Holy moly, the new Tool album may actually come out this year.

The band has just posted the photo at the top of this post, which wouldn’t be that exciting, except…

One of the people in the photo is Bob Ludwig, who mastered 10,000 Days

One of the people in the photo is Joe Barresi, who recorded the new album.

The photo seems to have been taken at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, ME.

All of this suggests that the band has finished recording their new record, and are currently mastering it. Which, in turn, suggests that it may actually be released this summer, as Maynard James Keenan has predicted.

Of course, everything in Tool Land moves at a snail’s pace, so who knows. Maybe they won’t be done mastering the record until 2021. But it’s certainly lookin’ good…

[via The PRP]