Tool works hard to make their brand of arty metal as rhythmically complex, philosophically insightful and all around crushing as possible.
But they work even harder at being mysterious. They don't appear in their music videos, singer Maynard James Keenan usually performs from the back of the stage with minimal lighting and there was that time they were on the cover of Spin with all their faces blurred.
In typical Tool fashion, the group has quietly announced a handful of tour dates with very little fanfare or explanation as to whether this is indicative of a larger tour or album release.
At the moment, all we know is that Tool will play Camden, N.J.'s Susquehanna Bank Center on Jan. 29 (tickets go on sale Friday) and Izod Center at East Rutherford, N.J., on Feb. 1 (tickets go on sale Saturday).
They have a well-earned reputation for bringing along interesting support acts, such as Mastodon, Tricky, Meshuggah and various Mike Patton projects, but there's no word just yet as to who's opening.There's also no word as to whether this tour might be an indication that they are finally ready to release the follow-up to 2006's 10,000 Days.
Tool has an average five-year gap between albums, so if fans have to be wait a little bit longer for more details, well, they're probably used to it.
