SoundBites: Tool, Disturbed, Fleetwood Mac

Tool before their second Big Day Out performance.

As one report put it recently, Tool have taken a break from not working on their much-awaited new album to announce US tour dates.

It's been nearly 10 years since the band last released an album, and while they're said to have been working on the follow-up since 2010, fans are still waiting.

Frontman Maynard James Keenan, seemingly sick of being asked about the album, has reportedly called fans "insufferable" and "retards" for taking Tool too seriously.

The show promises to be spectacular, with the band set to be "dwarfed by dramatic video projections", as part of an "unparalleled sonic and visual experience". No word of a New Zealand concert though. Tool last played here in 2013, and headlined the Big Day Out in 2007 and 2011.

A group of hard rockers-slash-metallers who will be playing in New Zealand soon is Disturbed. The Chicago band will play Vector Arena on January 28, on the back of their new album Immortalized. Their penchant for quirky covers - they've previously done a version of Genesis' Land of Confusion - continues on the new record with their take on Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence.

Revisit a classic

Lorde once called it a perfect record. If people still used dictionaries, you might find its cover alongside the phrase "classic album".

It is one of the most celebrated albums of the 70s, and for some, of all time. In the wake of last week's visit to these shores by Fleetwood Mac, why not dig out that copy of Rumours, their 1977 megahit.

The well-documented turmoil behind the scenes during recording has enhanced the legend of this album, but its music stands on its own. Massive songs including Dreams, Don't Stop and of course, Go Your Own Way, are complemented by the dark yet brilliant The Chain and the funky You Make Loving Fun.