page: 
 title: Lateralus review
author: Petri Silas

First off, I'd like to apologize if this text seems very hard to 
read. Finnish writers have a fetish for loads of big words in 
one sentence, making translation a bitch. Thank you.
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TOOL
Lateralus
Volcano

Plumbing the sludges of nihilism and self-loathing, Tool's 
succes has grown to surprising figures. So on the brink of the 
quartet's new album, taking into consideration even the 
shape reminding of of Orwell and Huxley, the first feeling is 
relief. Fantastic Ænima (1996), which suprisingly went 
platinum in the USA, seems to have winged this mainly 
californian band to an even more ferocious downward spiral to 
the heart of their Jungian dystophy-metal - so luckily 
nowhere near what could be called as commercial.
Maynard James Keenan still sings like a black temple 
muezzin and Adam Jones lets his scorchingly manic 
hypnoguitar point out, why the vocalist's frankly childish A 
Perfect Circle was in the end, nothing more than sucking up 
goths, money gathering project. As a counter weight for the 
heavy mayhem, drummer Danny Carey rations with bassist 
Justin Chancellor some geometrically accurate odd time 
signatures and flowing 6/8 rumbling with style, that makes 
even the most complicated parts submitted pieces to serve 
the entirety, instead of being just end in itself -tricks. 
The groups developed sense of muscal drama can be heard 
in such tracks as Schism, the couple Parabol-Parabola, 
polyrhythm-filled opener The Grudge, or closing on 
symphonic measures, the trio Disposition-Reflection-Triad. 
Tool makes on their third full length album challenging, 
sometimes even historic music, that none of it's colleagues 
could or even dared to make. Clearly in this direction has 
before now only gone the 12 year old canadian Voi Vod 
album sci-fi-metal-epic Nothingface.
As far as it's textual expression is concerned, Lateralus is like 
a cold examination of those same absurd and happiness-
lacking subjects as the people who painted themselves on 
the face of world's history; lyrical geniuses like Samuel 
Beckett, Albert Camus and Franz Kafka. It is not exaggerated 
in the least bit to say that Maynard James Keenan is iin his 
own league of rock lyricists.Although his themes (humanity, 
relationships, existentialism, sexualism) are much the same 
as his contemporaries, the pondering and deconstructive 
disposal is unique.
To make the soup less sour, Tool offers once again - 
reaching the Adam Jones designed magnificent cover - their 
own pseudo-scientific mysticism, numeral magikal, 
numerological, astronomical and occultistc nuances, as well 
as different anatomical and medical interests. 
Decadentic or negative smart-man's metal band is not what 
this often very grim quartet is, even though many try to 
categorize them as such. 
Born under great amount of pressure, David Bottrill's 
fantastically recorded Lateralus is the disc, on which Tool 
finally proofs to be among the greatest. This 78-minute 58-
second masterpiece is the first true wagnerian rock work of 
art, a logical continuum to King Crimson's and Van Der Graaf 
Generator's generation old brilliances Red and Pawn Hearts, 
Tool's very own Salò - the 120 Days of Sodoma and Gomorra.

Petri Silas **** (out of five)
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To put it in a more simple way: "I know arts and I like to 
make people understand this, the album rocks like a moose, 
but I give it a lousy four stars".




Posted to t.d.n: 10/31/02 19:30:16