to the many years it took to create. The album lacks the urgence and spontaneity their other albums have. It is too long and just drags on.

Yet another chosen album from the King Crimson of metal. This one's ok but retreads previous stuff. Tool fans are a bit obsessive...

You absolute cunt. More tool. Surely there can't be any more? Over hyped drearyness

Is this a joke now? Are we attempting to get every single TOOL album on this list. Just checked and yep; they've released 5 albums and all 5 are now on this list. I suppose their fans have to shout about them as to anyone with ears they're pish.

Absolute genius, from one of the most interesting and innovative bands around

Epic album

Really enjoyed this release... a bit more in the tone of 10,000 days... definitely long pieces that are dark and moody. Though Chocolate Chip Trip could certainly be left off this release, I really like what Maynard and Tool are doing. Great sound.

After being hesitant to add a second Took album to the user list we are now at 4 Tool albums with only Undertow left. It’s only a matter of time! Fear Innoculum is the most recent tool album and while it’s still very good. It’s also very formulaic to what Tool fans have come to like. This album is solid but the drawback is there’s less rawness that made their earlier stuff better and it’s mainly just solid prog rock instrumentals that they can output so precisely. 8.1/10

I do like TOOL. But this album is trying too hard to be atypical. Build-ups that go nowhere, and songs that are just a bit too long

I'm being won over to Tool by shear weight of suggestion, but how many hours of this stuff am I expected to listen to?

Pretty incredible how the weakest Tool album is still this great.

I really do like it. I'm hardly a fan, more just curious, but this is the only Tool album I ever feel the urge to come back to. It sounded great blasting it in my car today.

My favourite of the more recent Tool albums.

Very good. The songs were very long but good.

yep its TOOL alright. I do like a lot of the newer, more organic textures integrated with their more punchy tight bass tones and synths.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Descending

Not as bad as people made out

surprisingly better than i would've expected.

This album had its moments, particularly on the front half, but I just wasn't feeling it. You either click with these guys or you don't. Fave Songs: Pneuma, Fear Inoculum, Descending

Another Tool album? Honestly it's just fine. I'd say boring more than anything and way, way, way, too fucking long. 90 minutes? Cut it half again. The songs just meander and hey if that's what you are into great but I'm not. Wild that there is yet another Tool album awaiting me. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

The Tool fans are out in force. I feel between the main list and this side list I’ve had all their records in the last few months except Opiate. They’re all good records and I enjoy them. I just don’t know if they all need to be on here. Which one I would remove - I don’t know.

I like Tool to a point, and Fear Innoculum is like everything else where it sounds perfectly fine to the ear on first listen, and I suspect I'd enjoy it quite a lot if I listened repeatedly and 'got it' more, but I never get there. This was a fine and average morning listen of crashing loud noise, 3/5, I'll take it.

This is the first TOOL album I've ever listened to. The reviews lead me to believe I'll be listening to all the rest of them over the next several months. Obviously at least one album should have been on the list, making at least one a legit share. Is it this one? I obviously can't say. I can say I really enjoyed the first couple tracks but they started to lose me at Litanie contre la Peur; afterwards I was more atuned to and irritated by some of the aimlessness. Overall the album left me interested in hearing some of the other albums but I probably won't be back for this one again.

kept waiting for something to happen that didn't happen.

With this, 80% of TOOL's studio albums are included in this list. Though I personally would have chose Undertow over this, including it now would not bring any good. This should have been left at Lateralus, because all their albums post Paul D'Amour have largely been variations on a common sound. Fear Inoculum distinguishes itself by immersing itself fully into the mystical side of the TOOL sound, almost completely forgoing their heavy leanings. Unfortunately, this is my less favored side of TOOL's sound, and for nearly 90 minutes it becomes less monumental and more tedious. I mean, all of the long-form tracks develop in essentially the same way, and the identical climax isn't particularly moving by the first, let alone the 6th time. Another reviewer noted that this direction is likely due to the massive expectations on this album after 15 some years of anticipation, and I am inclined to agree. I realise this review has turned quite negative, but I actually didn't particularly dislike this album. It's just a lot of nothing. I'm sure you can find a more interesting album from 2019 to include.

who knows what nu metal is about. it's not bad... now anyway.

Gotas de rock industrial y un tanto de rock pesado. Con intensidad relativa. Intenso en su punto correcto. Le ha faltado algo que haya hecho que me enganchase del todo

Interesting title given that this came out just before COVID hit. Interesting album too, found myself drifting off in places though.

I'm not a Tool fan but how the hell were they not in the 1001 book? Just realizing this now. Massively influential and popular to this day - seems almost a willful omission. Having said that... Tool theoretically should be a band I love: weird time signatures, mysterious/threatening without approaching thrash/scream/noise. This is my first time hearing this record and yeah it seems "very Tool" - meaning I can take almost *any* 2 minute stretch and nod my head (out of time) while being super impressed with and by the creativity and musicianship. Amazing and unique! But - and everyone I know has a big but (ht: peewee) - none of them are good *songs* .... ehh that's an arrogant statement so maybe I should just say I'm not left with anything in my head in terms of a hook or chills or anything I can even recall. It's/they're unique and maybe that anti-structure is exactly what the draw is for many people which I can respect but for me it's a collection of cool riffs and segments put together haphazardly. And endlessly. (also their records or at least this album are/is just way over-compressed and I'm not a fan of the guitar tones.) Actually the song "Pneuma" is the perfect microcosm of how/why I can't connect with Tool. Starting again today (I remember this song) - that lead riff is so damn cool; highly complex timing and starts to draw me in but I think I get bored of it after a bit. Then the creepy (aren't they all) middle part comes in and that's a neat diversion but after whoknowshowlong my mind is drifting again. How can this band be so ... goddamn boring. Its frustrating. Like they find a groove for 2 minutes then stay on that chord for the next 8 or 9, occasionally switching from a pedestrian 7/8 to 25/11 or whatever. It'd be fun in a rehearsal room but man give me a gd chorus maybe. Idk, I keep trying and failing - a few years ago I watched that amazing video of the drum-camera shot on Danny Carey in the Larry Bird jersey playing "Pneuma" (absolutely worth at least one viewing) - I'm a musician and can't even understand how they and he even compute that song - it's fascinating to watch and I probably will again, but still - it's not a song or band I can carry with me I guess. I bet this is a band that could transform me by seeing them live, but who can afford that in this economy TL;DR: One of the most unique and talented bands of all-time, even if they're not for everyone. 5/10 3 stars. IMO: like it or not: should this have been in the original book [which should be called: 1001 Albums That Helped to Shape Music History]? Yes ... at least the band, maybe their debut instead?

I'm yet again astounded at how popular this band is. What the fuck do you mean that a 12 minute prog metal song, released only 6 years ago by a band that was notoriously absent from streaming services for a long time, has over 126 million streams on Spotify. That's mainstream pop numbers. And yeah, we definitely didn't need a fourth one of these. Aenima and Lateralus are must haves. 10,000 Days is pushing it but I can kinda see it. Not with this one. You can sorta tell the heart's no longer in it. They're following the formula verbatim. Almost feels like a: "Okay damn, here, have something", after 13 years of not releasing any new material.

Unlike other TOOL albums, THIS one is nearly an hour and a half long and features complex rhythms and songs that are virtually identical

Not for me

The 4th and easily the weakest TOOL album on the user-submitted list. Maybe submitting 4 of their 5 albums makes up for the fact that none were included in the original 1001 albums (the exclusions of Ænima and Lateralus are ludicrous). Maybe not This album is fine, it’s just a far cry from their heyday. If we have to wait another 13 years for another TOOL album, hopefully they have some more ideas

Don't care for it at all. 2 stars.

Progressive rock, progressive metal, alternative metal. Tostón. Un 2.

Usually up for whatever labyrinthine tracks TOOL has to offer, but this LP doesn't coalesce into the usual tight prog-rock the band is known for. Too many of the progressions here feel lost, meandering along repeated riffs that don't seem to reach much of a justifying conclusion. Maybe the band was trying to make up for lost time between releases, but the album suffers as a result and feels uncharacteristically bloated and lacking in focus.

I had a feeling that this was going to be on the list like every other tool album. But it shouldn't have been. Because it commits the worst crime possible for a tool album. It's boring. It's overly long and it's just simply boring. Every song sounds the same.

Obnoxiously long and pretentiously self indulgent. Disturbed wants to be Tool, yet fails and creates mediocre music (at best) and still manages to entertain more than this. I don’t mean to go so hard, but I don’t like Maynard. 2/5

boring ass metal

👎🏻

Sometimes it felt like weird whistles and sounds and just NO. no no.