I think MJK is as tired of the new album situation as we are.

Yeah I'm just dreaming. I was 18 when 10,000 days came out and hadn't seriously gotten into tool yet. I just want to experience an album release properly.

I had to look it up.
Their designer is a guy named Paul Hoffman. He co-owns a company called Pulse Lighting, and it appears they have some ties to Candace Brightman, the longtime LD for the Grateful Dead.
I don't think I know him, but it's possible we've met.

Interesting! Thanks for checking on that.

He's not (directly) giving publicity to a troll. The person doing that is the guy he responded to and is trying to make feel #dumb for doing so. He's responded to a lot of things like this on his twitter, so personally no, I don't find it very surprising.

maynard has actually been very responsive on his mainly Puscifer twitter. it's not unheard of for him to reply to fans.

yeah after looking at his feed i noticed that.

Ugh, that studio/soundboard version of descending is too legit. I don't want it. I need it.

So who else is ready for this Denver show?

do you think we'll get a little more of descending? That seems to be the trend...

Yes, table scraps does seem to be a trend.

I'd be pretty surprised if it wasn't played...

I hope that they open with Zeta (Act IV) and we get a proper extended version of Pascal's Wager. The Decem drum solo should go right into Descending, as they are connected to each other.

Abscissa and The Awakening should see a special guest bassist. Lesous (Act III) will be the last song, then Principles of March as the encore.

Should be a real treat!

#cantwait

I hope they would play more of it but who knows. I have about the same amount of faith that they will change the set and throw a song that hasn't been played in forever, as I have in them playing the exact set played last tour.

I feel the same way, Rectum420

Wow.....I leave for awhile and they are coming out of the woodwork

seemed like last tour mjk was toying with vocal ideas… id imagine he's expanded on that by now. i get the feeling the progress on that song is a reflection of the album itself. started off as a 30 second transition in the 2014 minitour (maybe prior?… anyone know?) and now its more developed with some vocals floating in and out, which seems to be about where we stand with the album progress, from what i can tell. But who knows. Im still excited to see whats to come.

Again, I'd keep my eye peeled for new visual artwork that might make it to this Opiate project. Seems as if hype has cooled regarding the re-release/DVD thingy i heard we could expect.

oh the tedious life of a Tool fan...

The good thing about this board is that we never over think things...

lol. want some cheese with your whine?

I wonder what kind of misleading BS Augusts news letter is going to bring.

"However, the next day while having lunch at "Bootleggers" - a 'Sinatra's Way' Italian restaurant on the Vegas south strip - I casually asked about the status of the new album (Namely, how the writing/arranging sessions were going?) - to which he replied, "Good!" While enjoying his "House Specialty" lasagna to the sounds of an excellent pianist (and master harpist, Mariano Gonzalez!), he added that they were very close to knocking out another tune, and that as soon as it was finished, they would send a recording of it to Maynard. When I asked if this was the song with the REALLY unique time signatures, he told me that they had already finished the music on that one. Okay, admittedly, not exactly stop the press news, but what can I say, other than that they are still grinding away on new material four days a week, and would be back at it later in the week (once Danny returned from the Las Vegas glitz, Justin from celebrating his wedding anniversary and Shelee's birthday in palm-swaying Hawaii, and Adam hunting for glossy treasures at Comic-Com 2016 in San Diego)."

"So, what didn't I ask him? Well, a few things, with the first being: Excluding vocals, segues, etc., what percentage of the new album material was complete? I also didn't ask him if there were plans for any guest musicians to perform on the new record, or if they had discussed any cover artwork concepts? Finally, I didn't ask him if there would be anything that was shockingly different from the signature Tool sound on the new album? Sorry, maybe next time - when there might be some answers that I can post. For now, keep in mind the old adage: "No news is good news." It was time to head to the long bar of the dimly lit "Golden Tiki" for a tropical libation (and glass of ice water!).

I almost forgot one last item. On second thought, why even bother to bring it up? Oh, what the hell... Danny did mention the possibility of something happening after the record was released, but that this was definitely NOT a sure thing at this point. Since this involves something that may or may not even happen, I won't (if fact, can't) expand on it - only to say that: if it does happen, now that would be stop the press news!"



hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

What a legible newsletter.

That can't be written by Blair.

I must still be dreaming...

Legible, but no real news. Not that we should have been expecting any.

i mean he did state the the instrumental part of the big "lateralus like" track is complete. Did we know that?

Well... here... I'm only saying that this newsletter is another in a long line saying "When not on vacation, A/D/J are still writing and arranging music for the new album. Whenever they feel the music for a particular piece is complete or near complete, they send it to Maynard. Progress is always being made, however incremental it might be."

We've known that for a looooong time now.

I don't think I applied the "music is complete" for the song with the "really unique time signatures" to the "lateralus-type" track that they've referred to in the past. If that's the case, I suppose that at least is a tiny glimmer of hope since they've also always said in the same breath that an album usually comes together much more rapidly after that type of track is complete.

But how rapidly? I think it'd be wise to treat that in a relative sense, considering that's coming from their experience in the past when they at most spent only a year in the writing/arranging phase of an album. We're now ~7-8 years deep in that phase of this album. There is no reason to think that period of time after that "type" of track is complete would be a constant. Maybe in the past that meant they were only a month away from hitting the studio. Now, who knows? 6 months? a year? 2 years?

Or maybe they already hit the studio


Ha!

:-<

Or maybe there will never be another album?

That was very mean of you to say.

Just keepin it real

Fer reelz

So, let's play a game...a mix of songs they have played live since 10k days came out. A set of 6 songs to open a show. Let's vote on who has the most killer order?

Lateralus
right in two
The grudge
ticks
Opiate
Pushit

Lateralus must be the closer. Always.

As The Grudge is the opener.

At this point, this is the more likely scenario, no? Here, I'll say it: that "Descending" bit fucking sucks. It's a recycled bit of like 4 other songs. No growth. No exploration. Same sounds. Same key. Same rhythm. That's what you've been working on? A band this notorious at keeping new material close to the vest, that's what you wanted heard ? No thanks. Hopefully the holdup is that they just don't like it and don't care enough to work on it or put it out.

I'll keep checking in here because I've now been a member of this forum for literally half of my life now, but 10 years gone, I don't care. It's over. I'll go see the show when it comes around, but I've checked that bullshit newsletter for the last time.

No you haven't.

I agree that the most likely scenario for the delays is they just haven't been happy enough with what they were writing. Descending is a nice distraction, but I agree in that it's a pretty derivative Tool track. I expect it's just a small part of something bigger.

I thought Adam had said recently that is more like a teaser trailer. I remember him making it sound like what we hear is a smaller moment that leads into something much bigger. I do agree, it's not super thrilling, but it feels new enough to me to be enjoyable. The only part I've found legitimately exciting is the refreshing melody Adam has added at the end.

I thought the version that they took from the sound board was pretty dope.

To me it sounds like bits and pieces of recycled material and was kind of surprised that so many round here had a hard on for it.

It reminds me of a conversation I had with a semi famous guitarist who told me and I quote him. "If __________ farted on a record, people would go crazy and buy it."

Not that descending sounds like a fart, just that the world will go bananas for anything that might be considered "new Tool."

"If I stood in the middle of Sunset Blvd and shot somebody, I wouldn't lose any fans"

MJK/T 2020