In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Maynard and Billy from A Perfect Circle announced that the new album Eat The Elephant will be released on April 20. You can pre-order it here.
It’s pretty safe to say that the title and album art is going to create a bit of controversy, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on that.
Tracklist:
EAT THE ELEPHANT
DISILLUSIONED
CONTRARIAN
THE DOOMED
SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
TALKTALK
BY AND DOWN THE RIVER
DELICIOUS
DLB
HOURGLASS
FEATHERS
GET THE LEAD OUT
There’s also a new track TalkTalk which I think is pretty good:
Excellent. Get that out of the way and hopefully get new Tool by late this year.
Agreed, this is the best of the three recently released. It will also be interesting to hear how the album version of Hourglass differs from the live performances.
Wow. Still boring. So far three duds.
At least this song sounds unique and more importantly it doesn’t sound like it came off of the eMotive album. Name of the album doesn’t seem to match the APC style though. “Eat the Elephant” track better be damn good. Hitler’s Birthday! Whoo hoo!
Several within the Tool/APC/Puscifer sphere seem to enjoy that birthday (excluding Hitler)
At the end of the interview he mentions artists being lazy and missing deadlines. Wonder who that is aimed at…
4/20 is a special date for many other reasons.
I just don’t like his lyrical approach anymore. It’s like this weird “I’m holier than thou, everyone follow me we’re saving the world” and it’s super cringe.
This.
I do not know Puscifer and A Perfect Circle all too well, but aren’t a lot of their lyrics like that, DRURY?
Yeah but when you go from personal lyrics/stories to “socially conscious” garbage, you lose ALL mystery. Maynard was always good at writing lyrics that didn’t pigeonhole themselves, and now he’s doing just that.
I worry for Tool…..
He probably doesn’t have many more personal stories to draw on, unless you want to hear about his exploits making his own pasta or something.
Personally I think the whole kerfuffle about lyrical content is a bit over the top.
That’s just like, your opinion man.
Seriously though, you’ve stated before that lyrics and themes mean little to your perception of music being enjoyable. I know some people are like that, but obviously the opposite is true too. And Drury is saying it… These lyrics are distractingly 1 dimensional for those of us that enjoy multilayered meaning in the their lyrics. The killer really is just how self righteous they come across.
Feels dirty.
Actually, I think the lyrics are multilayered, but people are so stuck on the obvious one, they can’t move past it.
Yeah, self righteous.
I never used to get that vibe from him.
I’ll give it a listen as a whole album when it comes out, and perhaps that feeling will subside.
I’m not one to get hung up on one dimension. Not even talking politically here. I’m talking about the weird “I know best” attitude that is coming through.
Weird thing is drury, ive always gotten self righteous vibe from you…..
Agreed 100% with Drury… there’s been a shift in vocal content and it’s cringe-worthy. Then again, the music sans vox is uninteresting, and Keenan’s always been a responsive writer, so maybe that’s the result. I felt some of this on the last Puscifer too, where the first couple Puscifer releases (especially Conditions of My Parole) were pretty great.
Yep.
So far I am not all too impressed by their new album.
However, I have been enjoying TalkTalk a lot. Really good song I think. Although the lyrical content may put people off, the music itself is pretty good.
Hopefully the album will have more songs I like.
Interesting title… Mer De Noms, Thirteenth Step…. Eat the Elephant… Oh well. Hopefully we’re on track for TOOL now.
I have not liked a single track yet from this album. sorry not sorry
I haven’t either. You’re not alone.
…and here I was worried in 2018 that I wouldn’t see the word kerfuffle
I somewhat agree regarding the recent apc lyrics. I also feel like all their new stuff sounds like studio experiments and tweaking rather than fully fleshed out songs like their previous work.
I was lukewarm on these songs to begin with, but after repeated listens I can say I’m actually really looking forward to hearing the whole album. A new APC record has been on my wish list for years now and they’re finally giving it to us, so I’m going to be optimistic and assume that it will end up being satisfying.
A republican is in the White House, time to be socially conscious about stuff democratic presidents are equally guilty of again. Yawn.
I don’t care about an individual’s politics, but I hate when artists I admire hop onto the liberal politics gravy train shtick.
I just hope the new Tool album is about deeper layers of consciousness, drawn from personal experience again.
Hop on the gravy train? APC have had political/social themed lyrics since day 1.
Agree with Hellboy. The earlier songs may have painted a blurry picture with the lyrics where the recent songs have a slightly more direct lyrical approach, but I also think it’s pointless to get into this debate. Cringe-worthy, holier-than-thou?? It may not be palatable for you, but I wouldn’t go that far. Maynard really dials in with the riffs in TalkTalk and it sounds like an evolved APC. I’m excited to hear some more songs. There’s going to be a lot of criticism of this APC album. For those that can’t find anything they like about it, you’ll have to… Read more »
They didn’t say anything when Obama continued pursuing pointless wars as much as Bush.
I’m not really up to scratch with American politics, but as an outsider it seemed like there wasn’t much to complain about with Obama. Looks like you’re just busting to be offended by something.
And the whole APC didn’t really release anything while he was president thing.
I guess people forget we bombed and droned people everyday under Obama. Oh and we attacked an African country because they dared to want to break away from the global banking cabal.
Obama was such a sweetheart, and he sure could dance.
This illustrates the disappointment that such great talent can still buy into the left vs right paradigm and ACTUALLY believe one side over the other is more beneficial.
I thought everyone had grown up. Guess not.
Isn’t the point of the octopus with red and blue tentacles supposed to symbolize that there is no difference between the left and the right. They are part of the same body and the real problem is at the heart of it all.
No one has forgotten this. Maynard writing APC lyrics about it now seems a little pointless though.
The sad reality it seems, is that most Gen X Tool fans are now middle age, medium income conservatives, quite happy with the status quo that enables 17 school kids to be massacred.
But don’t dare write about this shit Maynard – I don’t want you bumming me out while I smoke weed and open my third eye.
i guess i’m that gen-x demographic you speak of. only. i’m not white, nor am i straight, and i’m certainly not a conservative, but i get where you are going. most of the commenters and i won’t mention names. seem to be pushing their own political right leaning agenda. which strikes me as odd… by all means. take the band to task for lazy behavior. but if you don’t like the tunes and subject matter dont buy it and move on to whatever bad that espouses your political opinions should that be your thing. . . have any of these… Read more »
ahahaha Hellboy that last comment was brutal, cheers, got a laugh out of me.
I definitely feel a need to call you out alongside Drury on this “there wasn’t much to complain about with Obama” narrative though. He may have made some social concessions in policy, but he was a total war monger.
As a non-American, I don’t have a real feel for the minutae of Obama’s reign. From the outside, it certainly seems you had much, much less to complain about that under the current regime.
All US presidents are war mongers, no surprises there. I don’t think Maynard has written about war related issues for quite some time though (certainly not in the new APC tracks).
Looks like your busting to be offended by something. HAHAHAHA…spot on.
In unrelated news, did anybody see that Jakob are playing a farewell show? (might have already played it)
I would like to have seen another album from those guys…
I just took a look at their Facebook page, and there’s nothing to suggest they’re done. They’re playing a final show at a venue that is shutting down, but not their final show.