Tool Album: “Lateralus [PA]”

Thankfully, Tool aren't one of the bands that you expect to make the same album again and again. Each new release, sparse as they are, moves the sound and approach of the band on in a new direction. And for all of you people worried that Lateralus might just be a re-tread of old territory... It's not. It's very hard to give an in-depth review of something that's only been in your posession for 24 hours, but I feel that I've got enough of a grip now to write a bit. The things that immediately hit me: 1) Production. It's less "mushy" than Aenima. Not suggesting that Aenima was badly produced, the sound worked great for the music. But Lateralus has cleaner sounds, generally. Adam Jones' guitar is still huge and crunchy, but it doesn't obscure the rhythm section in the way that it used to. The drum sound is superb, and the variety of lovely bass tones on the album are a nice surprise. I have to admit, "lovely" was never a word I'd previously associated with Tool and bass. 2) Maynard sounds quite a bit different. In the same way that his vocals changed between Undertow and Aenima, they've shifted again here. There's a fair bit of stuff that sounds like A Perfect Circle, but there's also some viscious distorted screaming that sounds harsher than anything I can recall on Aenima. 3) Rhythm. This album goes through almost every time signature in the book! The album kicks off in 5/8 (or 3/4 subdivided into quintuplets.. you choose!) on The Grudge, and stays similarly obtuse for much of the album. You've got to love a band this popular that releases a single with sections in 13/8! 4) Long songs. Sometimes they hold sections for what seems like a very long time, longer than on any of the previous releases. These tracks worked better for me when I was lying in bed in the dark, with the music up floor-shakingly loud. It's almost like listening to a drum&bass track - you don't expect fast changes, more a hypnotic wash. 5) Great quiet sections! Eon Blue Apocalypse vaguely reminded me of some of Bill Frisell's guitar tones on Grand Guignol (the track, not the album) by John Zorn/Naked City, and the other "segue" tracks (like Mantra) are equally pretty. All in all, a lot to get your ears around. Considering the level of anticipation surrounding this album, the fact that it's not a massive let-down is a vast achievement in itself. And I'm still laughing over the fact that Schism was the #1 new release in terms of radio airplay in the states. Seven minutes long, with some slightly baffling odd time signatures and lyrics that aren't exactly of the "I did it all for the nookie" variety. I love these guys!

My god - after listening to Lateralus about 6 times through, it becomes apparant that you're not listening to a band - you're experiencing an epic work of art! From start to finish, the album never lets you go. A recurring theme for Tool has been to think for yourself, question everything. If this masterpiece of an album doesn't send a wakeup call to the crappy pop 'artists' and rap-metal 'bands' out there, I don't know what the heck will! On to a track by track review:

1) The Grudge - this track opens up fast and furious, with slower parts as well as fast ones. Adam and Justin's incredible instrumental work is very notable in this song. Maynard also has a growl that is unlike anything I've heard.

2) Eon Blue Apocalypse - Relaxing guitars, serves as a good interlude between a fast song like Grudge and a more APC-like movement called...

3) The Patient - Sounds like a cross between H and Third Eye (the guitar riffs sound very much like the ones in Third Eye). A very relaxing song which builds and builds to the end which really makes you want to praise Billy Howerdel for starting A Perfect Circle.

4) Mantra - lots of chanting. Another interlude between a slow song and a song that's a little bit quicker. Actually, the chanting sounds like one of my friend's word-chewed vocal chords, Chad. :)

5) Schism - a single that isn't 3 minutes long - what a concept! I can't put this song into words - even one of the less intense songs on Lateralus is better than almost any other piece of crap other bands put out.

6) Parabol - good lead-in to Parabola. Slowest song on Lateralus, Maynard's vocals are so incredible here, makes me want to weep!

7) Parabola - fast and furious, kind of like a remix of Parabol. You can't listen to Parabola without listening to Parabol.

8) Ticks & Leeches - The hardest song on the CD, this one goes back to Opiate days. Maynard growling "HOPE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED" makes you want to raise your fist in the air. Awesome stuff. Nice breakdown in the middle.

9) Lateralis - This is the Tool national anthem. "Think for yourself" runs throughout this song. The time meter is very screwed up so you can't really 'mosh' to it, which I find very ironic and fitting. :) Forces you to LISTEN to the music and words.

10) Disposition - Intro to quite possibly the most intense... movement (I won't call it a song, it's too incredible to be one).. that I've ever heard.

11) Reflection - Listen to this at 2AM, with the lights off, with headphones on. Is it me, or did Trent's touring with APC rub off on Tool here. GODLY stuff here, man! Best Tool I've ever heard.

12) Triad - very hard outro to end the trilogy. No lyrics - just lots of hard percussion and guitars/bass.

13) Faaip De Oiad - Gaping Lotus Project/Disgustipated reminscent. Fun for the whole family.

This was so easily worth the five year wait - I can't begin to express how I felt when I purchased this on the 14th (my local record store sells stuff early sometimes, hehe). If you haven't bought this album yet, there's something wrong with you. This will go down in history with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". Get it!@!@!@

Well, where to start?

Melodically, Tool use mainly minor pentatonic scales. Being used prolificly in Medieval and Renaissance times, this lends a dark brooding beauty to Tool's music. It recalls dark ages of suspicion, prejudice, and simmering emotional discord. Tool also throw in non-Western melodic influences, with the flattened second scale degree, and the augmented second interval. Vistas of magical cultures are realised before our eyes, times and places beyond our mortal existence.

Rhythmically, Tool are an ever changing beast. Non symmetrical time signatures abound, there is little reliance on 'groove' to power the music. There is a kind of logical beauty to Tool's anisotropic rhythms, resembling the unearthly splendour that arises out of geometrical abstractions. The ethereal passage in 'Schism' floats in and out of space-time, carrying the sullen desire of a thousand lost and weary souls. The rhythm escapes physical restraints, venturing beyond what is thought possible.

Harmonically, Tool's exploration rarely ventures beyond the implications of the melodic framework. It is all heavy and doom laden, drenched in the sorrow of minor keys and non-Western scales. But within the vocabulary of a child, Tool speak with the poise and grace of a wisened adult. Harmonies soar with unity and simplicity, but drive straight to the essential being of existence.

Texturally, astral passages traverse the crowded mappings within oppressive and heavy spaces. Hurricanes are as common as light rain, and the eye of the storm is beautiful but ponderous. No respite is offered, sanctuary does not exist in Tool's universal vision. Fierce guitar tussles with haunting vocals, the bass worms it's way through lightless underground depths, while the drums mesmerise in their subtle isomorphisms and overt power.

Structurally, Tool play with chronological order, the very fabric of time is bent back upon itself. To enter Tool's physical universe is to abandon our own. There is no escape. Melodic themes are presented, then translated by violations of natural order. Motives are twisted by amorphous rhythms, yet the harmony remains discernible and somewhat stable. It is the sole acknowledgement to the world that was the point of departure. Souls are devoured in labyrinthine structures. Even the structures are devoured within the chaos, and spat out as perversely inverted reflections of the original. At the end, nothing is as it was, yet the point of arrival is a logical progression from the beginning.

In a new universe, we cannot possibly fathom why we understand the journey experienced, but we do. It is upon this realisation that the full impact of this new world occurs. The physical is no more. Only the soul survives, only the pure spiritual nature of ourselves.

Put together, the elements of Tool's music create an entity which is altogether umbrageous, anxious, melancholy, haunting, enlightening, cerebral, assurgent; in fact, beyond all superlatives. To put it simply, no other band do what Tool do. They must be treasured.

A jewel of human soul.

It's hard to write about something that I can barely understand, which is why I've waited 5 years to write a review of this album, and I figure that with the release of the latest album the time has come.

This is the best album I've ever heard. Hands down. For me, this beats Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, the Doors, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins...all of them. Every band that has open my eyes and kept me going through my day. None of them have meant as much.

I guess everything started with the video for Sober (from Undertow), a video rarely seen on MTV but never failed to entice me. The album was a dark and muddy rock record with undercurrents of religious contempt, intellegence, and even a sense of humor. I liked that album, but at that point I was busy listening to grunge.

By the time Aenima hit, I had left grunge for industrial and metal. The first time my friends played Stinkfist for me, I was a fan. The songs were perfect, controlled and thoughtful. Their sound had progressed from a sludge to a sharp crystal. The edges would cut, yet the sides were smooth and breathtaking. To take upon a Pink Floyd comparison, Aenima was Tool's Dark Side.

After years of waiting and wondering if the band could ever top their perfection (and also fearing whether A Perfect Circle had taken precedence for Maynard), Tool released Lateralus. The crystal was now a bright light and even more, it was alive. The songs were organic, creeping into each other. I found the album hypnotic, better than any drug I had ever taken. The band leaned further into the melody that had been introduced on Aenima, and this became their strength. For me, the album is divided into segments, not mere songs.

The first contains The Grudge through Schism, a shocking collection that pulls the listener into the album.

Then Parabol/Parabola the centerpiece that shines into the eyes, blinding me from the world.

Ticks and Leeches stand on its own as a reminder of Tool's older sound, a heavy song full of venom.

The heart of the album lies with Lateralus, Disposition, and Reflection. Each song weaves into the next and creates a hypnotic and pulsing chill that always runs down my spine. This is my favorite segment, and is truly the reason why I hold this above any other album.

The ending songs are filled with agitation and paranoia, bringing me out of my hypnotic state and returning me to a world full of fear.

I think I should also mention that my Pink Floyd comparison for this album is Wish You Were Here, my favorite Floyd album.

10,000 Days (Tool's latest album) I would compare to Animals, a decent and interesting album that lacks greatness.

Thanks for reading all of this even if you don't agree with me.

I got this cd a couple of days ago and I've listened to it 8 or 9 times all the way through already. There is not a song on this cd that isn't absoloutely beautiful in some way. From the genuinely "pretty" songs like The Patient(amazing) to the horribly nasty pretty sounds of Ticks and Leeches. This album really blew me away. It took a few listens to really digest, due to it's epic nature, but the delay was worth the musical bliss that accompanies each listen. It's not an overall hard and fast album(although it has it's moments of that as well), it is a musical EXPERIENCE that everyone should try, reguardless of your usual musical taste. The songs are so complex, so layered, that it is IMPOSSIBLE to digest in one sitting. I suggest casually listening through the cd the first couple or three times, then actually sit and think about the music. Absorb it, analyze it. It has an amazing dearth of radio-hit material, due mostly to the really long songs(which never get old due to the twist and turns that occurs in the songs). But this only further validates Tool as musicians and artists first, and as a product to be marketed a distant second.

Also worth mentioning is the awesoe packaging. I'm not going to try to describe it, just trust me when I say the art is very, very cool.