With this lineup, Tool became one of those bands where truly every member is heard. Chancellor's show-stealing basslines, Adam Jones' mood-creating guitar parts, Danny Carey's polyrhythmic drumming, and Maynard's unmistakable sneer are all equals. It makes sense that when you see Tool live, Maynard often stays near the back of stage with his face obscured. He's become one of those frontmen that the fans disproportionately latch onto, but it seems like he knows the chemistry he has with the other three guys is bigger than anything he can do on his own.
He also fronts the bands A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, who both have good music, but who can't really compare to Tool. There are heavy moments as well as quiet ones, catchy melodic moments as well as off-kilter experimental ones.
The album's got even longer songs than its predecessor, and it's far more psychedelic and progressive than anything they did before it, but still overall more traditionally structured than what they'd do next. It still has moments that qualify as metal but it's overall a progressive art rock album that puts the band's King Crimson, Pink Floyd, and Rush influences more in the forefront than any of their other studio releases. On this album, long songs are more the rule than the exception, and it's heavy on atmosphere and ambience; the bulk of it would probably appeal even more to post-rock fans than it would to people who came to Tool via their adjacency to nu metal.
In both cases, the latter is more classic, more widely loved, and more radio friendly, but the former is adventurous in ways that early fans of the band may have never predicted. A song like Lateralus ' "Reflection" sees Tool fully off in outer space, with words seeping out of Maynard's mouth like a slow leak as the band builds an atmosphere rather than focusing on riffs or verse-chorus-verse song structure.
It's closer in spirit to Hawkwind or spacey Grateful Dead jams or certain songs by the aforementioned Pink Floyd than it is '90s alt-metal, and it's far from the only time that Lateralus explores that kind of territory. It was a bold move for Tool to make an album like this; five long years go by after a breakthrough album and they come back with 79 minutes of exploratory jams? It must have pissed a lot of people off, but it was a crucial step in establishing Tool as a band who sets no limits for themselves and insists on pushing forward.
Lateralus is uncompromising in its experimentation, yet it remains just as gripping as the band's more accessible albums. Lateralus was the album that proved Tool could make just about any kind of music they wanted, and still sound like Tool.
That's a sign of a truly great band. Stream Lateralus on Spotify below and on all streaming services here. It's probably safe to say that, upon release, 10, Days got more of a lukewarm response than its predecessors. It wasn't a return to form, but it was a return to being a lot more accessible than Lateralus was -- be it the wait-this-is-actually-kinda-nu-metal chugs of "Jambi" or the prog-pop of "The Pot" -- and I could see someone making the argument that, unlike every Tool album before it, it wasn't a massive leap forward.
But year after year went by without a followup, and as is often the case when a band gives their fans that much time for a "divisive" album to sink in, eventually people start to realize how brilliant it is. That was very much the case with 10, Days , which seems silly to be critical of now. In its own way, it's just as essential as everything that Tool did before it. Many of its songs are staples of Tool's current live show, and those songs sound as great as the classics.
And when you've got a band as unique and larger-than-life as Tool, sometimes you set your expectations super high for each new album, but a little distance can remind you that even their worst album towers over plenty of other bands' best.
And even if 10, Days wasn't a major leap forward, it still finds ways to not sound like any other Tool album. Then Jim cut his hair, and decided his name was going to be Maynard. And being new to the city gave him a different insight than that of many local musicians. Danny, who was already playing with numerous bands at the time, declined the invitation, so they flagged down a former drummer of Autograph to join them on drums.
From that point on he was in. While Tool became more psychedelic and lyrically profound in the late 90s, they were initially motivated by being broke, living in a smoggy, overcrowded city, hating their neighbours and other pet peeves.
Rent was high, and there was a lot of weird hypocrisy in this dog and pony show that happens within the film and music industries, which I found very awkward. A lot of the original pieces were inspired by that kind of energy. The music was emotionally driven and reactionary. It was all about emoting and releasing that primal scream. When they had enough songs written, Tool started booking shows. But luckily I stuck around and saw them playing to about 10 people.
Tool were signed by Zoo Entertainment after only their seventh gig. Clearly, there was some luck involved, having met the right people at the right time. Tool had a different kind of aesthetic; each member had a distinct personality that helped propel the band.
Then there we were, these four pretty pissed-off, relatively talented — comparatively — musicians. Nirvana opened the door for most music guys around town who were chasing their tails trying to find the next big thing.
Soon after, the two of them were on a night out together to watch LA hopefuls Dumpster. Maynard was super-intense, maniacal and all over the stage, and the rest of the band were just as phenomenal as they always were. Knowing it would be a wild gig, they decided to set up professional recording equipment. Green Jello headlined, but Tool opened. It was a mob scene there, and Maynard was on fire. He really engaged the audience.
We've been duped before , goddammit, and it always hurt. But with the near-mythical album officially in go-mode, it's a perfect time to recap everything we know about the most widely anticipated metal LP since, well, their last one. Tool is finally, no-kidding, legitimately in the recording studio In a March Instagram post , guitarist Adam Jones broke the Internet with two words "Day 1" and a CD emoji. He also added a weird, woozy GIF of a guitar amp. The message was clear: The era of begging Tool to enter the studio is behind us.
Two days later, he posted an in-studio photo featuring producer Joe Barresi, who previously engineered and mixed 's 10, Days. The band's webmaster later confirmed that the quartet had "moved into a major studio where the recording process for the next album is about to begin in earnest.
With Tool now in the studio, questions about their progress will probably only escalate throughout the year. But Keenan is clearly annoyed with the speculation and wants to maintain some element of mystery. The singer even hilariously fired back at excited fans on social media. In January, one Twitter user created a poll asking fans if the album would arrive in Sixty-six percent of the voters tallied "No.
Coming out this summer," Keenan deadpanned in reply. While Tool's three instrumentalists have experimented on music, Keenan has kept busy in other bands A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and business ventures his Caduceus Cellars winery. But his voice will still be an integral part of how the arrangements are built. Keenan is one of heavy music's signature vocalists, and his parts add a melodic center through the complex riffs and rhythms.
The cool thing is every time I think I've simplified it as much as I can, we'll give it to Maynard and he'll do something even more simplified — to the point where practically anyone can sing it!
The music is finished, and the lyrics are at least extremely close Given the sheer complexity of Tool's music — and the frequency with which they re-arrange it — it's wise not to consider the album "finished" until you see the track listing. But in a January tweet that has to the horror of fans across the world since been deleted, Keenan suggested they were toeing the finish line.
In theory. Someday we'll track them. Long way from the finish line, but at least we're closer. Better news: That same month, Jones dropped a knowledge bomb during a random Instagram live stream of his family's dinner. Since his bandmates have taken years to finish the music, Keenan — as anyone would — has grown a bit frustrated by their snail-like speed. But he's learned to accept this drawn-out process over time.
Last year, in a wide-ranging interview with Joe Rogan , the singer noted that he no longer takes the delay personally. As far as the way Danny, Adam, and Justin write, it's a very tedious and long process, and they're always going back over things and questioning what they did and stepping back and going back further.
He compared that process to "laying a foundation [ for a house ]," adding, "[ With ] my desire to move forward and get things done, I'm always butting heads with the guys in the band. It's just not their process.
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