Tool guitarist Adam Jones has shared an early demo of the Fear Inoculum song “Descending”.
In introducing the one-minute clip on Instagram, Jones gave a peek into the band’s songwriting process. He said that bassist Justin Chancellor initially conceived of a “killer” melody in 7/8 time, which eventually became the main verse. Together they “jammed it a LONG time trying to find other cool working parts,” and Jones eventually came up with the chorus and the 9/8 “turnaround.” Between the written description and the demo itself, it’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the mathy metalheads develop their intricate songs. Jones wrote,
“Writing music Justin and I normally bring in potential riffs and demos – then the 3 of us tear them apart like wolves while [Danny Carey] stirs it up with the most opposite counter rhythm drumming (which actually does drives everything forward) Justin brought in this killer 7 melody which is now the main verse of the song. (He called it “bluegrass” as a working title). We jammed it a LONG time trying to find other cool working parts. Eventually I added the 9beat turnaround and a chorus. Then we arranged the intro -which came along very naturally.”
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Check out the “Descending” demo below. Jones has seemingly been on a mission to demystify Tool’s densest songs, and earlier this month he shared a guitar playthrough tutorial for “Pneuma”. Meanwhile, Carey and Chancellor participated in a Berklee College of Music bass and drum webinar, in which Carey revealed that Tool plans to write a new EP in quarantine.
