Publication: High Times
Date: November, 2001
Transcribed by
Cryptkypr (cryptkypr@yahoo.com)
Cryptkypr (cryptkypr@yahoo.com)
page: 38 title: Back to Tool author: Rob Brasell In this belated but brilliant follow-up to 1996's Aemima, Tool once again shove a mirror in humanity's face. Steeped in spirituality, Eastern and Jewish mysticicsm, and psychedelic experience, Lateralus (Volcano) is the soundtrack to a new religion of musical enlightenment. Not since Pink Floyd has a band's lyrics plumbed so deeply into the universal human psyche. Lateralus feels slightly more optimistic in tone than Tool's last few darker efforts, but their classic crescendos remain-- sudden switches from super-pounding to muted pizzicatos. The lead track "The Grudge" is a powerful condemnation of stubborn intolerance. Spacey, eerie instrumentals like "Mantra," "Triad," and "Eon Blu Apocalypse" weave intricate, hypnotic sound patterns. On "Disposition" and "The Parabol" Tool display a subtler, more sophisticated side. The latter, about the birth experience and the illusory natures of reality and pain, is the album's masterpiece. Fans of the Tool's heavier, riff-driven music will like "Ticks and Leeches." And what's a Tool album without a bizarre, cryptic final track? Here, on "Faaip de Olad," lead singer Maynard James Keenan portrays a frightened man ranting about extraterrestrials invading Area 51 over a cacophonous blend of drums and electronic noise. Lateralus is beautifully packaged in a translucent plastic sleeve painted by psychedelic artist Alex Grey and bearing no words at all. Keenan, Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, and Adam Jones are not merely performers, they're true artists. -- -Rob Braswell
Posted to t.d.n: 09/18/01 18:58:55