Revisiting albums - 10,000 days

0ubliette

So, almost a year after release, i decided to listen to this album again. Was it all hype? Was it a true classic? Everything we expected or just another disappointment?


Track listing:

Vicarious
Jambi
Wings for Marie, Pt. 1
10,000 Days (Wings, Pt. 2)
The Pot
Lipan Conjuring
Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)
Roseta Stoned
Intension
Right in Two
Viginti Tres

Right well ill just start by saying that it took me a while to get into this album but i genuinely did like it. So i listened to ti again just to see if it really was as good as i remembered it or if it was all hype.
The opener, Vicarious, still remains the best song on the album IMO. But sadly now on repeat listening, i think it goes downhill from there. Jambi starts off strong with a good riff but unfortunately doesnt build on that foundation and becomes a bit of a missed opportunity, the song never really takes off.
And the wings songs, hmm. Well they are good songs yes, but now, well i just feel like skipping right past them. They both take about 5 minutes until they actually get going, and when they do, they go for about 1 minute and then stop. Its frustrating, because when it gets to the 'rocking out' part of the songs, it really does rock, but you have to endure 5 minutes of mumbling and boring music to get to it.
The pot, one of the few songs on the album that doesnt make me want to press the 'next' button on my mp3 player. And even at that, it sounds like something that would have been cut from lateralus for not being good enough. Still a decent song though.
Lipan conjuring and lost keys are both filler, leading into rosetta stoned which while a good song, still isnt quite up to standard due to the fact that most of they lyrics are spoken and not sung, so while musically its up there with lateralus, its let down by by the vocals.
Intesion, god i cant even remember what this songs like. I think its more filler, tells you all you need to know really.
Right in two, another good track. Takes a while to get going, but all in all its good.
Vigniti tres, more filler.

So there you have it IMO (and i stress IMO). 3 good songs, 3 filler tracks, and the rest of its, well, pretty dull. listening to it now id be forced to give it 2/5. What do you think of it now? Was the excellent album sleeve there to distract you from a relatively average album? Or was it the second coming?

mp3guy

Good, but not great, huge disappointment.

buck65

After Vicarious the album is insufferably boring and to my ears unlistenable,
a massive backstep. I guess like alot of metal bands Tool have also peaked and become irrelevant.

Karl Hungus

I don't even have the album. Might get it at some stage, I do rather like Tool.

bringitdown

I thought vicarious was the low point - too many shades of Lateralus in that song but I guess once the "intro" finishes it kinda fades Lateralus out in a way .

Jambi is an absolute monster, I love this track, it blows away live. Wings is very personal I'm sure to Maynard and there are some nice ideas but I won't repeat listen to it. The Pot rocks, and then we gradually get to Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned, I really like this track it is amazing how it builds, how the lyrics work ... excusing the segues Right in Two is next again a solid track. Overall it is a decent album but I don't like it near as much as their previous outings.

Maybe in time, I mean Lateralus was my introduction to Tool and it really worked for me but many people from Aenima disliked it ...

MagnumForce

0ubliette wrote:

So, almost a year after release, i decided to listen to this album again. Was it all hype? Was it a true classic? Everything we expected or just another disappointment?

So did you buy it almost a year ago and only listen to it once? I not, which i assume, then whats the point in saying "So, almost a year after release, i decided to listen to this album again." Surely you've listened to it innumerous times between the day you bought it and the day you wrote the review.

0ubliette

MagnumForce wrote:

So did you buy it almost a year ago and only listen to it once? I not, which i assume, then whats the point in saying "So, almost a year after release, i decided to listen to this album again." Surely you've listened to it innumerous times between the day you bought it and the day you wrote the review.

Umm..to take an album that was massively hyped upon release, and look back on it without the hype and expectancy and see if it still stands up today as it did upon first listen, without all that hype and magazine/internet reviews clouding your own judgement? Good enough for you?

dr.bollocko

I thought that this album sucked from day one. Disappointing after the mastery of Lateralus. Wouldnt pick out a highlight track for you. Just descended into musical wankery.
Still went to see them live in the Point there last year after they disappointed big time at the Ozzfest and i have to say that Tool are the most underwhelming, disinterested poor showmen I have ever seen live. Now in saying that, they do almost note perfect renditions of their songs live. The actual musicianship is of course fantastic, but when you go to a gig, you expect more than some disinterested **** staring into the middle distance just rehearsing in front of you.

However lateralus is one of the best albums released in the last ten years.

j0e

I didnt mind the album fair enough it wasnt there best work but still brought something to the table, fave song lost keys

Numina

I've had the album since day one, i listened to Vicarious, liked it, listened to Jambi, thought that was cool, then listened to wings for marie for a little bit, then got bored and skimmed over the rest of the tracks, nothing was interesting at all, so I haven't listened to the album since. I think I made the right decision by not wasting around 60 minutes of my life on it

Alucard II

0ubliette, i could be wrong, but your post gives the feeling that you listen to Tool for rocking purposes, and less so for the almost spiritual depth to their music, which i both find and adore. the Wings couplet contains some of the most chilling, amazing music ever put to disc, i will point to 2 sections in particular.
a) "its my time, my time now, give me my, give me my wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiings!"
b) "you were my witness, my - eyes, my evidence, Judith Marie, unconditional oooooooooooooooooooooooooone!"

similarly, there is a quite orgasmic phrase in Rosetta; from "overwhelmed as one would be....", which then leads back into an awesomely rocking section of music.

i agree with you however, that as an album it falls way short of Lateralus. Intension is far from filler tho, its almost this albums Reflection, but to make a parallel between songs and albums, it is as far inferior to Reflection as 10KD is to Lateralus.

as far as Tools 4 studio full-lengths go, i'd put it roughly level with Undertow, behind both Aenima and the superb Lateralus.

bubonicus

Great Album then and a great album now.

Moojuice

Yep, Great album. As a whole its fantastic. Jambi is fan****ing tastic.!!!

cornbb

Very weak album compared to their previous string of increasingly amazing albums. A couple of good tunes but no really new ideas. The whole thing didn't gel properly at all. I wouldn't dismiss them on that basis though. Same thing happened to Radiohead after they released OK Computer but they went on to release a few more excellent albums in later years. I'd be very surprised if Tool topped Lateralus or Anaema in the future but that doesn't mean I won't be checking them out again.

Jack Vegas

I think Tool raised the bar so high for themselves with "Lateralus" that the rest of their recorded output will be in it's shadow in the minds of many fans, however, I think "10,000 Days" is a great album. The two "Wings" songs are amazing, my personal favourite Tool songs ever.

Moojuice

Listening to 10,000 days now and it is fantastic. Since Aenima every album has been fantastic (Opiate and Undertow are good but not as good as later albums)
Aenima, Lateralus and 10,000 days are all as good as each other. AS a whole album 10,000 days works really really well. Very cohesive and I think Jambi is one of the cest tracks they have ever done.

I have seen them live 4 times now and only once (london) did they disapoint ANytime I saw them in Ireland they were fantastic, great light show amazing music. The point show was the best and OZZfest all those years ago was a fantastic gig. I dont know what people expect, gimmicks or clowns or something.