It was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers generally agreeing that the band had successfully refined their established sound.
[2] It topped the US Billboard 200 album chart and was certified platinum by the RIAA, indicating more than one million units sold, a month later.
[4] After this, frontman Maynard James Keenan mentioned that he saw Tool breaking up in the near future, and focused on his side project, Puscifer.
[5] However, by early 2008, at the 50th Grammy Awards, Keenan announced to MTV that the band would begin writing new material for their fifth studio album "right away".
[6] The band was quiet over the next few years, only with Tool's website announcing that guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor, and drummer Danny Carey were working on instrumental material while Keenan focused his efforts on Puscifer.
[8] In 2012, the band's website was updated again, with the webmaster writing that they had heard instrumental material that had "sounded like Tool…some of it reminiscent to earlier Tool stuff, with other parts pushing the envelope" and that they estimated that the album was around half done.
In 2013, it was reported that two separate scooter accidents injured two undisclosed members of the band, eliminating nine days of planned “jamming” time.
"[5] In 2014, Jones and Carey revealed that complicated legal issues and court battles stemming from a 2007 lawsuit had been slowing down the process as well.
[16] He explained that while main themes and a loose "skeleton" had been established, Jones, Carey, and he were continually creating and reworking new instrumental content.
By February 2018, Keenan announced that he had received rough music files from the rest of the band members containing instrumentals labeled "FINAL" for all but one track on the album in the prior few months, and had since started writing lyrics and vocal melodies.
[26][27] The album consists of seven main tracks of music, and a run time just short of 80 minutes, the maximum runtime of CDs.
"[31] Keenan also advised that patience and multiple listens were required in understanding the album, comparing it to a slowly developing movie.
[33] The album was released on August 30, 2019, through the band's own Tool Dissectional imprint as well as Volcano Entertainment and RCA Records.
[39] The band began pre-album release touring in May, kicking it off with a headlining show at Welcome to Rockville, where they debuted two new songs, "Descending" and "Invincible".
[42] On August 2, 2019, the band's back catalog was added to digital download and streaming outlets to promote the release,[43] with Tool being one of the few holdouts among major artists.
[46][47][48] A deluxe edition of the album, which includes a full 4-inch HD screen (featuring original video material), a 2-watt speaker (featuring an additional song called "Recusant Ad Infinitum") and a 36-page insert book, was made available for pre-order on the same day as the digital edition of the album.
[61] The Boston Globe agreed with the sentiment, praising the album for being "an 80-minute prog-metal fever dream that proves the band is back and better than ever.
"[35] The Atlantic praised the album for being as good as prior releases, describing it as "precise and devastating as it has always been" containing a "nearly unhandle-able amount of that Tool feeling.
Pitchfork noted that "You get what is expected of an album over a decade in the making: a more mature, sometimes exciting collection that feels both overworked and undercooked ...
The CD package sold out at retail immediately, making Tool announce an additional set of CD/download combinations through their website.