Publication: CMJ (College Music Journal)
Date: September, 1996
Transcribed by
TiM Herrmann (therrmann@mailandnews.com
)
TiM Herrmann (therrmann@mailandnews.com )
page: 3 title: Aenima Review author: James Lien If you look at it objectively, the story of Tool is the story of How To Break A Band In The 90's And Still Keep It Real: much like Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, and Stone Temple Pilots, the band became a tremendous success with its first record, and not just because of a killer video - it also took a year of touring and kids calling radio request lines, as well as other intangibles and a lot of hard work to get the band to the breaking point. But even more than Pearl Jam, Rage and STP, the band is virtually defined by its antagonistic stance towards bullshit and hype, even while it plays the big-time music biz game: if Tool really were the media-driven, machine-made puppets-on-a-string that its critics might suggest, then try explaining away all those eager kids lined up outside the store on the eve of the record's release. Tool's second opus is looong (72 minutes!) and every bit as unrelenting as a forced march to the battlefield. And heard objectively, it's probably a better, more consistent album than the sophomore efforts from any of the above mentioned bands. Aenima celebrates the band's strengths to stunning effect - the fist-pumping choruses ("Jimmy"), gigantic mosh-on-top rock jams ("Stinkfist"), garbled wrenching vocals ("Eulogy") and the absolutely haunted-sounding lead guitar work of Adam Jones ("Hooker With A Penis," "Pushit," "Useful Idiot"). From packaging to promotion to its self-directed videos, Tool controls its own destiny, and Aenima shows it to be a bandand force to be reckoned with. ==== [My thoughts: there's "haunting" guitar work in "Useful Idiot"??? So haunting, you can't even hear it!!] -TiM
Posted to t.d.n: 02/08/99 12:43:13