Some over dramatic reactions all over the internets, its not the end of the world if it doesn't jump out straight away as amazeballs, Lateralus was a real grower of an album. Maybe I'm not one of the cool kids to say I hate it immediately.
Tool obviously are sticking to their core sound and vision, it's really been that way since Opiate, shouldn't be a surprise.
If they changed too much they'd get panned, if they stay in their lane they get panned... dammed either way, same as most bands out there really. I still find more depth in the last three Tool albums than most other metal acts with their paint by numbers sellout repeat of the previous album ( Mastadon, Slayer, Killswitch, Korn, Slipknot, Megadeth, Amon Amarth, Dream Theater... insert name here...)
The duration between albums has really influenced the hype and expectations, but lets just see how the full album turns out, and not just from one listen through. It shouldn't surprise anyone the riffing is basically the same as Jones has always done, he's comfy in his spot and not suddenly become a shredder.
The riffs on Opiate and Undertow are extremely simplistic yet they garner great support, Aenima and Lateralus were a bit more technical in comparison, yet people are hating on this song because it's too simplistic? The song Opiate has barely 3 riffs, yet it's still great. Opiate and Undertow had a Helmet type vibe to them early on, I'm glad they found their voice on Aenima. I like all their albums, don't get me wrong, but the first two don't touch the later albums for complexity and variety.
I disagree the song sound like pure VH4 ch3, I think there is more going on than just that. I think he's rolled his tone knob down a little to get that 'Pushit' type fuzzy tone.
I liked the intro with Adam on the left speaker doing volume swells, and Justin on the right doing swells also following the guitar ones. At first listen I thought it was just Adams guitar swells panning across in the repeats, left to right, but it's not that basic.
I'm looking forward to the album release, but maybe I'm just a uncool fanboi though if say it on a forum. Im not one of the hipster Player Haters.