It’s hard to think of a band more enigmatic and shrouded in mystery than Tool. Their follow up to 2006’s 10,000 Days has been on everyone’s “albums we’re looking forward to in the coming  year” since 2009, which was derailed earlier this year when guitarist Adam Jones gave an interview in which he said the band’s fifth album was “far from completion.” At least we know the band is in the studio, and with the lawsuit the band claims is keeping them from recording more coming up in a few months, that will finally be behind them. The best way to find out about what’s going on in the land of Tool these days is through their site’s webmaster.

In a post back in the beginning of the month, the webmaster revealed that the band has been joined by King Crimson percussionist and friend of Tool Pat Mastelotto to listen to the band writing the new album, and that the writing and arrangement sessions have been “progressing rather nicely” since the studio has been soundproofed. It’s not known whether Mastelotto will actually participate in the sessions, but given the polyrhythmic nature of the band, it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise.

Meanwhile, Tool guitarist Adam Jones has given a glimpse into what arranging a Tool song looks like via an Instagram post. With the hashtag “Smoke on the Horizon,” the guitarist offers a diagram to what’s likely a new Tool song. The hashtag is likely just a working title of a song that might sound Deep Purple-esque. At any rate, there’s your quarterly Tool album update. Looks like it’s a lock for our “most anticipated albums of 2015” list, but we’ve all fallen for that one before.

[via Consequence of Sound]