F O U R T H E Y E

Don't read any of this if you don't want spoilers.

I am afraid to give a lot of details about when and where this happened because I don't want my boyfriend or any of his coworkers to lose their jobs. Sorry.

Very recently he was invited to watch Tool play "an extended preview" of material from the album. It was mentioned that the material was rearranged in such a way that it wasn't exactly the same as the album. Allegedly Tool has been experimenting with this, and referring to it as "rubicks cubing" or just "cubing" the song structure and song order. It's going to be an album the fans can mix around a lot, like The Holy Gift that people did with Lateralus. "But it will be much more complex than that."

My boyfriend says "This album is Lateralus Part II and has themes of aging, dying, rebirth, resurrection, awakening from slumbers, unearthing tombs and ruins, discovering relics and gems, etc. A lot of allusions to crumbling empires and ancient things." He says the songs are very long, complicated, and have a lot of hypnotic bits and then big climaxes.

He said Maynard's singing is smooth and beautiful and mostly mid-range and baritone. But many surprising notes too. He heard no screaming, but he did hear chanting, whispering, guttural grunting, etc.

The interplay between Adam and Justin is front and center on this record, with swirling, dizzying riffs that go in and out of time with one another and branch off into their own distinct little journeys throughout each song. He says it is effortless and flawless the way the notes syncopate. Overall there is less singing than on any record so far, and a lot of repetition. "The vocals remind me of the vocals on APC's new album, where just one or two stanzas are repeated and slightly changed around per song. I think it's supposed to be very chanty and hypnotic rather than about long storytelling."

Danny's drums are insane, but who can be surprised by that. There's more gong usage on this album.

Invincible and Descending have surprises that we aren't hearing at live shows. There are also lyrics we haven't heard sung on those songs. Maybe the end of Descending??

Maynard is concerned one of the members of Tool (including himself) could die before another record is produced, and his lyrics are obsessive over precious time lost. The lyrics are super ambiguous and seem to be designed to apply to anything the listener wants them to, which is great, because each listener will have a different emotional experience.

Some words my boyfriend said to describe the new material: "Haunting, haunting, haunting. Primal. Mysterious. Spacious and ambient. Powerful in a spiritual way. Moving. One of the songs is funny and light-hearted, like HWAP or The Pot. One of them is definitely about drugs, like Third Eye or Rosetta."

Some lyrics my boyfriend and his friends/coworkers heard, they had a collaborative effort to reconstruct them:

Song 1:

"One being on the path / a sprawling wood invites him in...[something about sighing, murmuring wind]...

One being off the path / afloat in darkness of a dream / its emptiness becomes him / the vacant face of the Deep / alive and sliding still / through worlds of warmth and suffering / into the light he can escape to find the meaning"

"[these words?] keep you divided / anchored to a drowning hope / sunlight pour into the chamber / deaf to the voices on the storm / you've been here before / emerging from the shadow / brush the dust from rumbling tombs / opening, opening, opening your eye / not a single dream in a thousand years' time"

Song 2:

"Whatever may come crashing down / I will use to rebuild myself"

"This pessimism befouls the I / a void devouring all that we once were / then I'll expose for it my neck / so that it may draw from me again / and I can see / I can see the end / panic fills me / but I refuse to [be the victim?]"

Song 3:

"sunlight fall / wash away / stabbing through / sweet nightshade / veiled a truth / who I am / shield of dawn / to become / whoever, whatever, and never I, and then / whenever / anyone / needing a / lie to you / I can be anything within this / light fall on darkness and / shatter night"

Song 4:

(instrumental and really good)

My boyfriend has worked with and met a LOT of really famous people, and many of his favorite bands. But I've never seen him this excited. He was absolutely glowing when he came home that night. I got his permission to share this stuff with you all on condition of anonyminity.

Oh and he said he thinks he heard something about "a very, very long album, most likely double."