One Year, 100 Albums: #99 Tool - Lateralus

Tool Lateralus, 2001

When "Schism" was playing on DC101, I was sort of taken aback by how intricate the melody/rhythm was. It was like Pink Floyd had teamed up with Marilyn Manson or something. So, when I got my Christmas Gift Certificate to HMV in November that year (I would visit my Dad and Stepmom in Boston for Thanksgiving and we'd do Christmas, too), this was near the top of the list of albums I was interested in getting.

I was nervous about this one though, because I wasn't sure I was ready for something this dark.

But this album isn't nearly that monochromatic. It's more like the album cover at the top of the page (that's not really the real album cover. The real album cover wouldn't look good at all on the computer screen. It was a very "look at it while you hold it in your hands" kind of album cover): there's a lot going on.

This album is good if you want to rock out, but it's also pretty good if you're feeling meditative. The lyrics can take on a kind of mantric (....that's totally a word, right?) quality and even though the world is crashing around you, you don't mind as long as you cling to the fragile voice of Maynard James Keenan.

It would be higher if it weren't for the interstitial tracks at the beginning. Tracks 2 and 4 are more interludes than songs.

It's very hard to listen to a single track from this album, but I thought I'd include the single that piqued my interest in the first place. It also peaked on the Hot 100 chart at number 67, the only song of Tool's to make it onto that chart thus far. In addition to that feat, it made it to #2 on the Alternative Songs chart (then called the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart).

Tool - Schism

And here's a video I found on YouTube of the two songs that come right after Schism. They flow into one another as you'll see and the video will give you some idea of the visuals presented at a Tool concert.




You can buy Lateralus on Amazon.