There aren't a lot of different ways to feel about TooL. Generally speaking, non-fans fall into two categories: those who have never heard the band, and those who have heard the band and could never quite wrap their heads around the band's style or content. But what you rarely see is a casual TooL fan. TooL's fans form a broad, deep base, which is why the musical establishment was so shocked when the band came out with Lateralus, their first album in four years, and moved over 500,000 copies in its first week without an outstandingly successful hit single.
Lateralus moved so successfully for a wide variety of reasons, each completely justified. In an era of disorganized 30-minute alt/rock CDs, TooL created a conceptual, organic, 80-minute work of art. This is evident from the first glance at the band's cover art, which comes on a transparent plastic booklet, and changes as you turn the pages and reveal the art's layers. The packaging is visually attractive and an important introduction to the humanistic themes that pervade the album's uplifting lyrics.
Because the album is so deeply rooted in concept and careful progression, it is one of few for which I will merit a chronological, song-by-song review. The bottom line, though, is that each track on the album (with one or two arguable exceptions) is an important part of each other song; the album is a complete work despite its thirteen logical divisions. Think of each song as a chapter rather than an independent piece of work.
Lateralus opens with "The Grudge," a hard rock masterpiece where the band once again shows their versatility in playing with a wide variety of time signatures and loud/soft dynamics. The track is capped off by one of vocalist Maynard James Keenan's longest wails on record, before the guitars come to a pounding finish and take your breath away. The track also immediately highlights one of TooL's greatest refinements: the music is incredibly percussion-driven now. Drummer Danny Carey has always had one of the most well-earned names in hard rock drumming, but his work on this album pushes the idea to an entire new level. Moving from tribal to Eastern to Western seamlessly, and always varying wildly without losing time, Carey's drumming is nothing short of epic on this record.
The album proceeds through one of its quiet segue tracks (which appear less frequently here than on the Aenima record) into "The Patient," where another one of the band's unique strengths really begins to shine: Keenan's incredible poetry and voice. Here, he uses the slick lyrical device of "patient" referring to both a virtue of character and a visitor to a doctor. The album's tagline, "I must keep reminding myself of this," becomes downright chilling by the track's end, where it is layered beneath a more prominent choral repetition. From here, the album wastes no time moving the the transitory track "Mantra" into "Schism," the album's lead single. Highlighting themes of communication, the track opens with an impressively trilled bass riff, slowly escalating over the course of eight minutes into a furious, all-out instrumental closing with the same riff. The album's quiet verses, heavier choruses, and breathlessly silent bridge create a beautiful ambient feel.
The real cream of the album's material follows this impressive track, though: the three tracks "Parabol," "Parabola," and the title cut "Lateralus" provide long, well-crafted pieces of philosophy and spirituality. "Parabol" and "Parabola" comprise essentially the same track, with the former serving as the latter's quiet introduction. Again, the lyrics take center stage by the track's soaring chorus: "Embrace this moment, remember / We are eternal, brothers / Pain is an illusion." Don't think the instruments in this song don't matter; they do, and the crisp guitar work and perfect percussion sections give the track its perfect support. But the album has already reached the pinnacle of its philosophical focus, and cannot be deterred, especially when "Lateralus" rolls around right afterwards. This ten-minute opus moves through quiet meditation into the band's unique flavor of prog-rock absolutely seamlessly, as Keenan asks us all to "swing on the spiral of our divinity." These tracks turn the album into a celebration of humanity itself, and are not to be missed.
One of the only complaints that one could register about this album is that "Ticks & Leeches" is placed between the two aforementioned tracks. The song is a blistering condemnation of, well, human leeches, those who contribute nothing and bring others down. It's not a bad or distracting track by any means, especially with its incredibly intricate drumwork at the beginning, but its placement between the album's two most carefully uplifting moments seems to have been a poor ordering choice.
Finally, Lateralus draws to a close with three quieter tracks that flow more naturally together than any other three on the album. "Disposition" moves pensively through itself, with peaceful but intricate leads as Keenan whispers only a few lyrical lines: "Mention this to me / Mention something, mention anything / Watch the weather change." Slowly, the track fades into "Reflection," a piece of more standard construction with intriguing bouncy percussion noises. Finally, "Triad" brings the album slowly back up with distant, distorted guitars churning through the instrumental. The three tracks combine for a peaceful, introspective ending to a brilliant experience. The album's true closer, "Faaip De Oiad," seems a bit out of place and is certainly no competitor with the band's last closer (the brilliant "Third Eye" from Aenima), but its paranoid radio talk-show samples atop frantic drum work create an entirely different mood as the album wraps itself up.
What's the bottom line? The only gripes that one can legitimately make about Lateralus are to question some of the track orderings. Every song on here is its own little masterpiece, and the thematic combination of each track with the whole of the album makes a brilliant work that no serious music listener should go without hearing, uninterrupted, at least once. Every instrument, including Maynard's vocals, is at its absolute best throughout the album, and the combination of melody and intricate songwriting with the continued energy of hard rock is not to be missed.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Lateralus [PA] by Tool](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/32/3a/a8/2005387097-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.