Prophets of Rage guitarist Tom Morello has revealed that he was given a sneak preview of Tool’s upcoming album – and he’s raving about how good it is. Drummer Danny Carey revealed this month that the long-awaited follow-up to 2006’s 10,000 Days would arrive in 2018, adding: “I’m saying 'definitely.' We’ll probably have it done in the first half [of the year] if things go as planned.”

Morello later posted a picture of himself in the studio with three members of the band and wrote: “Had the honor of being the first outsider to hear new Tool music today! Still just instrumentals but sounded epic, majestic, symphonic, brutal, beautiful, tribal, mysterious, deep, sexy and VERY Tool. Really great. So excited to hear the record when it’s finished.”

Frontman Maynard James Keenan said earlier this year that production of the LP had taken an extended amount of time because of the way his colleagues worked on their music. “I like to release records and write things a little more quickly than those guys like to write,” he told Consequence of Sound. “Their process is very analytical. As far as the way Danny, Adam [Jones], and Justin [Chancellor] write, it’s a very tedious and long process, and they’re always going back over things and questioning what they did and stepping back and going back further.

“I can’t write melodies until the footings are in place. I can’t write words until the melodies are in place. If they keep changing the foundation … the footings, the melodies change, and the story isn’t getting written … They keep changing their minds. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing – it’s just their process.”

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