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 title: Salival review
author: Jouko Ruokosenmäki

TOOL
Salival
Volcano Entertainment

Beautifully packaged Salival includes six live performances, a 
couple of previously unreleased studio recordings and a VHS 
or a DVD containing gorgeous videos from their previous 
albums.
Tool isn't any more nimble live than it is on record. Singer 
Maynard spits nihilistic rage in his listeners' ears and Adam 
Jones' riffs grind an angry message through even the 
thickest skull. Tool rolls an insane and sick world for us to 
face. A place where the only way to survive is cynisism. The 
ten minute piece Third Eye with it's dark, occultist references 
and wavy soundworld, is a model example of the band's way 
of shocking their listeners. A more straight-forward Part of Me 
is one of the brusquest relationship song ever put on a rock 
album. A revamped version for the road of Pushit and the 
previously unreleased Merkaba offer a quick moment of 
breath from the relentless distress, but both songs go back 
to claustrophobia and chaos after their brisk start. Message 
to Harry Manback II continues the story of a pissed off ex-
roommate, while Lame's "mini- radio play" grimly grins at the 
hell of bureaucracy and technology.
Tool urges people to question authority. Drug guru Timothy 
Leary offers an declaration against the powers that be as an 
intro for Salival. Appropriately loose version of No Quarter 
gives Tool a chance for a bow to the heritage of Led Zeppelin 
and Black Sabbath. While waiting for the new studio album 
Salival gives a little something for the Tool-hungry friends of 
rock, who won't be scared off so easily.

Jouko Ruokosenmäki **** (out of five stars)
Posted to t.d.n: 10/31/02 18:31:38