How do I describe Tool's music?

I'd say they have the dark aura and minimalist experimentalism of King Crimson, the philosophical bent of Rush and the hypnotic, alluring quality of Pink Floyd - without really sounding like either of those bands. They possess their own distinctive sound.

On _Aenima_, Tool creates a 77-minute gargantuan slice of thought-provoking art-metal, which mainly encourages people to look deeper and think for themselves - whether it be looking beyond the surface of cliched beliefs (examples: what people are taught to believe in church, or what's seen and absorbed from television and more). When the mind is open to 'too' much outer influence, the mind is 'dead' - therefore, you lack your own thoughts and "you" no longer belong to "you".

Musically, the album is dark and given to adventurous, elaborate and spatial instrumentation - along with eerie and mysterious interludes. The opening track "Stinkfist" is a heavy and fairly straightforward rocker. Maynard James Keenan has one of the most distinctive and ethereal voices in rock today -- displaying the innocent, sad, poignant and reflective quality of Joni Mitchell one minute, then exploding into a frighteningly explosive scream the next, which can evoke Chucky, the doll (see the horror film "Child's Play", voiced by actor Brad Dourif). "Eulogy" begins with some spoon-like percussion and eerie guitar lines (which evoke King Crimson). It then turns into an explosive rocker. Maynard's vocals are particularly beautiful and impressive here. (Note: if you're new to this, don't make the mistake of thinking the percussive opening lasts forever - it doesn't). "H" showcases guitar ambience, tribal-like rhythms (from drummer Danny Carey) and explosive sections. "Useful Idiot" is the short interlude (which sounds like an ending of a scratched record) that segues into "Forty Six & Two", which is probably the most popular Tool track on this album. "Message To Harry Manback" is an interlude of an angry immigrant badmouthing the American nationality (which I find quite hilarious). "Hooker With A Penis" is pure confrontational metal at it's best. I think lyrically, this has to do with the music business (and the whole "selling-out" thing). It may have had something to do with a fan accusing Tool of doing just that. "Intermission" is a short keyboard piece (evoking that of a sports/arena anthem). It's actually a short 'keyboard' version (or opening) for the next track "Jimmy". This along with the rest of the tracks are the most "elaborate" on the disc. "Die Eier Von Satan" (German for "The Eggs Of Satan") is a recipe spoken in German. The backing music sounds almost industrial/death metal-like, containing shrieks and sadistic "slaps". "Pushit" is a heavy rocker, which shows off Danny Carey's complex, precise and intricate rhythms on the drum kit. Some of Maynard's vocals here reach ranges that weren't heard anywhere else (on this disc, or on any other Tool album). His Gaelic-ish vocals near the end (backed by a guitar/bass progression of 5th's) are truly poignant. "Cesaro Summability" sounds like guitar/amplifier feedback - fronted by baby screams. "Aenema" is a profane, dissonant heavy rocker, with snaky rhythms galore. Maynard James Keenan describes the city of Los Angeles - and says that it should receive an "enema" -- flushing it all away. "(-)Ions" is an eerie, dissonant and whirry interlude. I personally find this ethereal. "Third Eye" probably sums up what this album and Tool's music stands for in general -- thinking for yourself. The beginning dialogue features a sample taken from one of comedian Bill Hicks' standup routines. He says that many people denounce drugs - yet drugs have done something powerful for us - they've helped 'some' musicians provide us diehard music fans with what many of us consider "the best music of all-time" (examples: The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who - these are only a handful of 'revered' bands that have had certain members of each use drugs before). The 'third eye' is referred to as the human brain. Like the actual human 'eye', it absorbes and processes things (for benefit or detriment). When to 'open' (take in, absorb, believe) and 'close' (neglect, reject, refuse) the organ is our choice. The music on here features many instrumental and experimental twists and turns throughout it's 13-minute playing time.

_Aenima_ is an album that can take weeks, months and years to decipher. The lyrical and musical complexity is nearly infinite - to an almost unfathomable degree. It's an album you can listen to for years and still find new things to discover -- lyrically, musically and thematically. Tool has created music that can only be called timeless, transcendent, infinite and futuristic. _Aenima_ is a timeless masterpiece. Highly recommended.


"learn to swim"   November 20, 2000
 52 out of 57 found this review helpful

Precise, complex, and richly textured, the songs on Aenima move rock-n-roll to places it's never been before. This is some of the best music I've ever heard. The lyrics on this CD will make you think as well as feel: The vocals, guitar, base, and percussive elements combine effectively to emphasize a contrast between intricate melody and distorted screams of raw energy and emotion.

Williams' copy-and-paste editorial review above misses the true content of Aenima by universes: To say "There's not a whole lot of variety" and "high gear for the chorus, and repeat" in the same breath as "Tool" post Aenima (or Undertow for that matter) is incomprehensible nonsense. It's tempting to fill up the rest of the space with a diatribe on the distilled inaccuracies in Williams' short review ... but only because the review's inaccuracies, by contrast to reality, illuminate key elements in the music.

One word Williams got right was "texture". Perhaps "vitriol" too, to be fair, although MJK's lyrics seem to indicate his meaning is something beyond that: Near the end of the arguably (delightfully!) vitriolic song "Aenema", he urges the listener "don't just call me a pessimist ... try and read between the lines". But texture is certainly a key element that makes the music of Tool the rare animal it is: The very antithesis of repetitive, it turns out.

The song "H." is a good example: Even when a refrain is repeated in the lyrics (and then only once in a 6:07 long song), it has mutated into something different from what was heard the first time though. If you listen to what's happening underneath the lyrics, the guitar, base and percussion are modulating the rhythm, note emphasis, and the notes themselves throughout the song.

In a more insightful review by J. Ivey, Ivey observes:

"Eschewing the time-honored tradition of repeating a hook until it's beaten into the listeners head, Tool creates a striking guitar line and then casually abandons it. This in turn is then replaced with a new hook , only to be replaced again, all with fluid ease."

I've had to listen to some songs dozens of times to catch even half of what's going on. Many of the song had a raw feel at first, but this is deceptive: Listening more attentively, I can't help but think they are actually very precisely mapped out and must have taken many, many hours in the studio to produce.

Tool's lyrics often lay open and explore unpleasant, under-examined aspects of human nature: "Gee, what's under here Wally? Uhg. Oh...yak.".

Sort of like a Francis Bacon retrospective.

I think the heart of Tool's appeal (for me, at least) lies in what I perceive to be a Rejection of commercialism, "pop culture", the recording industry itself, and the insipid inanities we've become largely desensitized to that wash over us in waves via television newscasters, sit-coms with laugh tracks, radio talk-shows, newspapers, and the internet, as enterprises compete for our almighty advertising dollar.

The form of the music follows the function of great art: An alarm clock ringing, a wake up call. Or, perhaps, like a small stake in the heart of a very large vampire, Maynard is trying to set us free from a self created, soulless existence.

Then again, maybe I've just been listening to too much Tool lately. :-)


Life Altering- let's just cap it at that   January 3, 2004
 48 out of 52 found this review helpful

I don't usually write album reviews, as I spend more of my time perusing the reviews of albums I have not yet heard to see if they are worth the money. I did, however, drop by Tool's selections to see if any of them received the full 5 star ratings they deserve. As "Aenima" is my personal favorite, I could not help but be shocked to learn it had a paltry rating of 4.5 stars. Good for most, certianly. Satisfactory for such an incredible, thought-provoking, complex, virtuosity-filled album? Simply put: NO.
Aenima is an album I have listened to so many times, I have almost the entire record learned by heart. Perhaps the best thing to say about it, and Tool themselves, is the sheer amount of skill all of these individual performers possess, and how brilliantly they coalese into one. Danny Carey is perhaps the most skilled drummer of the 90s, even though his talent is most fully exhibited (in my opinion) on the sonic "Lateralus". One would not be unfulfilled to listen to this album instrument by individual instrument, of course counting Maynard James Keenan's voice as an instrument all its own, and only afterwards listening to the songs as a sum of their parts. The balance is perfect- what Adam Jones's guitar perhaps lacks in virtuousity he makes up in sheer perfection: the parts are unleashed, perhaps more so than played, as the perfect foils to the absolutely jaw dropping rhythms of Carey's impeccable drumwork.
Certainly in a class all his own is my favorite, Maynard James Keenan. Let's face it, this man can SING. Damn, can he sing. Just attempt, in the quiet of your own home, to hold the final "Goodbye" of Eulogy as long as he can. If you master that, attempt it once more: but at the pitch and volume that he almost effortlessly does. Lyrically, the album is pure poetry. From songs like 46&2, which speak of a desire to approach a more evolved human being, with an extra set of chromosomes to our present 44&2, to Eulogy, a scathing critique of Christianity lurking just behind the obviousness of Opiate (track 6 on "Opiate"), to allusians to chakras in Third Eye, to "shadows shedding skin" in H. Yet for every outcry that this album is "too dark", Tool fire back by naming a crack at all of their elitist, hypocritical fans (sporting "OGT" tattoes, yet drinking mass marketed and commercialized soda) Hooker, a tongue in cheek way of reminding us that many who wish to be seen one way may, in fact, have something more lurking under the proverbial skirt.
Tool, and Aenima more specifically, are, in the most generic sense of the word, metal, but they truly defy classification. Though meatheads more inclined to push each other around than listen to the music thickly populate Tool concerts, I tend to remind myself that they just don't get it. One can hear Tool's music without ever thinking about what it all means and get upset that some songs are "too long" (think 14 minutes) and "out of place" (the catchy interludes that one comes to relish upon devouring the album as a whole), but relish the sheer loudness of pounding, almost anthems like Stinkfist or Aenema (which, with its barrage of profanity and "f**king" a town that can seem quite like your own after hearing its description), but please, if this is you, move on. You will still enjoy it, but it is difficult to think that this genius album will go so unappreciated in your stereo. Let someone whose life will be changed by it, much as mine has been, purchase your copy.
On this record, Maynard chooses to live, learn, grow, cry, love, and do what it takes to move through, and after experiencing Aenima and what that has to offer, you would be a fool not to let him. Aenima is Maynard's outreached hand: offering itself to you to grow and expand with him. It is your decision to accept it. I have, and after doing so, simply very few bands can suffice anymore. Tool has broken the mold.


Still going strong..   April 26, 2000
 34 out of 38 found this review helpful

After almost four years and hundreds of spins in the CD player, Tool's Aenima is still a favorite.

There is no filler on this album, every sonic movement is exactly where it's supposed to be and it flows beautifully.

Danny Carey's drums add the beat and pulse, setting the pace for this dark journey. Adam's guitar and Justin's bass buzz and throb, producing one of the most distinct sounds in music today. Then, of course, there's Maynard James Keenan. There are no words to describe this man's voice. He sings, howls, and screams, dragging you along with him. It fits, perfectly, with everything, culminating into Tool.

It can be rare to find such a thought provoking album, but this is definitely one of them. The lyrics are fantastic and still have Tool fans pondering over exactly what they mean.

Stinkfist, H., 46&2, Pushit, Aenema, and Third Eye are the creme of the crop and will provide hours of listening pleasure. If this stuff doesn't move you, check your pulse....