We did a whole video on why Tool’s new album took 13 years to make, but according to Maynard James Keenan, it could’ve been released back in 2011. According to the singer, Fear Inoculum was already “fantastic eight years ago.”

Keenan and bassist Justin Chancellor guested on the BBC’s Rock Show With Daniel P Carter on Sept. 1, chatting with the host about Tool’s long-awaited album. According to Chancellor, some of the ideas on Fear Inoculum date back to 1995, following the bassist replacing original member Paul D’Amour.

As for what took so long, Keenan shared, "I think a lot of it [was] just that age where you want it to be right and we've had some success in the past and the fear of this thing coming out and not being accepted — the fear that it's not as good as it can be — that can be detrimentally crippling.”

“If I had to 'psychology 101' [it], I would have to say, 'Well, yeah, that's why it would take 13 years to write something, because you're paranoid that it's not gonna be the best that it can be and then you second guess every single step that you make,' when it was probably good enough — I shouldn't say good enough — it was fantastic eight years ago.”

Keenan concludes, “But then the crippling second guessing of yourself sets in, and that psychology and that spiral you get in, it can be extremely daunting. And you can actually not even feel it happening. All of a sudden you wake up and it's 13 years later. The hard part is accepting the fact that maybe you're not as important as you think you are and you should probably just get on with it." [via PRP]

Tool will embark on a North American tour with support from Killing Joke starting Oct. 13 in Sacramento, Calif. and concluding Nov. 25 in Washington D.C. For tickets to the upcoming shows, click here.