Tool - Lateralus

[Thenop]

Tool - Lateralus (2001)

It takes about 7 seconds of hearing a tapemachine roll before you know what you have gotten yourself into. Tool's Lateralus, their 2001 third full length, is a progessive continuation of their 1996 AEnima album that already had so much to offer.
If you have never heard (of) Tool you either are not interested in the genre or you have yet to be exposed to it and you in for a treat.
Tool is an American metal band. So far, nothing new, there are manieth bands that play metal and hail from the overseas States of Plenty, but none other like Tool – or at least none that defined the genre as they did. Their metal is of the progressive persuasion with it's knotty & twist rhytmhs and clever use of bass lines and very percussive style of playing.
The bands drummer Danny Carey (widely acknowledged as a giant amongst the drummer population) is more than just the timekeeper. Comparisons to Neil Peart are not far away, such is his defining role in the band musically. It is however, never a display of power just for the sake of it. The expressiveness of his playing always serves a purpose. Sometimes it is to emphasize the guitar part, bass part or (in the case of the title track here) mathematical themed song structure.
You see, this album is a bit of a 'special' one. I can hear you thinking: "well aren't all albums that are great to listen to special? Isn't music in itself a gift that makes the whole experience special?" Well, yes.
However, in Tools' case, the fact they are even creating an releasing full albums is quite a daunting task. These albums are filled to the brim with complex rhythms, super complicated guitarparts, and I haven't even touched the vocal performance.
Mr. Maynard James Keenan. Rumoured to have a healthy dislike of his fans and a bit shy in presentation – unlike other ego trippers he positions himself at the back of the stage when performing live. The vocals performance of this phenomenon is quite unlike anything else in the metal realm. Weaving intricate vocal lines in a clear almost ethereal tone over the heaviest of guitars parts, just to burst into a guttural scream over an ouroborous of a drumpart as if being slain by an ancient monster in the depths of Mordor. The man has a total vocal control and manages to unstructured structured parts with it. Enter: the progressive in progressive metal.
'It is a structural thing', and no I am not talking about a house. It is the way the band manages to make seemingly unlistenable parts work together to create a whole. Sure, it takes some getting used to. When I heard AEnima for the first time in '96 though a pair of headphones in my local record store (remember those?) I could not make out if I liked it or not, however it was clear this was a fabulous display of a well arranged marriage between music and musicianship.

Those 7 seconds of roll tape then – the Grudge, the first track on this albums kicks off and you are immediately exposed to the full potential of the rhythmic passion this band has. When Keenan adds his initial growl and decidedly declares to: "Wear the Grudge like a Crown of Negativity" you get that this is not a Sunday morning album, nor is it a dancefloor filler. The depths of the lyrics, drawn toward the darker sometimes more cerebral part of the singer's existence are part of this bands' DNA (1996's 'Hooker With a Penis' is testament to that). Continuing the song concludes at a generous 8 plus minutes and only then your realise this was only the opening salvo and you have been taken on what is the initial careful tread  of a near 79 minute journey.
What follows is a trip that has no equal in modern metal and the fact alone this band managed to sell millions of copies of this album is mind blowing. From the carefully built up 'the Patient' with its' lyrics of unfulfilled promise, to the strangely catchy 'Schism' where the band tries to fit pieces to a whole juxtaposing guitar, drum and bass parts to forge a beast of a song, the 2 part 'Parabol / Parabola', the spewing with blood and aggression 'Ticks and Leeches' the band reaches the centrepiece, the title song. This 9 and a half minute track, centered around a rhythm that follows the Fibonacco sequence in music and lyrics somehow functions as a resting point while being complicated as hell. The lenghty 'Reflection' and 'Disposition' almost feel like album filler after this type of powerplay but make no mistake: They are well needed for the flow of the album. Instrumental 'Triad' closes what I would call the 'normal' music on the album.
The band recognizes the need for rest and recuperation by adding shorter intermezzos with titles such as "Eon Blue Apocalypse', 'Mantra' and oddball album closer 'Faaip de Oiad', but never fails to leave an impression even then. It really is a trip through the twisted mind of a band that has lifted both the standard of progmetal in general and the veil of their own capabilities to release a burst of artistic and creative outpouring onto the world.
22 years and counting, this masterpiece of the genre should not go unnoticed by anyone. If you think it is too metal for you, think again, listen again, because I believe there is something for everyone here.

Highly recommended – in case that wasn't clear form the above...

[Slim]

I have three Tool albums - 10,000 Days, Fear Inoculum and Lateralus - and to be honest I only ever "got" 10,000 Days, and even then only about half of it. I'll have another listen to Lateralus.

[The Picnic Wasp]

A friend sent me a disc a while back with five tracks from this album on it. I just didn't get on with it. I find I can only take small doses of music this heavy at a time. I like the way Steven Wilson uses it in tracks like Arriving..., but I have difficulty with long sustained periods of music of this intensity. It just feels a bit dark to me. I enjoyed your review however, and inspired by that I think I'll have another listen, perhaps lightly sedated by a couple (or more) cold beers tonight and try to pick up on features within the tracks you describe that are on my copy.