User Score
Generally favorable reviews- based on 733 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 581 out of 733
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Mixed: 43 out of 733
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Negative: 109 out of 733
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Aug 30, 2019Tool managed to pick up exactly where they left off with a masterpiece. On the level of Lateralus, Dark Side of the Moon and In Rainbows but better.
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Aug 31, 2019
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Sep 18, 2019
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Nov 26, 2019I have tried so hard. Kicking back and listening from start to finish multiple times. Unlike previous albums it is not revealing itself to be more awesome every listen. Unlike any album they have ever released it reminds me of previous works. Not much good. Not much new. Maynard really phoned this one in, and the rest of the band are out of ideas.
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Aug 30, 2019It grows like fine wine. I rated it after 10-20 listens but it’s perfection.
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Aug 30, 2019Absolute perfection. Classical tool but with a new and more mature feel. The production is great and the talent displayed from all of the guys is astounding. The absolute star is Carey on drums, he achieves things with 2 arms and 2 legs that a trained octopus couldn't hope to emulate. The guitar and bass are powerful and Maynard's vocals chilling and poignant. Simply must be heard to be believed.
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Aug 30, 2019Not just an album, this is an experience. Intense, complex. Each listen brings out something new and powerful, and deepens the appreciation of the music. One of the very few times something has been not only been able to meet the hype surrounding it, but surpass it.
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Aug 30, 2019Brilliance, feels like you’ve been invited into the greatest jam session of all time.
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Aug 30, 2019This is a sonic marathon. A steady trot through varied landscapes. The ears glide along a smooth, darkened path before being slammed to the ground by an abrupt tremor and eventual quake in blinding brightness. Keep traveling, keep moving forward and you’ll arrive at the end weary and worn but mesmerized and euphoric.
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Aug 30, 2019Sounds like Tool. Enjoy the change Maynard did with the vocals, and Danny, Justin and Adam all have their moments to shine on the album per usual. Album is just going to get better as I spin it around more and more. Great stuff. Worth the wait.
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Aug 30, 2019This body of work is pure art. Otherworldly mind-blowing and mind-expanding experience.
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Sep 12, 2019
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Sep 12, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019
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Sep 13, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019A less restrained 10,000 days, and better for it. This record, like so many classic prog records, is able to take you on a journey through your psyche. In the future this album will be a touchstone for prog going forward.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019These tracks are creatures that come to life and grow to be monumental. Majestic album, with a crystalline production, the typical Tool’s sound that we didn't want to lose and a superfine contrast between delicacy and heaviness of the instruments. We needed it.
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Aug 30, 2019Adds an entire different dimension to music. I love this new album. Especially Invincible and 7empest♥️
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Aug 30, 2019Titanic masterpiece completely smashing all wannabes & shows who's the daddies! Every track is super catchy!
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Aug 30, 2019A masterpiece for Tool fans,
but not for everyone.
You can't listen to a 15 minutes track and enjoying it without having the experience of listening to progressive songs . -
Aug 30, 2019This was a great album. It's hard to compare to their older material but stands on it's own. There are definitely some interesting production choices but just because it doesn't perfectly resemble their older material doesn't mean this wasn't intentional. Once again this is an album that sounds ahead of it's time. Tool's work is usually like that, a brilliant portent of our collective evolution.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019
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Sep 3, 2019If this was a debut album from a band nobody had ever heard of I would understand the glowing reviews. But it isn't. This is a revered band who waited 13 years to release a bunch of recycled sounds from previous albums and underwhelming vocals from Maynard. Thirsty fans deserved better than a warm drink of water in the desert. Don't believe the hype. This is their worst album by FAR.
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Aug 30, 2019I was in highschool when a friend gave me a black casette with white tentacles. My music taste shifted that day. Now my son is in highschool and he's going to get Fear Inoculum. It has everything I missed on 10,000 Days, and all the pieces of previous albums' craftsmanship. Long awaited friends have finally come to visit us and they're more than welcome to stay.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019How do you review an album as layered, intricate and powerful as Fear Inoculum in a few words. A beautiful masterpiece from a band that stretch the parameters musically, lyrically and artistically. It’s been a long 13 years but this album was definitely worth the wait.
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Aug 30, 2019This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
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Aug 30, 2019Well worth the wait for Tool fans. Not likely to win them new ones however!
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Aug 30, 2019It's Tool, Danny Carey is excellent, Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor in the best form of their career, and Maynard, without screams, takes a rol more like a narrator of the songs, but in the end, you have that feeling of satisfaction.
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Sep 4, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019How do you come back after 13 years and deliver a masterpiece like this? Simply amazing
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Aug 30, 2019Tool's Fear Inoculum is an absolutely fantastic album. Every song is utterly brilliant and it's just a pure masterpiece through and through. 13 years was definitely worth the wait.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019Simply the best album I have heard in decades. Recording is out of this world, sounds unbelievable.
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Aug 30, 2019Carey and Chancellor stood out in a superb way. All the songs have amazing build ups to it and the time signatures just fits perfectly. Maynard vocals are really good and melodic.
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Aug 30, 2019Does it have the raw angst of Opiate and/or Undertow? No. Is it the metaphysical and often cynical, hook laden pure progressive rock of the last three? No. Is the mature madness of skilled musicians who are comfortable exploring new boundaries with little to no regard for popular musical edict? Hellya. The new album is a journey 13 years in the making and one well worth waiting for.
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Aug 30, 2019Earth, the final frontier
These are the voyages of your brain
Its 13 years delay To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life
And new civilizations
To boldly go where no man has gone before -
Aug 30, 2019Classic tool. The wait has paid off, as they have delivered a fine work of art.
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Aug 30, 2019This album is everything i was waiting and more. A true masterpiece. Instant classic.
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Sep 3, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019Aside from a drum solo track that sounds like Thom Yorke got a hold of it, that completely screws up the flow of the album--it's masterpiece. Just skip that one.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 31, 201913 years.
Got down off of a chair for this album.
Noose around my neck my first thought was
"What if Maynard still misses Mommy? "
"The new TOOL Album might be awesome!"
It is. -
Sep 23, 2019This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
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Sep 1, 2019Exacting perfection. The most Tool Tool album ever. They doubled down on what they do best.
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Sep 1, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019I honestly love the fact that it doesn't sound like any other Tool album and that they took their time with it. Fear Inoculum is not their most accessible album but fans of the genre will find it gratifying if they give it their time to digest every single song. It might take 5 or 10 listens but Fear Inoculum keeps surprising me at every listen.
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Aug 30, 2019Worth the wait. Classic Tool sound, but new and brilliant in every dimension.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019I gotta admit, Tool noob here, but this album blew me away. the climaxes, the patience of so many fans led to possibly my favorite album of the year. Also, Danny Carry is a beast
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Aug 30, 2019Their best work to date. This album was worth the wait. I’m not even a huge Tool fan but this album is incredible.
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Aug 30, 2019A masterpiece. They have truly transcended to an entirely new level with this album. Danny Carey in particular has become a possessed madman behind the drums in the best way possible.
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Aug 30, 2019Worth the wait. I didn't think it was possible for any album to be worth waiting 13 years, but I will happily wait another 13 if their next album is this good.
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Aug 30, 2019Fear Inoculum is the Avant-garde/Prog Metal juggernaut that the fans of Tool had been waiting for over a decade. It's a dense, multi-layered record that requires patient, multiple listens for it to unravel its many mysteries and subtleties not so easily identifiable/discernible in the first go.
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Aug 30, 2019Imho their best work to date, these guys have outdone themselves, so loose, live, psychedelic and REAL. Thank you Tool for the amazing effort, this album is a work of beauty across the board.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019Perfect. These are real musicians not fake pop singers that don’t write their own music.
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Aug 30, 2019Been a Tool hardcore fan since 2006 after they released 10000 days and this album is a masterpiece. I really like the slow tempo and matured style, I never wanted them to be too heavy, after all this is not Tool in their early years. Pneuma, Tempest and Descending are my favorite.
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Aug 31, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019Exquisite. Sublime. Ethereal. And exactly what we've been waiting for. Listening to all of the albums without stopping on a long road trip was a trip! The path forged by Tool throughout the years is a lifelong project. Pink Floyd had concept albums....Tool IS a concept. Soak it in. Breathe it. and enjoy the experience. I can only hope there is at least one more chapter to this saga....
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Aug 31, 2019It lived up to the hype in my opinion. I was not disappointed. It was like Tool providing the best orgasm you’ve been waiting 13 years to have.
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Aug 31, 2019A triumphant return and worth the wait. Fear Inoculum somehow manages to live up to the near impossible hype.
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Aug 30, 2019
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Sep 6, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019Incredible. Pure skill and passion. Time takes all. Completely worth the wait.
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Aug 30, 2019It's been a long time coming and it's been worth the wait. 'Fear Inoculum' is the best album of this decade.
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Aug 30, 2019Great LP. Layered an mysterious. Every time you play the album, other details appear. Real masterpiece.
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Aug 30, 2019Just sit back, put your headphones in...and begin to pry open your third eye...
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Aug 30, 2019Best tool album...................................
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Aug 30, 2019*apparently we have some annoyed Lana del Rey fans trying to tank the user score*
Wondering why all the 0’s just look at what other albums those users have reviewed. Really enjoying this so far, always like to give a tool album a few days to settle in my brain and happy to say this is coming along nicely. Quality headphones or a descent sound system for this. -
Sep 1, 2019Ineffective, super overlong, and unlively piece of music.
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Sep 2, 2019
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Aug 30, 2019Breathtaking art. The thirteen year wait disappears in this aural masterpiece.
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Aug 31, 2019Best album ever its all your time woth ;)
This is the prog gods finest work -
Aug 31, 2019
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Sep 1, 2019Amazing. Crushing, beutiful. Next level. Get's better and better with repeated listens. Pneuma, 7emptest are worth the price of admission alone.
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Sep 1, 2019The modern day progressive rock album I've been longing for. Each song is an adventure and this album makes 85 minutes fly by faster than any album I've listened to
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Sep 8, 2019Tool new album is like a bottle of good vine. Let it breathe a little, before you will experience all the taste. In the end it doesnt matter if this vine will be worth 13 year waiting, what does matter is an understanding that still no one can createaomething like that. Only TOOL can. And for that I am gratefull!
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Aug 30, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
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Aug 31, 2019This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
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Sep 1, 2019The 13 year wait was worth it! Each band member shines on this album and its truly a wonderful experience from start to finish.
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Sep 12, 2019A little bit too boring. Harmony, the same as ever. Songs, unnecessarily long and repetitive. Voice is in the back. Bass didn't shine. Guitars good and innovative. Drums, the best part of the band. Danny made his homework.
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Sep 4, 2019
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Aug 31, 2019
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Sep 2, 2019
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Sep 2, 2019This is my favorite tool album. I don’t know what’s with all these bad reviews.
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Sep 3, 2019
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Sep 30, 2019
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Oct 9, 2019Listening to Fear Inoculum front to back gives me the same feeling as sitting through an Economics class. Their worst, and most uninspired album to date.
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Oct 10, 2019
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Oct 7, 2019
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Sep 1, 2019Comes back with this album. Worth the waiting! Tool are the best. Absolutely always be
Awards & Rankings
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Oct 9, 2019The album plays like an extended mood piece that bends and drifts, with a shortage of the crushing hard-rock crescendos and riffs that defined the band’s work on “Lateralus” (2001) and before.
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Sep 19, 2019Sadly, there’s nothing on Fear Inoculum as immediately accessible or anthemic as past Tool glories like “Sober” or “The Pot,” but what is here will reward repeated spins, even if listeners initially find themselves waiting for those mammoth riffs to show up, a la “7empest,” or for Maynard to finally kick into high gear, as in the rousing refrain of “Descending.”
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Sep 10, 2019Musically, Tool have taken the best of Lateralus's dynamism and the heaviness of 10,000 Days to explore the middle ground with great length on Fear Inoculum. Those who stuck it out through the decade-plus wait won't mind hanging around a little longer until the album's close.