Tool is the one band I have the
most respect for over any other band, even more than my favorites like Judas
Priest and Opeth. Why? Because the band, against all odds, broke into the
mainstream playing 7 minute progressive metal songs which were mostly unedited
on the radio and they became hits - big hits.
Throughout the years they have refused to water down or pop up their signature
style, and despite that, their songs continue to top the rock charts and their
album sell into the millions. They pack arenas to this day (when they came to my
city in 2007 they sold out our arena two nights in a row) and only need to put
out an album every 5 years thanks to the phone book sized royalty statements
they receive on a monthly basis thanks to the fact that their music is
gratuitously played on rock and alternative radio all over the world. So how
can a band that plays music that sounds like this play bigger venues and make
more money than all those cookie-cutter radio rock bands like Hinder and
Shinedown who have a much more accessible and appealing sound? The world may
never know.
Tool is a love ‘em or hate ‘em
band if there ever was one. Some say they’re nothing but overly brainy and
bloated nerd rock, or just nerd rock trying to be brainy but not succeeding.
Some think they’re geniuses, others do not. Another complaint against the band
is that they’re “not metal” as if that has anything remotely to do with the
actual good-or-bad quality of the music. This album was given a measly 2 ½ stars
by that one magazine that has to be wrong about almost everything (Rolling
Stone), and Lateralus, the equally good
successor to AEnima, was given a
score by Pitchfork Media that makes Rolling Stone’s look like outstanding
critical acclaim in comparison. Honestly, I just don’t let what the critics say
affect my view on the music I love (at least I try not to), and the reason for
that is because my opinion is the only one I care about when it comes to music,
and that should be the same for all music fans. Being a musichead isn’t about
agreeing with the press that you may see as the “authority” in musical opinion,
it’s about listening to the goddamned music and having a natural reaction to it
in hopes of finding some truth in it, something that makes you feel good.
All four of Tool’s albums are
fantastic, from the alt. metal of Undertow
to the proggy experimentation of 10,000
Days, but I deem this one to be the band’s deepest work. Lateralus had the band’s best loved
songs (“Schism”, “Parabola”) and 10,000
days had the band’s biggest hits (“Vicarious”, “The Pot”) but AEnima, although the album’s reception
was dampened by the fizzling out of the alternative rock movement, just offers
a collection of tracks that make most metal sound like a 3 year old’s toy piano
In comparison, and it easily transcends radio rock entirely. The band’s use of
odd meter is unparalleled in mainstream rock, and the level of musicianship on
display here is practically unheard of in that end of the rock spectrum. Adam
Jones’ minimalistic technique on the guitar may not sound very impressive on a
cursory listen, but he is incredibly talented at what he does, and when he
busts out on one of his oddball solos (which he does only a handful of times in
Tool’s discography) you’ll be impressed with his talents. Justin Chancellor’s
bass playing is masterful, and with his sinewy basslines, he’s way more than
just a metronome for the band to say the least, but the real star of the show
here is drummer Danny Carey. This man just doesn’t make it easy on himself; he more
often than not picks the most complicated drum beats that can possible be
played in whatever odd time signature they happen to be playing in, which
include, but are not limited to, 10/8
and even 6.5/8. Carey is also the master of the tom-tom; he absolutely
loves exotic tribal beats, which is evident by his tabla playing which also
shows up on every album. Neurosis is another post-metal band that is fond of
this style of drumming, but they don’t pull it off with nearly the level of
finesse as Carey; he simply owns at this style.
Of course, all this technicality
is useless in a band if you’re a lousy songwriter. In that case, the listener
is just barraged with a nauseating display of technique, and when the song is
over, you’ll usually not be able to recall exactly what happened in the song (look
at modern technical death metal, for example.) Tool is just the opposite. While
these guys are beyond technically proficient, they’re rarely ever flashy and
they don’t let their considerable skills be the star of the show, they delegate
that spot to the songs themselves. Just listen to “Eulogy”, an eight and a half
minute beast of a track that’s a feat of prog rock songwriting. It’s ominous,
slow burning intro finally erupts into stabs of distorted guitar, which then
leads into a huge chorus passionately sang by singer Maynard James Keenan, and
while he doesn’t have a lot of range, he’s always on pitch and he can go from
singing very softly, almost whisper-like, to full-on enraged screaming on
display near the end of the track. And if there’s one thing tool exceeds at, it’s
creating an effective mood shift. When everything breaks down into tribal toms
and sparse guitar before starting right the hell up again with Adam Jones’
signature thick, bassy guitar chords filling up the space created by Carey’s astute
drumming, you are just pulled into the little world the song creates for you. You
see this again and again over the course of this album like on the excellent “Forty
Six & Two” with its spooky main riff and the even more excellent “Pushit”,
a song that contains an absolutely devil horn inducing guitar solo that’s equal
parts thrilling and frantic. Not all songs follow this formula; “Jimmy” for
example spends the entire length of the song building up, and “Hooker with a
Penis” Is aggressive all the way through. Unlike other tool albums, AEnima is broken up with several
interlude tracks that are, for the most part, mystifying. “Message to Harry
Manback” is an entire message read by a man with a heavy accent set to a
haunting piano melody, and “Die Eir von Satan” sounds like a scary nazi rally,
in the German language of course, but it’s actually just a cookie recipe being
recited in German. Ha ha. The “Intermission” is also hilariously out of place
with its happy keyboard melody which in actuality a reworking of the main riff
in “Jimmy” that comes after it. Then there’s interludes like “Useful Idiot” and
“(-) ions” that just contain static noises and appear to have no purpose. Can
we get someone smarter than me to analyze this album to the bone and unearth
the meaning behind all this?
The only real problem I have with
this album is the song “Hooker with a Penis.” While the music itself is just as
strong as anything else on the album, the lyrics cause me to roll my eyes. It’s
just a simple narrative about Maynard meeting a kid who accuses Tool of selling
out and Maynard responding by telling the kid to “Shove your fuckin’ finger up
your ass.” This is just so inconsistent with the rest of the album which
exhibits a lot of esoteric lyricism, and it comes off as really immature coming
from a band that crafts such intelligent songs.
In conclusion, if you have the
impression that Tool’s music is nothing but nerdery amplified with Marshall
amps, this album will certainly not convince you to like the band whatsoever.
To those who “get it”, this album is a treat like a king size pack of Reeses
peanut butter cups that will make you feel very, very satisfied. If the nerds
will, in fact, inherit the earth, I hope a Tool song like “Forty Six & Two”
or “Schism” becomes the new national anthem.
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