Weird Album Title for Tool

Enigmatic prog-metalheads Tool have given their long-awaited third album a title, and -- as you might expect -- it's weird. The quartet's first full-length in five years, coming this April 17th, is to be called Systema Encéphale. Track titles revealed in a typically cryptic posting on the band's Web site (www.toolband.com) reveal something of a medical fetish. Among the ten tunes listed are "Encephatalis," "Coeliacus," "Lactation" and "Pain Canal."

The band has been working on the album at a Los Angeles studio for several months now following the conclusion of singer Maynard James Keenan's road duties with his side project A Perfect Circle. Producing the project is longtime band collaborator David Botrill, who also oversaw the band's last offering, 1996's Aenima, and has manned the controls for the likes of Peter Gabriel and Remy Zero.

While the posting regarding the title appears to be factual (Tool have been known to spit out informational nonsense in the past, culling terms from their favorite made-up reference book about the therapy of crying, The Joyful Guide To Lachrymology) a spokesperson for the band "could neither deny nor confirm" its authenticity.

While they didn't reveal what the album's first single will be, the post makes it clear that they've already begun pre-production for its video. Coming so far in advance, this would suggest more epic clips from the band, a la 1993's groundbreaking "Sober" video, where those evil little men dwell in a dark dungeon with meat coursing through pipes in the wall. A post several weeks ago also revealed that the band has begun negotiations for a major tour to begin sometime around the album's release.

The new album caps a period of productivity for the band that began this past December when they released the DVD/CD box set, Salival, a visual/audio collection of the band's video catalog combined with unreleased live cuts and covers.

GREG HELLER
(January 13, 2001)