Some fans have taken the image to confirm that TOOL will put its long-awaited new studio album out this year, although no announcement regarding an official release date has yet been made.

 

The latest sign of activity in the TOOL camp comes just a week after METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett revealed in an interview that TOOL guitarist Adam Jones was "dealing with artwork" for the follow-up to 2006's '10,000 Days'.

 

Last month, TOOL shared a photo of Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor and drummer Danny Carey alongside the new album's producer, Joe Barresi, and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, who previously mastered '10,000 Days'. The picture was apparently taken at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine. The mastering process is usually the last step, after recording and mixing, before an album gets pressed, released and distributed.

 

TOOL entered the studio more than a year ago, in March 2018, to begin recording the disc.

 

Keenan recently said that the band's fifth full-length album and first in 13 years would likely arrive "between mid-May and mid-July."

 

TOOL will play nearly a dozen U.S. shows in May.