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