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 title: Review of Tool's _Lateralus_
author: Scott Calhoun
Four years of hiatus have left Tool fans rabid for the band's next
release, and the wait has been well rewarded with Lateralus, a
13-track album that takes most of today's heavy rock efforts to the
attic for permanent storage. Forget Opiate, Undertow, Aenima , and
lead singer Maynard James Keenan's outstanding side project, A Perfect
Circle. This album is Tool's most ambitious work to date, proving to
dedicated fans and broad-minded music connoisseurs that the band has
done nothing but progress in creativity during its nine-year career.
Tool, much like Radiohead, continues to prove to the music community
that bands can be popular yet truly artful.

That familiar Tool sound remains intact on Lateralus, though the
compositions are more complex than ever before. Drummer Danny Carey
pulls off one of the best percussive performances in recent memory,
expertly guiding the band through mind-boggling meters while somehow
finding the capacity to add thrilling drum fills at the most
unpredictable points in any given song. Keenan's lyrics are equally
involved, musing on the gray area in which the human conscious lingers
between the laws and language of mathematics and basic human emotions.

Though the album is dense - which could turn off fans dying for the
next "Sober" -- there are no weak tracks on Lateralus . "Schism," the
first radio release off of the album, and the one-two punch "Parabol"
and "Parabola" (two tracks bound by each other) are highlighted by
Keenan's beautifully dark and moody voice, melodically recalling his
recent work with A Perfect Circle. "Ticks & Leeches" is the angriest
track on the album, and might turn away some listeners, but its taut
percussive elements and pronounced dynamics are impressive.

Nine years. Four albums. Truly progressive rock 'n' roll. Tool's music
is some of the most influential of the last decade -- and Lateralus is
arguably the band's greatest contribution yet.


online at: http://www.hearsay.cc/reviews/albums/04-09-06-01/Tool.html

Posted to t.d.n: 06/18/01 10:54:16