T00L can put out what they want. I am just interested in seeing where it goes. If they had pulled an ISIS and said... "Ya know, we're done. We have nothing more to say." I would have been like... I understand that.

As far as I am concerned, anything post-Lateralus is a bonus. And one I will gladly accept.
I liked 10,000 Days and I am excited for the next one.

Robert Fripp is going to be a guest on the title track for the new album.

Mark.

My

Wordies

yo.

okay, i marked them in my calendar - if you're wrong, the world will know.

who is this, "world" you speak of?

/adjusts monocle
/twirls mustache tips

I just put on 10,000 Days. *Travels back in time*

Edit: but not far enough back har har har harharharhrh

i listened to 10,000 days yesterday.....and i'm still an avid tool fan (even though i really don't mention it much on here).

i am eagerly awaiting the ne album and would love some live DVD shows to be released.

You believe me, don't you?
Please believe what I've just said!
See the Dead ain't touring
And this wasn't all in my head.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT I BELIEVE ANYMORE

Do you believe that you're not in the bin anymore?

If you say so.

I would like the new album to go in a more Disposition/Reflectiony direction, have good production and for Maynard to write stuff he can sing live.

i'm with you on the disposition/reflection direction rubb.

...and instead of pining away, i'd like to see the music/lyrics ascend and venture into immortality or reincarnation. that would be a nice way to have a positive vibe kind of way for them to end their music making career.

More instrumental material would be cool. Always been a huge fan of Triad (edit: and Merkaba for that matter). It'd be hard not to see that as a lack of interest from Maynard, however.

I can't help but feel that Maynard is no more than 5-10 years away from saying, "I'm done, guys. My hearts not in it anymore." And if that's the case, I've always wanted to see Tool release some kind of instrumental album with Adam working up a movie for it..... then call it quits. They did mention that band movie idea, so it's possible. :-/

i just want to hear it. i can only place expectations based on what ive heard before. something entirely different from their previous work would be cool.

i guess if i had to say, based on their body of work, more eulogy, lateralis, parabol/parabola, pushit, right in two... less wings for marie, etc

From the latest newsletter:

Looking good for a late 2011 release imo....

It sounds like you might be right. If they're serious enough to pass up tour opportunities it's likely that they're at a point where they are bursting at their creative seams. Not to mention with so many outlets demanding time and attention they have to allocate their focus when the timing is right. Hopefully the recording process goes smoothly, they've had a good amount of time to figure some stuff out. I'm sure they've had some solid ideas for some time now.

Could easily slide to 2012, but I'll stay optimistic for now and say they'll hit the studio sometime before June...

ohhhh, hellboy got the plug and tdn didn't.

I can see a soap opera being spun from this...

hah.

kidding aside, much more satisfying newsletter this time around. Although he doesn't say it specifically... my feeling was that ALL of them are writing together now. Whether that means maynard is sitting in the loft absorbing the jams, and/or dropping ideas here and there, or actually attempting any vocal melodies is anybody's guess. I'd doubt the latter, but I like thinking that Maynard with with them.

I had that thought but I also took the optimistic approach. I sort of alluded to it by saying that I hoped things went smoothly in the studio, but let's be realistic 2012 is probably what everyone reading this will expect.

It read to me like BMB was hinting that Maynard wasn't in the loft with em.

Could be, I was actually just checking maynard's 9000 twitter accounts to see if there was any indication I was wrong on that and all i came across of interest was this. http://twitpic.com/42ewzw

I didn't read it that way, but I doubt Maynard is there just yet.

So go back and read it, and then you will read it that way.

"In checking with several of the fan sites out there (www.fourtheye.net, etc), there doesn’t seem to be any other pressing news concerning Tool at this time. However, if something should come up, I will promptly see that it gets posted in the news section on this site."

lol blair.

this is great news. hopefully it comes out this year!

I felt that 10,000 days would have been killer if the title track(s) had been replaced by something that I actually enjoyed listening to.

For a new album, I would like to hear anything. It would be cool if the electronic elements that they have worked into some of their live shows would function as segues, but I am undecided about how they would sound if they were really strongly incorporated into a track. I love electronic music, and I love tool, so I'm sure they would figure it out.

My primary concern would probably be lyrics, though. Their lyrics have been a bit more esoteric and less straight forward on a lot of their previous albums. 10,000 days, which still featured great lyrics for the most part, almost seemed superficial by comparison. Vicarious, 10,000 days/wings, and perhaps even the pot (still one of my favorite tracks) were not exactly cryptic.

Cryptic and superficial are not antonyms.

So I described a single thing as "almost superficial" and "not exactly cryptic." They don't have to be antonyms.

The implication in your post is clearly that you see a transition from the esoteric and cryptic to the more "superficial" when you look at the difference between earlier Tool albums and their most recent, as if they were inherently related values. Of course, that's just the implication I read. I suppose I commented because I don't consider a lot of their more esoteric stuff particularly deep (as opposed to superficial) however interesting it might be.

Then again, I always took Tool in more of an emotional resonance kind of way with freedom to reflect through one's own prism, and I can see how more literal lyrics might take someone out of that.

What I meant to describe is how the lyrics on their last album seem to differ in two ways from previous albums (mostly Lateralus). Lyrics from Lateralus and Aenima do seem a bit deeper to me. The primary culprit on 10,000 days here is "Vicarious." I was never too thrilled about a song that, to me, seemed to be self explanatory and about people enjoying violence (from a distance, etc.). This struck me as a rather mundane and cliched observation. 10,000 days and wings also rub me the wrong way for this reason. I understand that the events that inspired the tracks are very significant to the lyricist, but they are not the type of lyrics that made me love Tool. When it comes to Tool lyrics, I have always loved them because they were often vaguely and cryptically about subjects which I had never heard brought up in rock music. These two songs are by no means superficial, but relative to what I expect from Tool, they did not strike me as profound. I was certainly not inspired to think about anything in a deep manner by these songs.

Vicarious, 10,000 days, and wings also share the quality of being much less cryptic than most Tool lyrics, in my opinion. I'm not the type of person who obsesses over finding the meanings of Tool songs. What I actually enjoy about songs like those that Tool put out on Aenima/Lateralus is that they are typically not clearly about a specific thing. They are a little more abstract at times and can be interpreted many ways. This allows me to listen to the song and paint a general sort of picture with selected words, phrases, vocal style, instrumentation, etc. With some of the tracks on 10,000 days, the meaning was kind of out in the open, and I enjoyed the songs much less as a result of this.

In a way, lyrics are probably the part of the song that can be most hit-or-miss for me. I thoroughly enjoy a good singer, but self explanatory lyrics or lyrics that make a very clear message can force me to feel a certain way about a song and it's message. For that reason, I prefer lyrics that have a loose theme that works with the song, but do not make a very direct point. Tool has almost always done this for me, but they failed to do so on a few songs from 10,000 days. Even when you can get a very strong idea about what a song is about (for example, eulogy), it is still vague enough to let the listener fill in the gaps with their own experiences, and even interpret the song as having a number of different tones. With Vicarious and 10k/wings, there is not a whole lot that is open for interpretation. You could pretty much read the lyrics and be filled in on the entire story that inspired them and what the singer wants you to feel. It makes the songs less personal to me.

If my explanation of why I disliked the lyrics was a bit confusing, I apologize. I didn't quite figure out where I was going with my comment until I had almost finished typing it, at which point I was really hitting on a different subject. I didn't really feel the urge to go back and make a more cohesive statement.

That makes perfect sense and I had the same reactions to Aenima and Lateralus, but for me the difference is that 10k Days also fits in that same regard. At that time in my life I could take the lyrics and apply/re-interpret them for my mindscape and worldview as easily as I could for Aenima in high school and Lateralus in college. While academically and as a fan I have an interest in "what this song is about," I ultimately don't care as a human being exactly what the songwriter was thinking when he wrote it. I had no problems internalizing the messages of Vicarious or Rosetta Stoned for my life and they were just as cathartic as the other music Tool produced. With a track like 10k days where we've heard the basic outline of the story on toolband or whatever, and the admittedly less esoteric lyrics on all the tracks, I can see how a person would more easily view the album as James Keenan talking about specific persons, incidents, and his own opinions. That, however, is not my relationship to the album and I think a lot is lost if one doesn't at least try to come at 10k Days with the same sense of vulnerability and personal sacredness as some of the other stuff.

I'm thinking a summer time release. Fall tour.

Also, pretty sweet BMB mentioned the site Hellboy.

no way we'll get a summer time release

10000 days was great but needed one more heavy hitting song

ide love to see them write songs that they can improv a bit more live

Southern Hemisphere summer perhaps!

I'm thinking this too, but mostly so I don't get my hopes up too high.

Also about 10,000 Days, I used to not understand why everyone was so down on it. But after 5 years it really doesn't hold up like the other albums. Though it does still have a few tracks that i consider among their best.

Remember when 10kdays was leaked and everybody thought it was a decoy album because it was, well, shit. And then turned out that it wasn't? Good times.

Well, I'll go on the record as saying that anybody who actually thought that the band released a decoy album was delusional.

That decoy album shit was amazing. People who seemed reasonable in other areas discussed on this board just completely lost their minds.

What the fuck does a studio recorded, nationally distributed "decoy" album even mean?

Good times.

I remember the exact moment i thought it was a decoy. suspicions arose with the pot and then they were confirmed with lipan conjuring.

then, on may 2, 2006: de-confirmed. :(

"Was auto tune used on The Pot's intro vocals? Or what the fuck happened there?"

The name of my forthcoming memoirs, to be published by Fourth Eye Corp.

I hope the next album saves my life

/listens to Our Lady Peace