TOOL - Fear Inoculum: Every Song Ranked From Worst To Best

The decade's most anticipated metal album finally dropped today. Tool's Fear Inoculum has arrived after 13 years of hype, hope, rumours, doubts, and everything in between, thanks primarily to the deliberately nebulous media strategy employed by Maynard James Keenan and his elusive bandmates.

Fear Inoculum may divide listeners, at least early on. This is Tool at their most meditative. It's an elastic, atmospheric journey executed with greater restraint than ever before. Genuine metal moments are relatively few and far between, making Fear Inoculum a body of work you really need to live with before passing judgment - though that won't stop the knee from jerking. Regardless, whatever your first impression, stick with this beautiful, 86-minute behemoth and your patience will be rewarded, with every repeat listen bearing new fruit.

Note that this article is based on Fear Inoculum's digital release, which includes a handful of short, gap-bridging interludes missing from physical copies. And yes, Tool are one of those bands where the full-album experience trumps everything else. Like 10,000 Days and Lateralus before it, this project is supposed to be consumed as a whole, but that doesn't prohibit isolation and comparison entirely.

Let's break the monster down.

Ranking and reviewing Fear Inoculum's interludes and ambient tracks is tricky. They weren't written to be taken in the same way as the album's more expansive pieces, but to bridge the gaps between them. Thus, overanalysis is pointless and won't be undertaken in this column.

"Litanie Contre La Peur" was seemingly recorded after the bulk of Tool's Fear Inoculum sessions then added to the tracklist some time between mid-August's exclusive listening parties and release day, meaning that almost everyone heard it for the first them on 30 August. Driven primarily by Danny Carey's electronics, it's the album's least memorable track, but a fitting one. The dizziness kicking in towards the end fits with Fear Inoculum's overall vibe, serving as a nice transition into "Invincible."