THE BEAST

It seems that some fans took the 13 year wait for Tool ‘s new album “ Fear Inoculum ” better than others. While many were content to make memes and vent in comment sections across the internet, the band had their own creative stumbles and legal issues to contend with .

Given the band’s relative air of secrecy though, many fans singled out frontman Maynard James Keenan as being the reason for the album taking so long. Keenan , a longtime workaholic, proved to be the most prolific member of the group during that lengthy stretch of time, tending to his wine business while also releasing albums from A Perfect Circle and Puscifer and touring behind them.

As it turns out, being the most publicly available member of Tool had its downsides as some fans went so far as to send death threats to Keenan over his perceived lack of interest in making a new Tool album. Speaking in the Tool cover story of the new issue of Metal Hammer , the group’s drummer Danny Carey said that anger was misplaced, instead putting the blame on the rest of the band:

“I felt bad for him [ Keenan ], and he even told me he was getting death threats from these idiots out there. They just have no idea what our work ethic is. These things don’t happen, man. There’s no other record that’s going to sound like this Tool record. What you hear is what you get, and what you get is what it takes to get it done. And it’s not an easy process.”

Later in the feature bassist Justin Chancellor spoke of the perfectionism and second guessing that pervaded the years long writing sessions for their upcoming album, offering:

“Sometimes I thought we were nearly there. We’d written an album or we had some songs that were cool, and then we’d dump the whole lot and start again. It was devastating.”

According to the interview, it was Chancellor who set a studio deadline for the band after growing aweary of the seemingly never-ending writing process. Meanwhile, Carey confirmed in the interview that the release and promotional cycle for “ Fear Inoculum ” will complete their joint contract with Volcano Entertainment , leaving the band as free agents going forward.

Given their previous music industry struggles , that may be a blessing for any potential new music moving forward. As he’s expressed in other recent interviews, Carey relayed that he hopes another Tool album will surface sooner rather than later:

“My hope is we get in and knock out another record. We have tons of riffs and jams and things. It’s not going to take 12 years, or if it does, I’ll probably be so old I can’t pick up my sticks any more!”

The aforementioned issue of Metal Hammer is available on newsstands now and can be obtained here .

Via ThePrp