Tool drummer Danny Carey said frontman Maynard James Keenan received death threats from people angry about the delay over their fifth album.

Fear Inoculum will arrive on Aug. 30, 13 years after its predecessor, 10,000 Days. Keenan’s colleagues Carey, Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor have all tried to explain that their approach to writing music was the main reason it took so long to finish the LP, and that the singer was not to blame.

“I felt bad for him,” Carey told Metal Hammer in a new interview (via Loudwire). “He even told me he was getting death threats from these idiots out there. They just have no idea what our work ethic is. These things don’t happen, man. There’s no other record that’s going to sound like this Tool record. What you hear is what you get, and what you get is what it takes to get it done. And it’s not an easy process.”

Bass player Chancellor provided an example of that difficulty, noting that "sometimes I thought we were nearly there. We’d written an album or we had some songs that were cool, and then we’d dump the whole lot and start again. It was devastating."

In a separate interview, Jones recently said he didn't personally feel pressure to deliver Fear Inoculum before it was ready. “I felt anxiety because [people] would blame our singer, and it’s not his fault," he said. "We all have our own things going on – lives, families, other projects, other interests – so it’s ready when it’s ready.”

When the title and release date were announced last month, Keenan described the moment as “a weight lifted off my chest." “It took a lot of work," he said. "The four of us are a lot of fucking work just to get anywhere. Oh my God – everything’s a fucking committee meeting and always gets shot down.”

At a Tool concert in May 2018, he explained why he’d taken to wearing armor onstage, saying. “I'm afraid of bananas and other forms of fruit because eventually you wonderful people are going to run out of fucking patience,” he said.Turning to his bandmates, he added, “So, I beg you, Danny, Adam, and Justin, please finish your parts so I can finish mine, and take this fucking riot gear off!” You can watch the moment below.

 

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