tell me about the MUSIC on Tool's new one

orig_long red

its all been about the packaging...hows the music? i have a friend who is heavy into tool...i like them but not like this guy...anyways whenever i ask him how the music is, he acts like i'm not entitled to know....thats a tool fanatic for ya i guess....so how is the new album?

musicismylife78

havent heard the new album either, am a big fan. My thought process didnt even register that this album would be bad mediocre or even just plain good. Tool makes mindblowing, life changing, GREAT cd's.,

I was surprised to see tool fans on alot of boards split, with some fans hating the cd, and others saying it was a masterpiece.

The song vicarious is very cool. Very powerful.

Echoes

it is kind of like a watered down Lateralus to me.

JamnPearl

It's not what you would expect after listening to other Tool albums. Some of the songs are similar to songs from other albums, but they still are pretty good. Some harder stuff than you might expect, but also more mellow stuff like WFM/10KD.

catefrances

long red wrote:

its all been about the packaging...hows the music? i have a friend who is heavy into tool...i like them but not like this guy...anyways whenever i ask him how the music is, he acts like i'm not entitled to know....thats a tool fanatic for ya i guess....so how is the new album?

i can understand your mate's attitude. though personally i think he's acting like a bit of a dick. i think TOOL are one of those bands that are more satifying when you discover them on your own. i've had people ask me about them and i am reluctant to talk about them cause then they turn around and say, "well they're not that great." and i think, well what the fuck were you expecting?.

the music is as you would expect. it ebbs. it flows. it hits you upside the head and then it kind of floats away. just when you think that it's coming to an end it jumps on you again and you don't know when it's finishing. jambi hits you in the face from the get go and i think it's my fave so far. i can't tell you how many times i've listened to the album since i got it last friday night, but i can tell you i am not getting anywhere near tired of it. and i doubt i will. there's some guitar work from adam that i've not heard before and danny's drumming is of the highest calibre, which of course is what you'd expect from him. plus he's learning to play tabla.
as for the artwork, i showed it to a friend and all she did for fifteen minutes was ooh and ahh. but she won't listen to the music.

PJ_GA

very eerie and calm..then BOOM

giventoyfly316

Echoes wrote:

it is kind of like a watered down Lateralus to me.

Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree.

barcoach

catefrances wrote:

as for the artwork, i showed it to a friend and all she did for fifteen minutes was ooh and ahh. but she won't listen to the music.

sorry, haven't heard the new album, but I just had to comment this just reminded me of a friend of mine who is a designer and when Lateralus came out he went nuts with the artwork, everything was praise to the artwork... well, what you think of the music?, I asked... "aw... so, so... don't know haven't heard carefully, but the artwork's so damn cool!"... if it was for him, he'd be glad of paying only for the artwork... I doubt he listened to the album more than once.

catefrances

barcoach wrote:

sorry, haven't heard the new album, but I just had to comment this just reminded me of a friend of mine who is a designer and when Lateralus came out he went nuts with the artwork, everything was praise to the artwork... well, what you think of the music?, I asked... "aw... so, so... don't know haven't heard carefully, but the artwork's so damn cool!"... if it was for him, he'd be glad of paying only for the artwork... I doubt he listened to the album more than once.

my kids think the lateralus artwork is pretty special too. especially zoe(age 6 and a lot) who loves that you can see the man's brain.

scratched vinyl

To me it's somewhere between Lateralus and Aenima. The first time I listened to it, it did absolutley nothing for me, to the point that I jumped on the decoy theories, but after a weekend with it I relaized the brilliance in it. To me the album is absolutley incredible, not what I expected, but brilliant none the less. Some songs heavy and instant, like Vicarious and The Pot, and some songs take their time to develop, like Wings for Marie/10, 000 days and Right in Two, and one song is basically a Tool Greatest Hits, with all the best Tool parts thrown in to one song, with lyrics about meeting aliens. To me it has everything that was good about Tool in the first place, good musicianship, tons of personality, a sense of humour, and some beautiful, heavy parts. And just for some perspective in my views, my favortite album of all time is Aenima, with Undertow high up there also, but was incredibly let down by Lateralus, I thought it was a dry, watered down version of Tool.

Oh, and in completely disregarding your post's title, the album art is ridiculously original.

grievance88

you could say it sounds a bit simple for tool standards, and kind of more...i dont know, almost more mainstream and straight-forward rockish, they often hold one chord for a long time. the vocals are very restrained and sometimes when maynard sings its not what youre used to, sometimes more typical metal vocals, deeper, more throaty. it sounds pretty cool i guess. i'm not really hating it or loving it. i used to be a huge tool fan, then i kind of expanded my tastes. these days, after heavily exploring the field of metal, i have decided the best metal band has got to be neurosis. for all tool fans i suggest looking into neurosis, this band will kick your ass ten times over.

verb_to_trust

where are danny's hard hitting drum parts?


i think its funny this band's name is an insult.......

facepollution

First time I listened to it I was thinking, it seems like there's a lot of filler on this record. But when I made the effort to listen to it all the way through properly it all kind of fell into place. I think it's as good as anything they've done before, and quite different too. Lipan Conjuring and Viginti Tres are a bit pointless in my view, but the rest is excellent. The first two songs are really powerful and in your face, then you get two songs that are kind of mellow and almost trancey, but they do build to more powerful moments. Then you get THE POT - fucking awesome song, one of their best for sure. Lost Keys is again a mellow instrumental type piece with a doctors' conversation, which pretty much sets up the tone for Rosetta Stoned (a really long song) which has a constantly changing pace, and builds to some really powerful moments and contains the classic line "god damn shit the bed"!!!!! next song Intension is another almost instrumental song it has a lot of whispering. The last proper song is Right In Two, another great song, as ever with Tool it's a slow burner, but really impressive.

Inkdaub

Well I'm only on track two but so far the music is a little more straightforward than Lateralus. I don't know that straightforward is the right way to put it, though. It sounds like Tool.

CrownofThornsMSG1

I'm a huge Tool fan. Second favorite band after Pearl Jam. I loved Lateralus. Parabol/Parabola I think is one of there best songs. The new cd like all Tool cds I feel need to be listened all the way through to enjoy or get the real experience of the music. But the new cd seems to be alot more instrumental and has alot of tribal drums. I wish it was abit more heavier with Danny's drum parts.

Vicarious the single I think is a great song but could of fit in on the Lateralus cd. My favorite song is The Pot. None of the songs have a real sing along vibe to them it seems more like chilling at home with a fatty cd.

Im seeing at the 1st NY show and interested how the new stuff will sound live cause it could be hard to keep the show flowing with a few of the songs on the cd.

zenabi

I bought the album. It's a good album but like somebody said, it's one you pretty much have to "experience", listen to it all the way though. It's a bit soundscapy for me. They kind of drag things out at times which is where the fast forward button comes in handy. All in all though if you're a tool fan you'll love it but if you're just getting into them, I'd start out with Undertow or Enima.

JamnPearl

If anybody is wondering, both Tool concerts are up for download on Dimeadozen.

Oh, Jimmy

If somebody gets the seattle show off of dimeadozen can they upload it somewhere where more people can download it. dimeadozen is impossible to get registered.

bluemonkey

i want to get this cd,but it seems like half of it has no vocals...i just can't put up with that.i can't just listen to 8 minutes of weird noises.

ski-bum

I must be listening to a differant disc. I think this is one of their best albums ever. It's without doubt the best cd that has come out in a long time. Like all the GREAT cd's out there, you have to listen to them a few times to realize, "This is a masterpiece". Yea, it's not as hard as other TOOL cd's, it almost has a Pink Floyd feel in places. Listen to it again and then tell me "It's a watered down version of Lateralus"

darthvedder88

This is definately a must buy, but it still doesn't compare to the new Pearl Jam!!!

pjamdude69

Been listening to this non-stop (along with PJ of course) the last few days (and especially since yesterday) and it's STILL kickin my fuckin ass.. On "The Pot" now, got this and PJ on shuffle on the WMP on my computer... fuckin brilliant.. Nothing can top Aenima, but this running a close 2nd in the pantheon of Tool albums.. Gonna have to stop in a few to watch "Lost", but back at it later..

El_Kabong

JamnPearl wrote:

If anybody is wondering, both Tool concerts are up for download on Dimeadozen.

THANK YOU!!!!!

verb_to_trust

It doesn't suprise me a lot of tool fans are saying this is brilliant.......when you wait five years for something your mind almost subconciously convinces you it was worth it.


But the bottom line is that tool took five years to make a 4-5 song EP with a lot of stupid fucking noise filling up the rest. Since my head isn't place firmly between the bands legs i can call a spade a spade and say this is kinda bullshit.


Good job on the artwork though

dee bo

verb_to_trust wrote:

It doesn't suprise me a lot of tool fans are saying this is brilliant.......when you wait five years for something your mind almost subconciously convinces you it was worth it.


But the bottom line is that tool took five years to make a 4-5 song EP with a lot of stupid fucking noise filling up the rest. Since my head isn't place firmly between the bands legs i can call a spade a spade and say this is kinda bullshit.


Good job on the artwork though

WRONG!!! Tool took 4-5 months to make this album. Just because it's been 5 years since new Tool that does NOT mean they have been working on it that long. Every member of Tool has side projects etc.

OutOfBreath

I think the reason you see this split it is between those who really really loved Lateralus, and to them, I can see that this can be the watered down version. However, I am in the love-Aenima-the-most camp, and to me, this album is better than Lateralus. You still have the long, atmospheric instrumental parts that were characteristic on Lateralus, but songs in between with a lot more attack in them this time. You hear right away that it is Tool through the sound of the bass and drums on this record.

The Pot is a brilliant song. The baseline there is restless and amazing, with some unusual sounding vocals from Maynard, as he maintains a higher tone than he usually does, at least initially. Also Right In Two, Vicarious, Jambi (took a while for me, but now it sticks), Wings For Marie/10000 Days, really track 1 through 5 is amazing when you sit down and listen to it. The Pot is especially excellent after the long enduring calm of Wings For Marie/10000 Days. They have a couple of non-tracks in between after that, but you've seen that before on Aenima for instance where it made up half the "songs" on the record.

Someone I know characterized this record as a blend of all their former cds, and I agree with that asessment. There's something for everyone here.

If you are a die-hard Lateralus fan, you may be disappointed by this, but if you lean more towards their other records, and like me, feel that Lateralus was good, but Aenima better, then you'll like this one, I promise.

Peace
Dan

OutOfBreath

bluemonkey wrote:

i want to get this cd,but it seems like half of it has no vocals...i just can't put up with that.i can't just listen to 8 minutes of weird noises.

It's called music, that weird noise.
But there are more vocals than on Lateralus, I fell, so if you could take that, this ain't so bad.

Peace
Dan

chris01

This is the first Tool album i ever bought, it came with my Pearl Jam one yesterday.

When i put it in my computer it said two songs were over 11 mins, and a good chunk of the rest of them were 7 or 8 mins long. I listened to it once, skipped a few mins in some songs.

Alot of it sounds the same, i think i bought the wrong Tool album to begin my Tool experience, lol, cause i didnt enjoy it at all. I like vicarious though.

This album will take ages to grow on me, if at all.

Also.... does anyone else get sore eye when looking through the glasses? What is it im supposed to see? lol

OutOfBreath

That is Tool for you. Long songs and buildups. You have to forget how long the songs are, put it on, preferably on repeat and just listen to it. Not 1 but many times. After a while it'll just "click" and you'll join the congregation. That's how it worked for me with Aenima at least.

If you see correctly through the glasses on the booklet, the 2 pictures on each page will converge into a 3-d pic. You have to focus a bit beyond the paper so to speak, look slighly unfocused. There's a trick to it.

Peace
Dan

chris01

OutOfBreath wrote:

That is Tool for you. Long songs and buildups. You have to forget how long the songs are, put it on, preferably on repeat and just listen to it. Not 1 but many times. After a while it'll just "click" and you'll join the congregation. That's how it worked for me with Aenima at least.

If you see correctly through the glasses on the booklet, the 2 pictures on each page will converge into a 3-d pic. You have to focus a bit beyond the paper so to speak, look slighly unfocused. There's a trick to it.

Peace
Dan

Yeah i thought it would be some kinda 3-d thing, look unfocused? I did that by accident last time and that only got me sore eyes haha.

So what Tool album is the first one to listen to in your opinion?

OutOfBreath

chris01 wrote:

Yeah i thought it would be some kinda 3-d thing, look unfocused? I did that by accident last time and that only got me sore eyes haha.

So what Tool album is the first one to listen to in your opinion?

Well, I started with Lateralus, which was more immediate to me, but that record is also very instrumental, but then again, Tool always are a bit of that. Depends on what kind of music you like the most what record I'd recommend to begin with. Lateralus and 10000 days are heavy on the instrumentation and really long buildups. Aenima too some time with me, but perhaps a few of the songs there 1 by 1 are more accessible. Important thing with Tool, is that you dont listen to tracks, you listen to albums very much, and a lot of it depends on you listening to it together.

But I started with Lateralus. But if you aren't that into long instrumental parts, perhaps Undertow or Aenima is better to start from. Undertow is probably the most, I dunno, traditional rock/metal of them, so that may be a good starting point for you perhaps? Check out Prison Sex and Sober on that album as a start.

And otherwise, just give 10000 days a chance. Put it on while doing something else, just let it grind in the background. Maybe you dont get anything on spin 1 or spin 5, but after some more, you should start to see what the thing is, and start to get into it. Tool is challenging listening, but that makes it so much more satisfying when you get it.

Peace
Dan