Tool’s Adam Jones Reveals New Album’s Run Time, Connection to the Number Seven

Selbymay, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Tool guitarist and visual mastermind Adam Jones appears on the cover of the new issue of Guitar World magazine, and in the cover story, he revealed several intriguing tidbits of info about the prog-metal titans’ forthcoming fifth album, Fear Inoculum. For one, according to the article, the LP will feature seven tracks but run 80 minutes, which would make it Tool’s longest offering yet — for reference, its predecessors, 2001’s Lateralus and 2006’s 10,000 Days, clock in at 78:51 and 75:45, respectively. Jones also revealed that the number seven weighed heavily on the record’s composition and concept.

“I took a picture pointing to the number seven while we were recording, and a lot of the riffs Justin [Chancellor, Tool’s bass player] and I brought in were in seven,” he explained. “You don’t really go, ‘I’m going to write a riff in seven!'”

“Without being too descriptive about the concept, the main thing is that the seven beat just kept coming up, and riffs in seven kept coming up. It was really weird!” He said. “Then Maynard [James Keenan, Tool’s lead singer] told me about a whole concept he had about the number seven. We were all, like, ‘Oh my God! This is too weird!’ Then Alex Grey [the visionary visual artist and frequent Tool collaborator] basically said the same thing and he has a concept that will reveal itself through video.”

Fear Inoculum is due August 30th and is expected to be available via all streaming and digital music platforms. Tool’s back catalog hit all DSPs Friday after years of the band holding out.