Well, this is progress. A few weeks ago, Tool’s webmaster said that writing and arrangement sessions for the band’s fifth full length album were “progressing nicely.” Guitarist Adam Jones added to the intrigue by Instagramming a picture of a song diagram with the hashtag #smokeonthehorizon. Early this morning, he Instagrammed another pic with the same hashtag. However, instead of a whiteboard, this was a picture of the entire band in the studio. If there’s one thing that Tool fans know, it’s that frontman Maynard James Keenan is generally the last person to contribute to the band, usually working on his lyrics remotely after listening to the instrumental version of Tool’s music. It’s premature to say that this is anything more than the band regrouping to lsiten to music, but given the mysterious nature of the band, it wouldn’t be a total surprise if they’re actually working on finishing up the album.
This is much more optimistic than the band was in July, when Adam Jones said the album was “far from completion” due to litigation that was tying the band up from getting together and working on the album. The case, in which the band was sued by someone that had done artwork for them, is scheduled to to go trial in January. And the Tool watch continues.
