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Tool’s “Vicarious” Will Slap Your Ass and Call You Betty

Tool 10000 days

On Cypress Avenue has posted the new leaked Tool single, “Vicarious.” It starts off sounding like typical Tool, like something right off of Lateralus, but by the end it gets so freaking heavy that space starts to bend around it for God’s sake. Very, very nice.

Pre-order the album 10,000 Days here.

Update: We’re getting hammered from all directions on this post. Thanks to everyone for coming and joining us in our love of music that grinds you into a fine powder, sticks you in a bag, and steeps you for its tea. But enough about tea…stick around and have some coffee!

Update: I’ve been inspired to convert my review of Salival into WordPress out of the archives. Enjoy, amigos.

85 comments

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  • Word on the street is that the name 10,000 days, and all the tracknames are an other (brilliant) Aprilfools joke… 10,000 days is said to be a parody on 10,000 fists (the crap album of shit band Disturbed)… this might explain names of songs as ‘The Pot’… I find the single ok for Tool, genius for any other band but believe when I say, the album (what ever name it carries) will kick some serious ass, there’s no other option.

  • Considering that “Vicarious” is the opening track, I’m not surprised it sounds like what has come before. I find I’m much better inclined to enjoy a new album by a band I admire, especially if it’s been a while since I’ve heard from them, if they take me gradually in a new direction instead of just doing a complete departure. Case in point: Living Colour’s Collide0scope album. You start that album and it sounds like they picked right up where they left off with Stain, but then later in the album, you have new and different musical ideas. Until the album hits and we see this song in context, I don’t think anybody should freak. I sympathize with the person above who took a while to get into Lateralus. Tool has done enough to where I trust them to not let me down. They haven’t so far and I’ve been given no reasons to doubt them.

  • Just listened to the entire album tonight. It is the album of ages, it will go down as the classic of our generation. Unfortunatly with that will come the stereotypicalness of Pink Floyd’s “DARK SIDE OF THE MOON.” But those of us that lived it will know the meaning behind it and the past 5 monsters. I said in Comment number 3 that it will be untypical. Just wait.

  • The lyrics are weak, real weak IMHO and I have and like every other tool album (except emotive,etc). I always liked tool cause the lyrics are kinda shady and deep. This shit is weak. When did tool become a up to the minute social commentary band ? People watch Nascar for the car crashes, thanks for the update Tool.

  • It’s an awesome song! But i really don’t think it’s that inovative. Especially after 5 years. I still love it though.

  • brilliant song, even from the perspective of someone who isnt a metalhead or a tool fan, maynard is a genius , tool rocks

  • I have been waiting for this album for too long….I agree that it does have the feel of Lateralus- a continuation, another chapter in the ever-evolving entity we have come to know as TOOL. I am looking forward to seeing the theater tour next month in Minneapolis. Very few artists hit with such an unbridled ferocity. So many nu-metal artists have tried to carry the torch that TOOL has kept burning for almost 15 years. The lyrics have always been thought-provoking, and I think this album will stand the test of time as well as their past catalog, including any contemporary commentary on the state of the world. Finally.

  • For me “Vicarious” sounds like A Perfect Circle not like Tool. It doesn’t have that phenomenal, dark atmosphere but I’ll be waiting impatiently for the whole album

  • Yeah, it kicks your ass beyond next week, but you people honestly think that TOOL and the record company “leaked” this single on accident??? If so, the RIAA would have yanked it, sued the website and fined the record company…get a grip guys..this was calculated and purposefully done as a marketing gimmick to appeal to the “mp3 get it now and don’t wait for brilliance” retards who would rather steal from a band then buy the album and support the shit out of a band that has not sounded this incredible ever and will never by rivaled!!!! Following in a close 2nd is A Perfect Circle…stupid douchers!!!!

  • Atrophy:

    “I’ll download this Tool song! That’ll put a spoke in their wheel!”

    “Unless they’re counting on it.”

    “I won’t download this Tool song! That’ll put a spoke in their wheel!”

  • Awesome and flawless as usual… Do we expect anything less from masters of progressive and innovative rock?

    Indeed this albumn will be a classic of not only our generation, but of all music that has come before and will come after.

    Nice Rosencrantz and Guildenstern analogy Widge.

  • Heard the song, sounds great, you guys talking about the sound quality should bear in mind that it’s only a crappy mp3 and the CD will give far higher resolution. I suspect this album will be a masterpiece like Lateralus. Can’t wait.

  • Well after listening to this song many times its grown on me alot. at first i was dissapointed but then looked at the lyrics. Its a bit deeper than just watching tv for death and violence, I thought it meant more that we arent living our own lives anymore living through others/ idolising them. it always takes me a few times to really like a Tool song, i need to know the lyrics before i can really enjoy it.
    Im sure that this is the correct title for the album as Keenen told the press that his mother went through a stroke causing her to be partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound for 27 years, approx. 10,000 days.

  • Why cant we just admit it. The drums are this song. The time signature is somthing awesome. Lalalalalala LIE…..

  • “Vicarious” is in no way about the war or Bush. And Tool has always made social commentary. Remember they’re not Three Days Grace or new Green Day.

  • first time i listened to it i wasnt that suprised….then listened to it a couple times more , this song gives me the chills! it is such an intense and beautiful song! i’m sooo excited to see them in oakland! fuck yeah!

  • Well, I don’t know how it happened but a friend called me and said he had the new disc. these computer days of 2006 make it tough to keep a secret. I had to hear it, I mean how do i wait for something from the band I respect the most. It is another masterpiece. I am 33 and cought every show since 93 and will be in dallas may 8th!! people say there are samples of this and that, f em!!! this record is kickin harder than ever! I feel lucky as all get out to have heard it and will buy it on the 2nd!! no question, they will get my donation for sure. A must have. This is the band, ya’ll will love it if you really “love” them.

  • I love this song. I heard 2 others on Myspace, one claiming to be Vicarious but it sounds nothing like the real Vicarious, but the song kicks absolute ass! In the begining Maynard Maynard carries a tuned scream that is unreal!!! I know its not Vicarious, but it still kicks ass, and so does Vicarious. I also heard another song claiming to be “Jambi”. It rules! You think you’ve heard unusual drumming, wait until you hear that song, the drumming is unlike anything you have ever heard before! I am stoked about this new album!

  • This single sounded weird at first, but once i got used to it i realized tht this is some of their greatest work. wut i dont understand is how come such a great band only got a 2,000 seat arena in chicago? i now hanve nowhere to see them live, becuz the show in chicago sold out before i even woke up.

  • “I was a bit disappointed. Of course, the song was rhythmically and harmonically perfect; I have no complaints there, but that was never a concern. Maynard, of all people, threw me a curve. His lyrics seemed to step down from Lateralus, and his voice seemed what you’d expect from a ‘rock band’. Tool should not be a band! The Tool I know is a machine. However, I need to hear the rest of the album and the song, for that matter, many more times to make an accurate judgement.”

    —i would have to agree with this comment…it still took me for a total ride and i freaked out listening..but it seems cliche almost and maynards voice did not strike a nerve in me as much as it always has before…
    idk
    may fucking 2nd hurry up!

  • I heard all songs from the new CD and … what can i say – its great :)
    Dont worry Tool will never dissapoint you

  • Man, oh man, awesome song. I know it came out week ago, but only now am I truly coming to appreciate its greatness. The first time I heard it, I wasn’t exceptionally impressed, and was still waiting for the “big finish” when the song was over. Albeit, I heard it for the first time with only one earphone. (My friend and I downloaded it in fifth period in the school library the day it came out, and we had to share my pair of headphones.) Since then, though, I’ve listened to this song probably upwards of 15 times, and have heard it on the college station a couple of times. It pretty much kicks ass! It’s closest to Lateralus out of all of their past works, imo, but has its own vibe and is a lot harder too. May 2nd can’t come soon enough. If I’m lucky, Hastings will have a midnight release party on monday, so I can go pick it up then. Gonna be awesome!

  • Vicarious is the summation of every critical reflection on dangerously sensational television and the human response to spectacle. What points many touch on in literature and music about this topic, Tool sculpts and molds into a pinnacle icon of what everyone was thinking but can’t perfectly express. To those who expect this to be a lofty, super-abstruse track simply because Tool’s songs appear more that way with each album (Lateralus more than Aenima, and with Anima more than Undertow), remember where they came from. Aenima (song) was lyrically up front. Ticks and Leeches was up front. These are men, the live in the same world you and I do, and they’re going to reflect on worldly happenings. We shouldn’t always sing about Saturn. APC fans – you will enjoy this track. Tool fans MUST set aside their growing desire to hear a polymorph on “Reflection.” There is, in fact, some transcendence in this track: “Credulous, divest your desire to believe in angels in the hearts of men” To Rory: You’re entitled to your opinion about a more “shallow” track than usual, it’s a valid point actually. But think hard and listen a couple more times (We all know it takes 10 to 100 times to digest this stuff). The song is symphonic in nature, it morphs, it bends, it does the tonal backflips a la characteristic tool. It’s got the depth, vocal range, great verbal choices, some of the sickest drumming we’ve heard from Danny thus far. I’m drooling at the thought of receiving my Amazon pre-order. Long live the masterpiece band Tool.

  • I’m glad to see i wasn’t the only one that didn’t felt completely blown by this song until now (actually i felt dissapointed), but i’m kind of feeling what the song means but i could not grasp its significance before (i remember this experience with “the grudge”, and its one of my favorite songs now)… but i guess i cannot really speak my mind with the truth until i hear the whole album, its a nice song either way, i wasn’t expecting something like this though, but i bet it gets better… it always does

  • I disagree completely with any and all complaints about the lyrics of this song. They aren’t transcendent? Likenening us to vampires, feeding on the blood of tragedy? It’s just as introspective as anything ever written by Tool, and also socially pertinent. Even though I cannot go to the Toronto show and it is their only Canadian date so far, I’m very very happy that they’ve gone back to SMALLER venues. This is the BEST way to see Tool for the full experience. I’ve seen them live 5 times, twice at festivals, but nothing will top the first time at the warehouse in Toronto where I and only about 2500 other people got to see the blue/white Maynard of the Aenima tour. For those of you lucky enough to get tickets to a smaller venue, count yourself blessed! They are much more interactive with the crowd, even taking a request at the show I saw (it was Opiate. I wanted jerk-off…oh well) But to those of you who have stated the lyrics are a ‘step down’ from Lateralus….wake the FUCK up! This song is brilliant in all facets, and just because it isn’t spouting esoteric lyrics about spirituality and third eyes doesn’t mean the lyrics aren’t still incredible and, as I said, socially pertinent. Those ‘holier than thou’ Tool fans (you KNOW who you are) that expect every song to be a collage of metaphoric reasoning, pull your head out of your ass! A whole album like that would be, well, straight pompous, as many of you are being. Hate me if you like, but I love Tool as much as anyone and think they hit the nail on the head with this one. If you want lofty, metaphoric, visual lyrics listen to Reflection. If you want to know how Tool TRULY feels about the world they live in, listen to this song. I think it’s just as important in getting a glimpse into the minds of these geniuses as anything they’ve ever written.

    Sir Smittius

  • is thjere something i’m missing? this sounds EXACTLY like everything on Lateralus…. which wasw really just a watered-down Aenima.
    Seriously, I don’t want to be a hater just to hate, but all I can picture while I listen to this, is these guys getting older, fatter, and less and less cutting edge.
    I really really used to like Tool, and I was stoked about this album coming out, but it’s just recycling at this point.
    I was hoping after the disappointment of Lateralus, they’d go back to changing it up each time, and trying to break some new ground, but this is just bullshit, I’m sorry.

  • Once again, Tool sets the standard of not being standard.All of the 10,000 wanna be bands of the new millenium must be visiting thier therapists about now.Putting Tool in any genre classification
    is absurd and music stores should just stock them in the Toolmusic section.I’m 4 degrees warmer by thier existence!!

  • [On my way to the local record shop to buy 10,000 days proudly wearing my Tool t-shirt]

    Again how can they top every album they release. When I first hear AEnima I thought it was the best, then Lateralus. I heard Vicarious too. I dont think no one in this universe can critisize their art. They have alway exeeded our desires and expectations. And If anybodies going to download this album illegally Im going to have to curse that imbecile. So lets live the rest of our lives listening to this album shall we.
    -A Tool Fan from Sri Lanka!

  • Its the first album I have listened trough from start to finish from the first time. Got to say that the tunes are even better the second time.

    Support TooL, buy the album.

  • anyone can tell me whats the time signature of the song vicarious by tool?
    thank u in advance