The new Tool album doesn’t go to 11 like the amps Spinal Tap play — it goes to seven.
The number between six and eight plays a big role in the band’s new album, Fear Inoculum. Guitarist Adam Jones tells Guitar World that there are only seven songs, but the album clocks in at almost 80 minutes. “I took a picture pointing to the number seven while we were recording, and a lot of the riffs Justin [Chancellor, bassist] and I brought in were in seven. You don’t really go, ‘I’m going to write a riff in seven!’… Without being too descriptive about the concept, the main thing is that the seven beat just kept coming up, and riffs in seven kept coming up. It was really weird!”
That weird seven connection extends to other parts of the album. Jones adds, “Maynard [James Keenan] told me about a whole concept he had about the number seven. We were all, like, ‘Oh my God! This is too weird!’ Then Alex Grey [their album artist] basically said the same thing and he has a concept that will reveal itself through video.”
Fear Inoculum is due out August 30th, which, as far as we can tell, has no special tie-ins to the number seven. The band says they’ll start taking pre-orders and release the title track on Wednesday.
