Adam suggested that we’d get new Tool songs this tour, and they certainly delivered at Welcome to Rockville, with the band playing two tracks.
I’m hesitant to get too carried away with analysis over songs that have only appears in phone recording quality, but I’m largely happy with what I hear. Both a relatively slow burners, quite atmospheric with a strong emphasis on instrumental work.
First up was the complete version of Descending, which has been previewed many times over the last couple of years. It’s a reasonably dark and somber track, resembling both Jambi and The Grudge at times. Maynard sings along for the first half, but the final half is completely instrumental:
The other song played is reportedly called Invincible, is perhaps a bit more upbeat than Descending. Once again this has a riff what was previewed occasionally over the last few years. It’s got a bit more Maynard scattered throughout, and features a quite significant breakdown in the middle, with a nice chugging off-kilter riff.
A highlight for me of both songs are some really strong Adam Jones guitar solos – even though they sounded a bit rough live, I reckon they will be pretty epic when it comes to hearing the real thing.
I know many of you will want to comment on Maynard‘s vocals. I think they are quite interesting – it’s certainly not pushing the higher range of his voice (not entirely unexpected) but I did enjoy some of the vocal flourishes and effects used. Lyrically it’s interesting both songs seem to mine a similar vein – it could almost be taken as commentary on the bands journey over the last 13 years.
Get keen everyone! What do you all think? Are you feeling the hype? Or are you not satisfied with what you hear?
I already fucking love this whole clip of Descending:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsfDqFH2Mo
Playing it through my stereo now sounds great and it’s a fan captured Youtube clip 🙂
So happy to hear both !!, I’ve learned not to knee jerk any tool as I initially wasn’t a fan of 10000 days at all then as tool usually does it opened up greatly to me over years of listening and now I love it.
We have some attempts at lyrics for Invincible going around… Hoping tooth and soul Longing for another win Merge into the fray Weapon out and bellied in A warrior – struggling – to remain – consequential Go around Bold and proud Where I’ve been Here I am Beating chest and drums Beating tired bones again Age-old battle, mine Weapon out and bellied in Tales told of battles won Things we’ve done Come give your love, again Beating tired bones, tripping through, remember when? Once invincible, now the armor’s wearing thin, heavy shield down Warrior – struggling – to remain –… Read more »
Just to keep the better audio recordings together:
Descending:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyUgw8ji74w&list=WL&index=37&t=0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsfDqFH2Mo&list=WL&index=40&t=0s
Invincible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2k-Kh8L_Yc&list=WL&index=38&t=0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s5J3HzZUlw&list=WL&index=41&t=0s
Maynard sounds like a professional. Taking especially good care of himself and his voice lately I bet, and he’s written new stuff that suits his voice now as opposed to 20 years ago, when he wrote stuff that suited his voice then. Fantastic so far. Invincible especially. But fuck YouTube clips with idiots having idiot conversations. Anyone finding anything with less blabbering?
I can’t believe my ears. Is this true or am I in dreaming? But this is amazing can’t wait for the upcoming album would be perfect.
https://chaospin.com/tool-plays-new-songs-descending-invincible-live-watch/
IDK, sounds good to me. I imagine they might release the new album overseas before the states. Thumbs up to that.
I like what I hear so far… Especially Invincible. But I’m holding off judgement until we get the studio version. From what I can tell from the live versions, it seems like they still need to perfect their performance of the tracks (felt shaky at times). And I saw Maynard with what looked to be a lyric sheet during Invincible. I guess we’ll see what happens as the tour continues, especially at non-festival shows. I hope a studio version is coming soon. Can’t wait to hear how these sound. Kinda sucks though because they still haven’t announced when the album… Read more »
Sorry people these are both IMO extremely dull and mining the same territory of the past 15 years. i’d like to be proven wrong but this is not boding well. DO SOMETHING WITH THESE RIFFS!!
What do you propose they do with the riffs?
“Mining same territory of past 15 years”… already an invalid criticism. One album 13 years ago. What mining? What territory? I get if you don’t like it but don’t make up bullshit to sound like you know something others don’t.
I agree with you. I’ve been listening to the two new songs all day and they are amazing. I can’t wait for the album to drop to get the studio versions. I realize that some people won’t be into the new stuff but this criticism makes no sense to me.
Tool should try actual arrangements? Same riff in 7, some accented hits, drop it down a tempo, solo/doodle a bit over, chugga chugga drop, repeat ad nauseum with the SAME sound palettes of Lateralus-10k…what’s changed? go on then.
but “mysteries” “cryptic singing” “artwork”…profound, truly…i want to like this, i do, but come the fuck on, we waited 15 years for the same fucking song and sounds. grow up, move on from metal; this is pedestrian baby shit…we’ll see with the other tracks but to my ears this is not looking promising and this band are wayyyy past their prime now of making any relevant comeback.
So you want them to move on from metal to another genre? I don’t get it. They’re Tool and in a way their own genre. They make their moves within those parameters. They’re not genre hoppers nor do I think they want to be. They do what great bands do, they go with the flow of what comes out when they get together and plug it in. You could make the same argument about so much music… “you know that fucking Bob Marley. Always with the reggae shit.” They do what they do. You want them to move on? Maybe… Read more »
Yeah a little bit of that re my own tastes. They’ve become a metal-jam band…they stick to one key, one to the same box of sound palettes, are afraid to be weird again, or explore new directions, phone it in…not sure how those aren’t “valid” criticisms. The riffs go nowhere for about two to four minutes with limited to no modulation or variety in theme, timbre, or texture, the drums carry literally everything…and these aren’t well-written or well-arranged…ABACAB ABACDEAB etc…i saw Resolution (the last three tracks of Lateralus) as a watershed moment of ok cool they’ll explore more stuff like… Read more »
Agree that the Reflection triptych was the tantalizing opening of a door which they never really stepped through. Remains my favorite moment of theirs on album. Though I dig these new tunes, I do hope for some more strangeness and the entering of uncharted territory for them sonically. Do they have the gall, or are they too settled into their strengths? Will be interesting to see…
Those are valid criticisms. I don’t agree with them, but they’re valid. Again, I’m not sure where else you could want them to go, and I think judgment should be reserved until the album can be heard. Also, about them getting weird and exploring new roads… sometimes the roads you’ve been down don’t necessarily end. There could be more to get out of where they’ve already been. Weird sometimes is just weird and not better.
Yeah I agree with you. I will reserve full judgement obviously for when I hear the album. But based on the live performances I am not hopeful. There are some standout solo moments from Adam on the two tracks. However there are blatant recycling of riffs and movements from Lateralus and 10,000 days. That is not even an opinion. It is a fact. The songs sound very unmusical in places. To me they sounded incomplete. Maynard’s melodies really aren’t that good in most places. I cant really critique Danny or Justin as with what we heard I couldn’t hear that… Read more »
‘extremely dull’ is far too harsh, but i was also hoping for sth more… exciting. but honestly i was also afraid those long years of going over this material would lead to sth like that. however i hope they are saving the best stuff for the album itself. Remember that 30 second video leaked to YouTube, then removed after 2 days? that was badass.
Love both songs. Vocals hark back to Aenima / Undertow. MJK mentioned the struggle to remain relevant in his Lars Ulrich interview and those lyrics certainly echo that. I can hear similar guitar phrases in both songs – they may be pieces of a larger whole. Could be a Roman empire inspired concept album! The Adi Granov t-shirt had a Roman God, the lyrics to Invincible. The name of the album could be MMXIX… Or maybe its just a meditation on getting older…
I love the Hero With a Thousand Faces / Gladiator / MMA imagery of the lyrics and music of Invincible. Excited for what is ahead and the way they are giving birth to these new songs (ie Descending over the last few treks).
It’s definitely an interesting turn. Maynard dressing as a Roman soldier, the Roman Numerals, Adi Granov’s art….makes me wonder if the David Lynch collaboration is for real. Very interested to see these music videos.
Invincible seems to be Maynard linking two concepts: the band’s age and the Fall of Roman Empire being relevant to the West today, which i can see being the album’s theme, especially given their post-apocalyptic tendencies.
Maybe I’m not as hardcore a fan as you guys any more, but hell if I’m going to listen to either of these youtube recordings when a full quality studio version is just around the corner. After 13 years. Ruin the surprise for me tripping in silent darkness with my headphones on in a month or two? I don’t think so 😛
I’m excited after hearing these tracks. The lack of vocals in the 2nd half of descending is a little strange. It did seem like there were moments perfect for him to sing and maybe he just didn’t for some reason. The end also got completely borked and off time, so yeah I can’t wait to get these songs in their studio form where I can actually hear everything. The music sounds kind of like what I was imagining it would. It seems like the music is more emotional in tone, so if you get on that wavelength it’s easier to… Read more »
I’d hazard a guess (even though I haven’t listened and wont) that it’s either because he hasn’t rehearsed the second half vocals enough yet, or that it’s screamy as fuck in the studio version and he doesn’t want to wreck his voice.
I will not watch or listen. I don’t mind reading some of the comments. I refuse to allow my initial experience of the new album to be mono audio recorded from shaky cell phone cameras with lots of background noise, that probably annoyed everyone nearby. Now, if an audio engineer wants to collectively gather dozens of recordings from various attendees of the same song/concert and filter out all the noise and combine the music and generate something that sounds close to a soundboard recording then I would listen. I’ve tried to record concert audio, it totally ruined my concert experience… Read more »
There is simply no way that a collection of cell phone recordings could be cobbled together and noise reduced / gated to come anywhere near to a soundboard recording. All the phones are in different places acoustically, they will all be tonally a bit different due to that and different mics in the phones, the signal to noise ratio is much too close to remove the noise without removing the music.
– Signed, an audio engineer. 😛
Album’s already mastered, so I doubt it
I attended the show last night in Jacksonville.
The new songs are incredible.
I’m liking invisible each time I listen to it. Looking forward to the studio version of the song. Is that a new bass Justin has?
Warning: peak 18yr-old Lateralus fandom getting reignited. Emotions are high and the feelings are “deep”. The songs look to be knockouts, I reckon. Moody and prog af. WAY excited to hear them captured and sequenced on record. Major ear candy eminent… The tunes sound tricky as hell instrumentally, I thought they performed them pretty tight considering this was first flight live. Scope that Danny synth break in Invincible! More please Maynard sounds completely tasteful and tuned into the spirit of the music, not forcing anything. He’s always been the group’s translator, and one can sense the collective heartache they’ve had… Read more »
I’ve listened to both songs about a dozen times now. I think they’re great and signal a new direction for Tool. Both are long and drawn out with sparse lyrics. IDK if the entire album is going to be like this, but it sounds like its going to be. With each album Tool have stepped away from the shorter songs and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the album where they finally leave them behind for good. Invincible sounds like a slower, heavier Jambi and Descending sounds like a slower, heavier The Grudge. I’m liking what I’m hearing with… Read more »
ToolArchive’s cobbled together video (one audio source) for Descending is pretty good. The second half of that track is really blowing my mind. The guitar solos really soar. Also they way he runs through the slide solo and drops the steel tube around 6.04 transitioning into a further solo is fricking awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZJIldL5TZU&list=RD8ZJIldL5TZU&start_radio=1
I love Invincible so much, but the Descending reveal was kinda ruined by the subpar performance. Like you said, Adam’s solos were rough. Not dissing the track or anything, I think the studio version is going to be dope af. I’m just relieved that SOMEBODY is brave enough to comment on it instead of pretending to love it unconditionally. They definitely need to practice!
This is the internet buddy – there is no shortage of keyboard warriors “brave” enough to criticise these new tracks!
Your article is the first instance of anyone constructively criticising the performance of Descending that I stumbled upon. It relieved be because I was worried that I just “didn’t like the song”, but it’s nice to hear that others noticed Adam’s mistakes. That’s all.
I hope with your reply that you aren’t lumping me together with the so called group of “brave” warriors. I do genuinely like what I hear.
Relieved me*
I’m not exactly a well-worn veteran of touring but I’ve performed 100+ shows.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you practice…. things happen in the moment that throw you off. Phish is a band I see live a lot and I’ve heard them flub a number of lines/etc even on some of their simple “sounds like a kids sing along” tunes.
And don’t forget these fellas are coming up on 60 years old. Something Adam had said – “We never expected it to become… this.”
TLDR: enjoy it for what it is.
0:24 – vocals begin
1:08 – Free fall from …
1…
https://www.reddit.com/r/ToolBand/comments/bl8gez/descending_lyrics/emp0uy3?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
*Descending lyrics (feel free to edit)
I’m happy new music is out, and I’m excited to hear it. I just hate having to consume it this way. The new material experience suffers.
You are correct that I don’t HAVE to listen to it, but come on… who has the will power!
Second half of descending sounds really cool! Man we need some polished versions, they suffer greatly from phone quality.
Both songs start kind of slow, and take a while to build. Not a bad thing.
Maynard seems to be going minimalist. Also not a terrible thing.
All of this BS could have been avoided if they would have just streamed the damn song. Either one would have been fine so we aren’t butt fucking a cell phone recording. It’s frustrating. First new music in 13 years and I gotta listen to it like this. Blah.
On one hand, it’s easy to point out that there’s no one twisting your arm to make you listen to phone recordings. On the other hand, there was a wonderful vibe around social media, with the music world buzzing that we’re about to see something new. It feels like a somewhat lost opportunity that fans other than the 15,000 at Rockville we’re really able to join in the same way. Imagine if after the show finished there was a worldwide listening party of the new album… Far be it for me or anyone to tell Tool how to sail their… Read more »
I’m with you hellboy. No one is twisting my arm but there was no way in hell i wasn’t listening to new shit. lol It’s been too long and i have no will power. But come on man. Release this shit already. Unleash it!
“Imagine if after the show finished there was a worldwide listening party of the new album…”
This would have been perfect.
Something is going on though. We have had such a drought of information, the only logical answer is that something is holding it all up. What that is, I would love to know.
You know, they must know roughly when it will all be released. Why not say for example, It will be out in the last two weeks of June? So…..
Assuming my source is correct, it won’t be June or as soon as people would like.
Oh… That’ interesting.
So if it’s further along then that, they must not be as far along as we thought. So, maybe album isn’t even finished yet?
Or Merch?
They will need a bunch of that for the tour to coincide with album release.
Listened to them throughout the night on cheap computer speakers and was very pleased. Listened to them loud in my car and am blown away. I pray the new album is these two songs times 4 (or more). No words….
Thank you Tool.
^Yeah sounded way better through my car stereo system. Both songs actually. Very glad I could successfully play both clips
I’m actually happy with the majority of clips. The ones that have been posted on Fourth Eye and many others on youtube are doing the job just fine. Obviously, studio versions are going to be killer, but after 13 years I’ll take what I can get.
I’ve been watching Tool concerts from the ToolArchive page on youtube for years now and I don’t think I’ve ever come across any concert that’s inaudible. Most are quite good.
I like both songs. I can’t wait to hear them on recording. I hope there’s more to the vocals and Maynard bailed on some stuff (as he does) because if it’s not out, it doesn’t matter, and it’s the first show of a tour.
Also, I’d do almost anything for the new record to not be called Invincible.
I doubt for a second that album is called Invincible.
The last record was called Ten Thousand Days. Anything is possible.
Also/also, the end passage of Descending with the hooky guitar riff has potential to be one their most epic pieces.. I’m having a hard time understanding what DC and JC are doing. I think they’re kinda fucking it up there, and that what it’s supoosed to be is extreme high level of difficulty.
*understanding what they are doing from a cell phone YouTube video on a festival ground
I mean I think the album will most likely be named for a track, but i think Invincible is too pretentious even for Tool.
Definitely. That was kind of the joke. Like it was Eminem or Kid Rock it something.. I kind of can’t believe they even named a song that, if in fact that is the name of the song.
Is this the prime spot these days btw? I was a down.net member since 02’ and can’t find any of my log in info. You guys seem to do a great job here.
Glad you appreciate it buddy. Plenty happening in the forum too:
http://www.fourtheye.net/f
Cool. Thank you!
Welcome. 🙂
A lot of fuckups in both songs. The guitar solos in Descending will be pretty epic on the record I reckon.
classic Jones gacking up his own shit anyway.
Agreed. It’ll probably be called ‘Forever’.
Hello Hellboy, First, excuse my poor english, I’ve been reading fourtheye for all these long years of waiting but never posted comment yet… After what we heard since yesterdeay, Just wanted to share some thought and guessings about this New album and what could it be. First, about descending, which is a heavy piece, i remember during previous tours, members said it Was some kind of teaser, like for movies, on the setlist it Was called A/Descending, I think descending is Just a part of à bigger piece.. Maybe one tracks called ascending, one descending, few years ago, i think… Read more »
Kings Chamber would be worse than Invincible.
Worse than 10.000 days ?
Seriously, I don’t really care about album title as long thé music is good.
My post Was Just guessings according to what i heard and saw.
But ok with you guys Adam seems to fucked up several parts especially on descending, Justin fucked up his bass solo on invincible. They are not 30 yo anymore and it was the first time live.
And its May not be the final title for these songs.
It matters a little. Anema and Lateralus are titles reflective of the depth of that material, conceptually.
Re: the album artwork/album title. I’m not very concerned about this. I’m sure it will be good. Now about the two songs. I’ve given both at least 10 listens a piece. I am so pleased to say they met my high expectations considering the incredibly long wait. Decending is very very good, I especially enjoyed the build and payoff at the end, I thought it really soared and made me well up upon first few listens. Yes I’m not sure about the section where Danny just goes nuts and it seemed chaotic for a moment before hitting that beautiful crescendo.… Read more »
Its not yet completly here but you’re right ! Having listened all the descending teasers version over the years, I first had a crush at first listen of the full version, even had a tear.. But by knowing already major parts of the tracks, it was quite a known territory,
I Was more sckeptical with invincible on first listen, but by now with 6 or 7 listening, I think its a future classical ! The studio version gonna be fuckin heavy !
How do you think people will respond if the new album is simply called DESCENDING…?? If album titles are meant to symbolize the tone or feel of a whole album (e.g. Aenima, Lateralus, 10,000 days), then Descending fits the sense of anxiety and fragility conveyed through the two new tracks thus far (“time bearing down”, “struggling – to remain – relevant” etc.). I know people will be pissed off or bitterly disappointed if DESCENDING is the album title but the internet is full of keyboard warriors so any title will likely be mocked by a few… Just food for thought.… Read more »
Newest upload, best quality FULL SHOW!
https://youtu.be/59_rQf0Y3QQ
Can confirm. Sounds like the best audio quality to be uploaded from the show. Much clearer and less crowd noise. Can’t wait to pump this on stereo later…
Reporting from Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center fourth row. Lots of weird looking motherfuckers in here…
Tell them you’ll show them your tits if they give you a release date.
If my sources are correct, you won’t need to go that far
Stop teasing. I can’t take it!!!
Oh?!?!
An announcement at their own show in Lousville?
Wait…. Are they playing tonight at Birmingham????
I gotta stop listening to Invincible. It’s like crack! It’s gonna ruin my listening experience for the album! Ugh…this thing has to drop soon. I need rehab.
so MJK is gonna tell all at this show tonight?
Not sure what form it’ll come, I’d expect more of a press release than Maynard announcing, but we’ll see
I’ve been patient for so long. I’ve been telling everyone for years to chill. It’ll come. And now I’ve lost my cool. lol
Birmingham show is in progress now.
Looks like it’s the same set list, which shall not come as much of a surprise to any of us.
Yeah. I am surprised no videos have been posted on reddit yet. I know it will be harder to film at their own show. Still.
August 30th. ANNOUNCED.
rat farts
I got a pic to prove it.