The reaction to Tool's artwork for Fear Inoculum was a little bit mixed when it was released. Fans seemed to be expecting something a little more grandiose from artist Alex Grey, and that expectation still might be on track! According to guitarist Adam Jones in an interview with Revolver, what we've seen so far isn't the full piece. Instead, the full artwork is something called The Great Turn, which Jones says is "this observation of life, these choices we make, these things we all deal with."
"Well, we approached Alex Grey at about the same time he approached us. [Laughs] And he was very into doing something with us again. We talked and he had this thing called The Great Turn, and it's basically this being that has two sides. It represents the two sides of anything — good and evil, light and dark, yin and yang — and then there's this net of geometry that flows between them and connects them.
So a lot of it relates to the songs. It's this observation of life, these choices we make, these things we all deal with. But I think you're gonna be really into it when you see it. It's very different, and I'm very into it."
Tool recently released their first new song in 13 years titled "Fear Inoculum". We've also heard two additional songs titled "Invincible" and "Descending" as live bootlegs, but never an actual studio recording of either of those tracks. Jones also says the band has some "pretty big plans" for music videos for the new songs, but did not divulge what those plans entail.
"We have big plans for videos. We've got a couple in the making, and you'll see them when they come out."
Alex Grey himself teased there was more to the artwork, as found by members of the Tool subreddit:
Tool has created a deluxe, limited-edition CD version of Fear Inoculum, which features a 4” HD rechargeable screen with exclusive video footage, charging cable, 2 watt speaker, a 36-page booklet and a digital download card. The pre-order was sold out when we checked a moment ago, but you can still try here. The album is out August 30.
We interviewed Grey earleir this year at his art studio and he went into great depth about the artwork he's created for the band. A must watch for Tool fans:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO3526sOYkQ][/youtube]
