page: 
 title: Tool Time Band to forge 'prog-metal' here
author: Rick de Yampert

Progressive metal fans may be hearing the last of Tool. But 
then, all of us earthlings soon may be hearing the last of 
Tool...and ourselves and the entire planet, according to the 
suspicions of the band and its coterie.
 "Members of the band are seriously debating wheter to 
record any new material due to recent revelations concerning 
the close approach of a mysterious celestial object," says a 
report on Tool,s offical web site,
www.toolband.com.
 "The invader, which some maverick astronomers believe to 
be a brown dwarf(failed sun) and others the 10th planet of 
our solar system, could be responsible for... the 
prophesied 'End Times'. It's existence and close approach to 
earth in 2003, if a reality, is thought to wreak havoc on our 
home planet."
 That's mixed news for Tool fans.
 "Don't fret, the guys are taking the necessary means to 
survive the cataclysm," the web site says. "Although the band 
members all have underground shelters with adegaute 
provisions to survive such a catastrophic event, they're not 
yet sure if they'll follow up 'Lateralus' with another CD due to 
the lose of most of the earths population... without an 
audience to preform for, there would be no motivation to 
record any new material"
 Hmmm. Is the band, which performs Monday at the Ocean 
Center in Daytona Beach, up to some sort of tongue in-cheek 
hijinks, like such jokester bands as Devo or They Might Be 
Giants?
 Thats possible, but Tool seems to be serious a lot.
 The band members - singer Maynard James keenan, 
guitarist Adam Jones, Bassist Justin Chancellor and Drummer 
Danny Carey - profess an intrest in the philosophies of 
psychologgist Carl Jung, mythologist Joseph Campbell, 
psychedelic guru Timothy Leary and notorious occultist 
Aleister Crowley.
 Such heady ideas often surface in the band's lryics. Then 
consider that Tool's musical attack melds metal's muscle and 
rage with art rock's finesse, and it's no wonder the group has 
been championed as the foremost 'progressive metal," 
or "prog metal" band.
 Along with critical and fan acclaim, the band has won two 
Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance: last spring for 
the song "Schism" from their latest album, "Lateralus," and 
in 1998 for the title track from their album Aenema."
 "We do have a connection with some of the progressive 
stuff - Crimson and Yes, and Pink Floyd," Keenan said in an 
interview with the web site CDNiw.com "But a lot of those 
bands aren't very emotional. They're more about the head 
and the technical stuff. I think we've progressed that kind of 
rock to a point where we've now integrated the emotional 
element. I love King Crimson and Rush, but there cones a 
point where you just have to go and listen to Billie Holiday."
 Or create something a bit more intense than Lady Day. 
So,while the title track of "lateralus" includes such deep 
rumination as "Over-thinking, over-analyzing separates the 
body from the mind, withering my intution, leaving 
opportunities behind," the previous track "Ticks & Leeches," 
is a rant fest: "I hope you're choking, I hope you choke on 
this.. blood sucking, parasitic little tick. Take what you want 
and then go."
 While "Aenema" includes a song about the mystical concept 
of the "Thrid Eye," the song "Eulogy" is a punkish sneer with 
the lryic, "You've claimed all this time that you would die for 
me.Why then why are you so surprised to hear your own 
eulogy?... Get off your cross, we need the space to nail the 
next fool martyr."
 Though the rant 'n' rave, brute side of metal surfaces in 
Tool's music, the esoteric side seems to win out. Asked if 
Lateralus" is a concept album, Keenan resonded to CDNow 
with a discourse on the equinox and the phases of the moon.
 And what about that mysterious celestial object that may 
wipe out Tool's fan base, and thus the band's desire to forge 
new metal music?
 The Tool guys will be unfazed, judging from Keenan's 
comments to CDNow.com: "Jung used to talk about staring 
into that shadow in the corner. Just stepping into that shadow 
and going, 'OK, what is it that I fear the most? What is it that 
freezes me up like a doe in the headlights?' And then go and 
do that and see what happens. The worst thing that'll happen 
is you'll die."
 The band is requesting that fans refrain from moshing and 
body surfing during the concert.


Posted to t.d.n: 08/09/02 13:16:41