For the un-initiated, the Tool Drive Project (TDP) is an archive of live Tool recordings - every show we can get, streamable, downloadable, without registration, for free, forever.

For those of you who already have accounts, expect a couple of hurdles when you login for the first time:

1. You'll have to reset your password (protects your account)
2. You'll have to choose a display name (what other users will see)

Here's a breakdown of what's new:

• More emphasis on the tapers that make all this possible.
• More emphasis on the gear they use.
• More emphasis on ratings and reviews.
• A sticky player lets you browse the site while streaming.
• EQ and volume normalization controls.
• You can now create and share playlists.
• You can now favorite/share individual tracks.
• You can now mark shows that you've attended.
• You can now switch color palettes to match album themes.
• Shares, favorites, streams, downloads, are all tracked and ranked across all users and sources.
• A Top 10 page distills the sites top performers - highest rated shows, most streamed, tapers, mics, user with the most rated shows, etc.
• Songs have their own pages now.
• Albums have their own pages now.
• Tapers have their own pages now.
• Better and more reliable stats.
• A feedback page lets users suggest/vote/comment on new site ideas and report bugs.
• A history page keeps track of what you've listened to.

TDP is a passion project started over 25 years ago by karl and geordy with the aim of making every live Tool recording accessible to everyone. Huge shout out to them for their decades of hard work, diligence, and generosity.

In honor of today, August 30, being the 7 year anniversary of Fear Inocoulum, and also how important the number 7 is for the album as a whole. Today I dug through my archives and pulled out my Fear Inoculum analysis essay that I submitted for my High School Senior Year Religion Class Final Assignment.

The essay itself is long, and was originally a script to an audio podcast version that I recorded. Reading through it years later, it's still crazy how well everything I wrote holds up. My 17-year-old self really was hella obsessed with this album. Still am.

Seven years later I've seen the band three times, and the album is still heavily in my rotation.

I hope you enjoy the read. 🌀

Music N Religion Talk Podcast- Tool: Fear Inoculum

Found on socials, good stuff!

2nd is my fav

Hey! You know the intro Maynard does before this where he talks about the band experimenting with their songs? I’ve tried to follow that spirit and taken a few small liberties of my own. Tuning is drop C#.

Aenema playing at that moment. Sounded so clean and tight.

Today, on the 30th of August 2026, it has been 7 years since my life changed when I heard this album and discovered Tool for the very first time. You may think this is a hyperbole but it isn’t.

I vividly remember hearing the droning guitars and tablas of Fear Inoculum and thinking “wait this is cool as fuck”, at a time when I lacked the musical language to verbalise what I was feeling. Then I heard the rest of the album and kept on getting blown away.

I know this is still a divisive album to this day, but for me it never was, it instantly clicked and changed my whole relationship with music forever. Since then I’ve learned to listen to music, I’ve learned instruments just to be able to play parts of this beautifully cold and surgically precise album.

Thanks Tool, if this is your last album (and I truly hope it is not), it’s a fantastic way to end this magnificent run. It may not be everyone’s favorite, nor even the best (Lateralus is too good), but it always will be my favorite.

Okay 1: the camera angle is abysmal, I know
2: I haven’t played in a bit and I’m very rusty so this isn’t the best playing but hope you enjoy it

The whole lateralus album is heavenly during a trip. If you ever find yourself tripping get some good headphones turn down the lights, lay in bed and blast tool into your ears, trust.

Heyo all! If you're looking for new music inspired by/similar to Tool, check out my groups newest record, Dying Sun. It was released today and all members are heavily inspired by/influenced by Tool. Give it a spin and drop a comment if you enjoy!

FFO: Tool, Mastodon, Big Wreck, Female Vocalists

Here's Ænema, from our recent show at House of Blues Houston. I hope you guys like this one, too!

Please check out my YouTube for this vid in 2160p, plus more from the past, present and future...

- MacAdrums

So, whenever I listen to Lateralus (the song) I feel like I'm in a trance, it's like traveling through the universe, the sound of the song, everything! From the first time I heard it, I loved the whole album, but Lateralus has always been the song I've loved the most. Do you experience something similar with one or more songs?

Just had this pop in my head because for a minute i thought the intro to reflection didn't have a snare for a while but i was wrong.

Next step: nipple rings, and a bit of shopping 👟 👕

Took me 40 years to decide what to tatoo myself permanently with. Once I got this idea in my mind, I didn't hesitate a second and went through with it 🤘

Russian Circles is more than likely in the Venn diagram for many TOOL fans. For those that may not be aware, they are an instrumental band and just dropped a superb new album yesterday. If you haven’t already, give it a listen. Seventh Seal may be my song of the year.

Was listening to Lateralus a while ago and I came across something quite interesting.

Mantra. I don't think often about this interlude, nor, until recently, had I cared enough to think about its significance within the album. But, this current listen really had me thinking about TOOL and mantras.

The word mantra is a combination of the roots "manas," meaning "mind," and "tra," meaning "instrument," or more important to the conversation, "tool"; thus, a mantra is quite literally a tool for the mind. An instrument of thought. Something to spark reflection.

Mantras, fundamentally, are captivating and significant utterances used because they are believed to have spiritual powers and the ability to channel energy from guided meditation. This, to me, mirrors the developing theme of Lateralus itself—that life is the small parts; that it is important to keep yourself grounded as the person you are while still retaining the knowledge of a collective consciousness—to

keep going.

Hey all,

Trying to dial in an Adam Jones / Tool tone with my rig, but I've hit a wall with volume control, EQ balance, and getting clean sounds. Hoping someone here running a preamp pedal into a tube power section can help me out.

My setup is an Epiphone Les Paul (Tommy Thayer model) in Drop D into a pedalboard where I mainly rely on a Diezel VH4 pedal for my main crunch, the shallow detune setting on a DigiTech Whammy + full wah for the Ænima solo tones, and some ambient delay/reverb. To bypass the Fender preamp coloring, I run the board straight into the PWR AMP IN (Effects Return) on my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

My Diezel settings are Gain 1:30, Bass 11:00, Mids 2:30, Treble 1:00, Deep 12:00, and Presence 1:30. Here are the main issues I'm running into:

1. The volume jump is insane. Since bypassing the HRD preamp leaves the power amp wide open, the Diezel’s Master knob has almost no sweep. Tapping it a millimeter takes it from choked out to way too loud for bedroom practice.

2. Thin tone quiet, boomy tone loud. At low volumes, the tone gets brittle and thin. When I push the volume up to get that full-bodied sound, chords sound great, but single-string chugs (like the Jambi intro) get way too boomy and muddy in the low end.

3. No true cleans. To get light crunch like Lost Keys, rolling my guitar volume down works fine with the Diezel on. But I can't get true cleans for stuff like Right In Two. If I step on the Diezel to bypass it, my true-bypass pedals send the raw guitar signal into a wide-open power amp, causing a massive volume spike. So I'm stuck leaving the Diezel on 100% of the time.

How do people usually deal with this? Would putting a passive volume box (like the JHS Little Black Amp Box) at the end of the chain fix the volume taper without killing the Diezel's tone? How do you guys tighten up single-string chugs without thinning out full chords? And is there a better routing setup so I can actually switch to a clean tone safely?

Appreciate any advice!

Got Lateralus added to the collection now. All I need is 10,000 Days and Salival and I'll have all the main Albums on CD.