REVIEW/PERFORMANCE: 'Tool' Tight, Powerful, Dynamic

Tool (Glass House, Pomona; 850 capacity; $16.50 ) 

By Troy J. Augusto 

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - At the start of Tool's explosive show in Pomona --
the first chance for the L.A. hard-rock band to play material from its
recent No. 2-selling Aenima (Zoo) album -- singer Maynard Keenan warned
the sold-out crowd not to expect more than a sloppy performance from the
apparently rusty band. 

But what the rowdy faithful got was a tight, powerful and dynamic show
that was as close to the true spirit of rock 'n' roll music as any
so-called alternative band currently treading the boards.

Keenan, as always the focal point, revealed in eight-minute songs his
furious take on modern life. Often the songs began slowly and softly,
building through the singer's controlled pressure-release approach to
singing and screaming.

Such incendiary new songs as Aenema, which foretells California's deserved 
submersion into the Pacific, and Eulogy, perhaps the most realized of the 
band's new material, revealed a band whose potential was only hinted at on 
their 1993 breakthrough Undertow. 

In fact, the eight new songs in the set were steps above the four older
tracks, both in songwriting depth and brazen execution, though such
catalog tunes as Sober and Prison Sex still hold considerable sway over
the band's followers.

Guitarist Adam Jones still relies on '70s hard-rock riffs for much of his
playing, turning strains of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and
Rush into charged, biting chords. 

The group's rhythm section, featuring new bassist Justin Chancellor,
propelled the group's post-metal stylings with a twisted, near-jazz
approach. 

Band: Maynard James Keenan, Adam Jones, Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor. 

Presented by Goldenvoice.