just bought my first tool album

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i've had them all mp3'd for a while now, but I saw undertow in town today and just couldn't resist

started grinning like an idiot when i heard intolerance begin and had to keep myself in check so I wouldn't start singing along

/me deletes the mp3's

time to rip some high quality .ogg's

Moojuice

Congrats, they are amazing. Get Aenimia and Lateralus, genius albums. Few bands are as good as tool.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

hehe, i have them all

i also have about 2 gigs of live videos hehe,this is just the first cd of theirs i actually bought.

i think i'll prob get aenima next.. i want to wait until they correct the mispelling of lateralus on the er.. lateralus album before I buy it

Doctor J

Please don't become a Tool freak, they're good but jebus, don't go all alt.nerd.tool.obsessive like other folk I know

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i'm afraid it's far too late for that

*points at his sig*

Beruthiel

Originally posted by Mordeth
i've had them all mp3'd for a while now, but I saw undertow in town today and just couldn't resist

I love henry rollins little bit on that album

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Originally posted by Beruthiel
I love henry rollins little bit on that album

my, you are a patronising bitch aren't you

Dathai

Excellent album that Lateralus,Im not to fond of Aenima though.I used to be into TOOL back in the day but not as much anymore since I discovered Opeth.

nosmo

mp3's?

Careful now

Buck Owens

I'm listening to Ticks and leeches right now! Fubin' Class Song ,Gotta love the Quiet bit and the 'Suuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkkkk me dry' part!!! love the intro to Laterlus!

Can't wait for the new album!


And I got this scar sneaking under the door of a payed Toilet

goo

I'm buying "Aenima" tomorrow.
I'd always known they were a good band, but never bought anything or particularly liked them. Aenima [the song] has totally swayed me though, it's brilliant. I thought it was great that someone could hate somewhere that much. I love the first APC album, by the way, and have done for ages. What do the Tool heads generally think of it?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i 've heard of APC referred to as tool-lite i like it, it's a totally different vibe to Tool but they'are a good band.

begbie

I've never really gotten into tool. Any songs i've heard, i've found them too long. Maybe i'll give em a try sometime.

Fozzy

That's the funny thing, even though a lot of Tool songs are quite long, when I listen to them, they don't actually seem that long. I mean, listening to Master Of Puppets, which is eight and a half minutes long, I'm aware of how long the song is while listening to it. But listening to say Lateralus, which is nine and a half minutes long, the time just flies by, it really doesn't seem that long.

One of my favourite songs too.

Beruthiel

Originally posted by Mordeth
my, you are a patronising bitch aren't you

at least I didn't comment on your little bit...

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

oooh

it's a good thing I turned around before I flashed you eh?

'd have ruined you for all other men

Deadwing

Undertow was a woeful album tbh, i bought it about 6 years ago and thought it was just pure cock rock. Maybe not cock rock a la poison, but definitely cock.
Aenima wasnt bad, but the stupid little 'wacky' bits between songs was just stupid and meant the album had an awful lot of filler you found yourself having to skip past.
Lateralus i havent heard.

As for APC being tool-lite, thats bollocks, theyre entirely different bands, just with the same singer, and IMO, are a damn sight better than tool.

projectmayhem

tool are an amazing band. i have everything they've done so far, and looking foward to the new album in the next year or two.

as for APC, it's two completely different bands. maynard's lyrical style is radically different with APC, but no one seems to notice that.

also, the mis-spelling of "lateralus" has been fixed a while now to my knowledge. of course i have the mis-spelled one because i got it the week it came out...

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

prison sex, sober, flood..

cock rock?


....
I just.. don't know

murder, rape, genocide.. these things I can kind of understand..

but tool... cock rock?..

i just don't get it

Executive Steve

wel i cant really stand most metal these days, but tool are one of the more creative bands in terms of the vibe they create in their music imo... their drummer deserves a nobel prize.

loismustdie

Originally posted by Mordeth
i've had them all mp3'd for a while now, but I saw undertow in town today and just couldn't resist

started grinning like an idiot when i heard intolerance begin and had to keep myself in check so I wouldn't start singing along

/me deletes the mp3's

time to rip some high quality .ogg's

it cos of people like you maynard has a smaller jet than he could have

Deadwing

Originally posted by [cm]tyranny
wel i cant really stand most metal these days, but tool are one of the more creative bands in terms of the vibe they create in their music imo... their drummer deserves a nobel prize.

Another thing about tool i never understood...why does everyone rave about the drummer?? Ive heard undertow and aenima, and not once have i heard him play anything that made me think "wow hes good", i just found him pretty boring. I think the bassist deserves more praise than the drummer tbh.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

erk
the drumming is one of the most important part of Tool's sound...

like.. listen to it

Fozzy

Listen to Lateralus (the song). If you aren't amazed by the drumming on that, you haven't been listening right.

mr_angry

Originally posted by Fozzy
Listen to Lateralus (the song). If you aren't amazed by the drumming on that, you haven't been listening right.

Ticks and Leeches is more impressive, IMO. Yes, Lateralus is technically excellent, and there are some mind-boggling fills (as always), but the crescendo of drums at the end of Ticks and Leeches with the double-bass is exceptional. You really have to wonder if he sold his soul for that kind of talent at some stage...

Marq

stinkfist - how can a song with so much vocal pathos be about pushing your fist up someone's ass? one of life's little wonders.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i think the song's more about desensitising ourselves to what's going on in our lives and less about ass fisting..

"i'll dig deep till I feel something"

j0e9o

I think the fisting is a metaphor for drug addiction how he keeps needing more and more for the same high "finger deep inside ... elbow... shoulder" btw tbh what i like about tool is its total ambiguous songs where they cause u to look depeer than whats right infront of you thats why they're my fav band

evad_lhorg

read this. Its long, but its the most interesting thing ive ever read. Someone had used ancient mathematical equations to solve clues within the album.



Tool's Lateralus is the most amazing piece of music ever composed. I think Tool deliberately wanted to give their fans something truly amazing, but wanted them to find it on their own. "Recognize this as a holy gift..." At first, I thought that the song Lateralus was about tripping acid - discovering true color by seperating the body from the mind. At first listen, I imagined the bending envelope as an intense visual. After becoming more familiar with the track, however, I had reformed my interpretation to something broader: think deeper. Lateralus, perhaps because it is the album's "title track", serves as the central clue for a puzzle that a friend of mine had read about somewhere on the internet. "All I know is that there is a different order for the songs - something about two spirals.

Oh yeah, and thirteen is in the middle." After scavenging through endless google search results, I gave up on finding more about this 'alternate order'. Intent to figure the album out, and very curious about the spirals - I put on the proverbial 'thinking cap'. I understood how the spirals could have a lot of significance, in that the album's title track offers the inspiring, "swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human..........And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been. We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been." In my internet scavenging, I had read one review, written by a drummer, who mentioned that Danny Carey's drum beat formed a fibonacci sequence during the song Lateralus. A drummer myself, I decided to get out the graph paper and follow Danny. I can't play like he can, but at least I can hear everything he's doing, and thus was able to construct the drum tabulature.

Sure enough, Danny repeats a Fibonacci sequence through the number 13: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13. After 13, he starts again with 1. Bringing in my Algebra 2 knowledge of the Fibonacci sequence, when the equation for the Fibonacci sequence (which I don't actually know) is graphed, it forms a sprial whose vertex depends on the number at which the sequence begins. Coincidence? I began to think not. I had already known of Danny's obsession with sacred geometry and am familiar with Bob Frissell's book, Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are , so the significance of what I had stumbled upon had actually begun to settle in. This is where I just had to play with Lateralus. I had doodled a few spirals in the corners of my graph paper, and in doing so made the first important connection to Lateralus. I knew that if the tracks were in fact intended to be heard in a different order, "Parabol" and "Parabola" would have to go together. In drawing my spirals, I had begun with a vertex and 'spiraled' outwards.


After writing the numbers 1 through 13 linearly, I could immediately see that Parabol and Parabola would have to be the middle of my spiral (in that 13 / 2 = 6.5). I drew a simple arrow between 6 and 7 and then pondered the next pair. At first, I actually drew a spiral connecting pairs of numbers whose sum equaled 13 (the number of songs on the album). This, however, left the last track in the same position and without anything to connect to. At this time,


I had used my copy of Lateralus and Cool Edit Pro to take out the silences between tracks and put the songs in the following order: 6,7,5,8,4,9,3,10,2,11,1,12,13. The transition from Parabola into Schism blew my mind, as the plucks, probably dismissed by listeners as a drawn out rant of an ending, perfectly transition into the beginning of Schism. When you count out beats as the strings are plucked, Schism resumes with the same time signature and tempo - mirroring the progression of notes. The transition from Schism into Ticks & Leeches is equally intriguing. Schism ends with strong double-kick bass and tom smacks, and Ticks & Leeches begins with what many would call a 'tribal' drum beat. The beat at the very start of Ticks & Leeches is slightly different every subsequent time it is repeated - the measures are two beats longer. Yup - you guessed it - those two beats are ACTUALLY the last two beats of Schism.


I can honestly say that I never understood the album's fourth track, Mantra until reordering the album's songs. What I had originally heard as whale calls now had begun to resemble the worst imaginable dry heaves - or a stylized choking. Fitting, seeing as how the last line in Ticks & Leeches is "I hope you choke." After this transition, none of those following it really seemed to make much sense. I certainly didn't like that Disposition and Reflection had been seperated - as they sound quite good when played sequentially on the album. This was the only real roadblock in my disciphering of the Holy Gift. Then I had remembered what my friend had told me - 13 was in the middle. At the time, probably just wanting to believe that there was more to this cd, I had equated this to the positioning of the song "Intermission" on the previous release, Ænema.


For the song to be in the 'middle' of the album it would have to be the seventh track in sequence, here having six tracks on either side of it. So I inserted Faaip de Oiad after Lateralus, and almost peed my pants when I discovered that (ever-so-faintly) the fading tone of the last note of Lateralus could be heard in beginning of Faaip de Oiad, and how the distortion of the guitars at the tail end of Lateralus resembled, and later transitioned seamlessly into, the static at the beginning of Faaip de Oiad. The lyrics of Lateralus justify this break in the spiral, almost instructing: "spiral out, keep going, spiral out, keep going." I went back to Lateralus to find the next clue. In Danny Carey's amazingly competent Fibonacci sequence, he had stopped at 13 and gone back to 1. This is what I chose to do to finish the sequence. A second spiral was now constucted, and the order for the Holy Gift now became 6,7,5,8,4,9,13,1,12,2,11,3,10. Already many of you are probably fascinated at what I have revealed to you, but I can not even begin to tell you what this new order has opened up for me.


The beauty of Lateralus is very, very fragile and has to be viewed with a very open mind. It can also be different when looked at from different points of view. Aside from the fact that the new order of the songs places them in an order where they flow together nicely - often ending and resuming on the same notes or within the same progression, and some times - in the case of Lateralus into Faaip de Oiad and The Grudge into Triad - even overlapping (though admittadly sound much better when actually electronically overlapped, this is kind of cheating. Consider this a hint, however, if you plan on doing this yourself), the two spirals help to tell a story that every Tool fan should hear. In the interest of not boring the only casually intrigued, I will try to keep this very brief. I would also recommend familiarizing yourselves with Frissell's book (yeah - the one I mentioned earlier). I consider Parabol and Parabola to be quite expository. Maynard wants us to know that no matter what happens, we must all know that this is not our only existance. Our very minds and the contents of our subconscious are intended to be immortal, and if we accept this into our lives (be it because of personal or religious reasons), it will be so. As such, pain is an illusion. At first, I called it "The Lateralus Prophecy" (for reasons you will soon understand), but I have since decided to call the 'reordered' version of Lateralus "The Holy Gift". As Maynard says, "Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing," I take the word "this" to mean much more than just his simple cautioning.


Since Parabola is the second track of the Holy Gift, it can be considered at the beginning (esp. considering the context of it's duality with Parabol), and as such, I interpret Maynard's words as more than just clever lyrics in a song. They are a plead for his listeners to listen to everything he has to say and truly celebrate the chance of immortality offered throughout. I would be lying if I said that each song has a specific translation. On the contrary, Tool's music is designed to make you think, not say something specific. It must be treated like great literature - much is hidden contextually. I will elude to Geometric-Drumming's previous post, where he explains the time signatures of Schism: "It represents the title...it's arranged in 12/8 time which is SPLIT into 5/8 and 7/8 - which only really FITS as you PUT THE PIECES BACK TOGETHER." Where Geometric-Drumming claims Schism as his favorite Tool song, I have heard some fans say that it was a retched pick for the album's only single - but I think it was brilliant. Not to downplay the interpretations of those who have posted before me (in fact, I agree with much of what %BlueSoulRobot% has to say), but I think that to the casual listener who knows nothing of Tool, it can be a powerful invitation.

evad_lhorg

cntd>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Think about it - a lot of dingbats with MTV and a radio would walk around with the words "I know the pieces fit" in their heads. I wonder how many of them took the time to put the pieces back together to (re)discover what is trying to be communicated


There's a Fibonacci in Maynard's lyrics, specifically the syllables:



black [1]

then [1]

white are [2]

all I see [3]

in my infancy [5]

red and yellow then came to be [8]

reaching out to me [5]

lets me see [3]

there is [2]

so [1]

much [1]

more and [2]

beckons me [3]

to look through to these [5]

infinite possibilities [8]

as below so above and beyond I imagine [13]

drawn outside the lines of reason [8]

push the envelope [5]

watch it bend [3]



I suppose it's not actually a true Fibonacci, since it does reverse itself. "





I sugguest you go out and buy this album if you havn't heard it.





Heres an interesting post I found on the thirteenthstep.net message board.

la te ra lus


Take the made up word "Lateralus" Notice how the letters are seperated into groups of two? The last letter S is tacked onto the previous group

Each group relates to a chemical symbol

---

LA: Lanthanum
TE: Tellurium
RA: Radium
LU: Lutetium
S(last single letter): Sulfur

Greek & Latin Meaning

---

Lanthanum: From the Greek word lanthaneis (to lie hidden)
Tellurium: From the Greek word tellus (Earth or Beneath)
Radium: From the Latin word radius (light ray)
Lutetium: From "Lutetia", the ancient Latin name for Paris(often called the "city of lights")
Sulfur: From the Latin word sulfur (hellfire or brimstone)

After conjugating the verbs and whatnot:
"Lying hidden beneath the light of Paris is hellfire."

Given Tool's obsessive interest in the occult aspects of "Rennes-le-Château" and it's connection to the ancient Paris meridian, I think it's fair to say the album title is significant...

evad_lhorg

oh and lateralus is much harder to play than ticks and leeches. even danny says so himself.