Music
Tool Issues Big Update On New Album
According to a recent update on Tool‘s official website, the band has been hard at work on new material, including a “…lengthy so-called “epic” piece that the guys have been arranging for quite some time“. While forward progress has been made, the post emphasizes that this does NOT mean the band will be entering the studio any time soon. It specifically states that this is just the band getting everything ready for the new album, which will be the followup to 2006’s 10,000 Days.
The full post can be read below.
A couple of weeks ago I visited the Tool loft to try and get some kind of idea as to how things were progressing with the writing sessions now that the band was back hard at it. Well, I am happy to report that there has indeed been a lot of progress as far as new material goes, especially with the lengthy so-called “epic’ piece that the guys have been arranging for quite some time now.
Shortly after I arrived, before taking to their respective instruments, Adam suggested that everyone should first have a listen to what they had recorded during the previous session in order to make sure that all were in agreement with certain recently added sections. And listen they did. In fact, to give you some idea – my parking meter expired twice before they were done. And judging from the smiles on their faces, it seemed that, for the most part, Danny, Adam and Justin liked very much what they were hearing and that after some finishing touches, the ‘epic’ tune would be ready for Maynard to do his thing. (During some of the more melodic passages, I was trying to envision the vocals which, to me, brings it all together.)
After a bit of discussion about some rapid-fire triplets in one section, I asked Danny if he was going to be able to knock out the piece in one take when it came time to track it? His response was to smile and bury his head in his hands, which I will let the readers interpret for themselves. As for the song itself, without giving too much away, it features complex time signatures, interesting harmonic structure and expanding effects processing – similar to what fans of Tool have come to expect – only now, perhaps not surprisingly, the band has taken it to the next level.
Okay, having given you this bit of an update, please note that I am NOT suggesting in any way that the band is ready to go into the studio any time soon. I honestly have no idea as far as any recording timetables go. I am also not sure how many other songs are near completion at this point. Nor do I know at what stage the vocals might be at for ANY of the new material. All I am saying is that as far as this one particular song goes (albeit, a very lengthy one), it was a LOT closer to being finished (instrumentally, speaking) than the last time that I heard it, and that fans of Tool’s music will certainly not be disappointed.
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Bobby Prince, the composer who provided the soundtracks to legendary titles such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Doom II, has passed away.
Prince’s family confirmed the composer’s death on June 16 late last week at the age of 81. No cause of death was released.
id Software, the company that gave Prince his first job in the industry, paid tribute to the composer, referring to him as a “video game music pioneer.”
Indeed, in addition to providing the soundtracks to id Software’s hits in the FPS genre, Bobby Prince also provided the soundtracks to other id Software classics, such as portions of the scores for Commander Keen series and the forerunner to the modern FPS, Catacomb 3-D. Prince also worked with Apogee Software and 3D Realms, providing the soundtrack for Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, and teaming with Lee Jackson for Rise of the Triad and Duke Nukem 3D.
Bobby Prince’s death comes just after the Library of Congress announced back in May that his soundtrack for Doom would be preserved in the National Recording Registry.
The soundtrack for Doom and its sequel took inspiration from designer John Romero‘s collection of CDs at the studio, which included the likes of Alice in Chains, Pantera, and Metallica. In spite of the limitations composers faced with the sound cards of the era, Prince was able to replicate riffs from songs like “Master of Puppets” and “Painkiller” for tracks like “At Doom’s Gate”, the iconic opening track for Doom‘s first level, E1M1.
For Doom II‘s soundtrack, Prince continued to employ the same tactic, lifting rifts from songs like “Sex Type Thing”, “After All (The Dead)”, “South of Heaven” and more.
In addition to composing, Bobby Prince was also a practicing lawyer, and had pursued a career as an attorney before making his way into the video games industry.
Bobby Prince is survived by his wife Connie, and his sons, Robert Caskin Prince IV and Andrew (Cristy) Prince.