Pneuma

The second track from Tool's fifth studio album 'Fear Inoculum', 'Pneuma' was later released as a single in April 2020, reaching number 15 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The title derives from ancient Greek, denoting breath or spirit, and the lyric builds a metaphysical framework around that duality: the band position human existence as spirit temporarily housed in flesh, one foot anchored whilst the other strains toward transcendence. Maynard James Keenan's vocal adopts an instructive tone, urging the listener to wake and remember their origin. The refrain centres on shared genesis, paraphrasing the idea that all consciousness springs from a single breath and spark. The arrangement moves between meditative passages and driving 4/4 sections, the groove anchoring the song's philosophical reach in physical momentum. The lyric closes with a direct invocation of pneuma itself, framing the act of reaching beyond the body not as escape but as recollection of what was always true.