“Culling Voices” by Tool

 Culling, particularly in terms of how it is used in the title of this Tool song (“Culling Voices”), is the process of weeding out and eliminating unfavorable elements from a particular setting. And in this instance, that setting would the narrator’s own mind. And the “voices” which he desires to do away with are actually his own negative, imaginary thoughts. These thoughts obviously are having a demoralizing and overall detrimental effect on his wellbeing. Owing to this, he wants to get rid of them as quickly as possible.  

Indeed he goes as far as to state that he is suffering from mental illness. And this aliment revolves around the aforementioned “misleading” thought processes.

So conclusively, we can see that the singer is actually in a battle against his own self. He recognizes the need to ‘cull’ the bad voices which are playing in his head.  Yet simultaneously, it does not appear that eliminating them will be a simple task. So in response, he has made the decision to confront these ideas. His way of tackling them apparently is centered on a conscientious effort to, for the most part, ignore them.

Writing Credits for “Culling Voices”

The writing of this song was a collaborative effort between all the members of Tool. By virtue of that, we have the following as the song’s official writers:

• Danny Carey
• Justin Chancellor
• Adam Jones
• Maynard James Keenan.

 And the track was produced by someone they have worked with extensively, famed producer Joe Barresi.

Release Date

Tool officially dropped this tune on the 30th of August 2019. They released it as part of their fifth studio album. That album goes by the title Fear Inoculum (which shares the same name as the its only single).