Watch Tool’s mesmerising live premiere of Fear Inoculum epic Culling Voices

Tool’s much-delayed and long-anticipated US arena tour in support of 2019’s Fear Inoculum album finally got underway last week, and fans at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center on January 15 were treated to the very first live performance of the ten-minute epic Culling Voices.

The song was performed as the penultimate track of the night, and was introduced with all four band members seated at the front of the stage, with drummer Danny Carey playing rhythm guitar, before returning to his regular spot behind the kit.

You can watch fan-shot footage of the premiere below.

Across the tour’s opening four nights, the LA prog-metal quartet have now performed all seven tracks from the physical version of their fifth album, which topped the US Billboard chart in September 2019.

Tool are set to tour Europe upon the completion of their North American dates, with the first European show scheduled to take place at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, on April 23. In the UK, the band will play Manchester, Birmingham and London.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.