New Tool Album in 2013? Well, It’s Possible…

News posts on Tool’s hilariously outdated website (seriously, is it just a running joke at this point?) are notoriously cryptic and free of any real detail that Tool fans might categorize as “useful.” But an update posted on December 12th is not only fairly straight-forward but actually sheds some light on when we might expect to hear new Tool music. Here’s the relevant excerpt, via Metal Insider:

Something that might be encouraging to some Tool enthusiasts is that while riding with Danny to Chili John’s yesterday, I heard a lot of new Tool music (sans Maynard). This was the most new material that I’ve heard so far, although a few of the riffs and arrangements were familiar. So, what did I think? Dare I say that it sounded like… Tool (some of it reminiscent to earlier Tool stuff, with other parts pushing the envelope), and I assume that it will sound even more like Tool once the vocal melodies, etc. have been added. To answer your next question, I cannot say how far along in the writing process the band is. If I had to GUESS, I would say more than half way (and keep in mind that in the past, at least, the writing went faster once the first few [more complex] songs were finished).

While a release date is by no means concrete, we can say with relative certainly that we won’t be getting a new Tool record in the first half of 2013; things just aren’t far enough along right now for that to happen, whatwith all the prep-time record labels need to set up marketing campaigns, manufacturing, distribution, etc. BUT, at least there’s some action happening in the music-writing department. From what I understand, Carey, Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor (but I think mostly just the first two if I’m not mistaken) generally write all the music on their own, then Maynard comes in when the music’s all complete and writes his vocal parts on top of it.

Actually, now that I think about it… the writing process is a minimum of 2-3 months away from being completed… then the band needs to record, which could take another 2-3 months… and only THEN can all the marketing and record label stuff happen. Vetted out, new Tool in 2013 seems increasingly unlikely. Bummer.