TOOL Drummer: New Album Will Be Heavier Than 'Lateralus'

TOOL drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Justin Chancellor have been jamming together for the past few months and they've already got the framework for 10 to 12 new songs, according to MTV.com.

"They're very much in the infant stage, where we have all these different jams and we start piecing them together," Carey told MTV.com. "There are no true arrangements yet. We like to develop ideas, but we don't want to solidify anything too much until [singer] Maynard [James Keenan] gets involved."

Although it's too early to get an overall read on the new songs, Carey described the material as heavier and more intense than the group's last disc, 2001's "Lateralus".

"There seems to be a little more brute force going on in the music, rather than being lighter and more intricate like some of the stuff on the last record," Carey said. "It still has quirky time changes, but so far we've been working on really heavy stuff."

Carey attributes the more aggressive vibe of the new material to TOOL's tours with such experimental bands as FANTÔMAS (featuring former FAITH NO MORE singer Mike Patton and SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo) and Sweden's MESHUGGAH.

"Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo — those guys are a good, heavy influence," Carey said. "And we did most of the dates on our last tour with MESHUGGAH. They're incredibly heavy, so it was a good kick in the teeth playing with them."

The as-yet-untitled effort is tentatively expected in early 2005. Plans also exist for the group to issue a DVD of footage from the "Lateralus" tour this summer.