Publication: Hear/Say: America's College Music M'zine
Date: June, 2001
Transcribed by
Vania Stankiewicz (vania@hearsay.cc)
Vania Stankiewicz (vania@hearsay.cc)
page: 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