Fearless

Tool, the thinking bassist’s prog band, haven’t released an album in 13 years. Fortunately their new one, Fear Inoculum, is set to be the rock album of the year—and it’s loaded with brain-melting virtuoso bass, courtesy of the great Justin Chancellor. “I’m ashamed to say it, but I watch YouTube videos of our live shows” he confesses to Joel McIver

Things really shouldn’t have worked out for Tool, but against all the odds, they did. The three-quarters American, one-quarter British quartet has sold over 10 million albums over a three-decade career, won a fistful of Grammy awards, topped charts all over the world, and still stayed on their own resolutely individual path. There was nothing easy about their rise to worldwide prominence, especially as their last album, 10,000 Days, came out a whopping 13 years ago, but rise they did.

Singer Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor, and drummer Danny Carey are among the most accomplished rock musicians in the world, playing progressive metal of great esoteric opacity and somehow finding a mass market. This is a good thing, of course, because Tool’s success reveals that there is a market for music which is traditionally regarded as difficult—music which only reveals its rich inner complexity after significant investment by the listener.

Spin a Tool album a few times, especially their new one, Fear Inoculum, and the journey that you’ll take will be long, rich, psychedelic, heartstoppingly beautiful, and not a little terrifying. This vibrant intricacy has been a key element of progressive rock by Yes, ELP, Caravan, King Crimson, and others since the 1970s, and Tool, along with bands such as Karnivool, Isis, Opeth, and Meshuggah, are keeping the progressive faith, supported by millions of fans.