[Farber makes a very good review of the video "Stinkfist", but decides to 
include his opinion of the band, with the usual mistakes. He mentions 
that Tool made an "Undertow" video (He is either referring to Sober or 
Prison Sex). In addition, he makes a comment on Tool's future in the last 
paragraph. Maybe the New word for the next tour should be Farber!!  He 
obviously knows NOTHING about Tool....maybe someone should tell him about 
your site so he can get a little info on them hehehehe.]
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 title: The Right Tool for a Video Job
author: Jim Farber

   Bands have to make videos--at least if they want to sell records. But
most groups hate forking over control of somthing so important to their
careers to someone they often barely know. 
    Luckily that's not a problem for Tool. The avant-metal group has
lately surfaced as one of the best "imaged" bands in rock- partially
because their guitarist, Adam Jones, doubles as a video maker/ animator of
enormous talent.  Well before Jones took up six-string duties for this
sucessful Los Angeles-based metal act, he toiled on special-effects crews
for various Hollywood projects. 
    He learned his lesson well.
    Take, for example, Jones' latest, startling clip for Tool's
"Stinkfist", currently in heavy rotation on MTV. Using a mixture of
complex stop-action animation and gnarly live-action figures, Jones
constructs an alternate universe populated by crazed sand-people who
swallow nails and suck on fat tubes and wires . These nails aren't
digested, and instead wind up poking menacingly out of the creatures'
abdomens. Their tube-sucking habits produce extreme nervousness and cause
the sand people to grow and shed tumors, which they treasure in jars.
Freaked yet? 
    The clip also features a race of mutants who boast grisly visible
internal organs, and others whose entrails can be plugged into the wall.
     In terms of visual antecendants, Jones seems to have learned
something from the reptilian obsessions of H.G. Geiger (the guy who
designed the original "Alien," and whom classic rock fans will remember
for creating the cover of Emerson, LAke and Palmer's "Brain Salad
Surgery"). His work also recalls a hint of Brian Grant's video for Peter
Gabriel's 1982 video "Shock the Monkee", a clip that still manages to jar
to this day. 
     "Stinkfist" isn't Jones' first video. He also helmed the clip for
"Undertow" from Tool's previous album, and you can see the connection.
Both shorts sport a menacing, industrial look and harbor a disturbing
fetish for ripping off characters' skin to reveal pulsating barbecued
muscle. 
      This isn't fodder for the squeamish. But as far as modern horror
images go, Jones has that all-too-rare ability to create works as artistic
as they are revolting. After Tool's musical career goes south, don't be
surprised to see Jones' name up in Hollywood lights.