TOOL — Lateralus (review)

Album · 2001 · Progressive Metal

5/5 · 2010-05-16
Phonebook Eater

10/10

"Lateralus" is one of those timeless, yet complex and dark masterpieces that will be listened by the generations ahead of us.

Rarely you find albums like "Lateralus". Tool's third album is their best prog metal album, and one of the very best albums of the genre. The beauty that invades the album gives you emotions that not so often music can give, or at least not this effective.

But let's admit it openly, and say that this does not sound like your average, or even classic Prog metal album. That label was given to the band for pure and simple safety reasons. Tool has been a really unique band, and they prove it with "Lateralus". The sound is a little hard to describe, since it contains a lot of influences such as Progressive Rock, Alternative Metal, a bit of Sludge Metal (more the drums than anything else), Math Metal ( of course not in the Meshuggah sense of the word). The music is cryptic, full of time changes, thanks to the innovating sounding guitars,full of effects such as reverb, the tribal drums, the fat and warm bass lines, and Maynard's fragile and yet amazingly haunting voice.

Complex like a dogma, with an epic structure that allows all the songs to flow one after another one, "Lateralus" is the band's most mature album, the musicians are even more perfected and precise, especially singer MJK, one of the most beautiful voices ever. Like in Aenima, the album has many brief interludes, which sound a lot more mature and less naive than in their previous masterpiece.

"The Grudge" starts the album. Dark, mysterious, with an explosive riff played with the bass and accompanied by guitar, giving once more the reputation of the band as bass based. The structure is complex, the melody is present but not cheesy at all, the band reaches perfection generally speaking. "The Patient" stars calm, with Maynard's vocals that are absolutely beautiful. The song then explodes, with a very haunting melody. Another great one. "Schism" is Tool's biggest hit, probably because it's the most melodic song off the album. Despite this, the structure is still pretty complex, even though the song is shorter than the band's average. This is though one of the most emotive songs on "Lateralus", and one of the band's greatest songs. "Parabol/Parabola" stars calm and meditative, it explodes when Parabola kicks in, beoming the heaviest song of the album. "Ticks and Leeches" has one of Danny Carey's best performances, especially in the energetic and tribal influenced intro. The song generally less accessible to the great audience, because of Maynard's screaming and the heaviness that the rest of the band shows. It is though a great song, another Tool classic. "Lateralus" is another excellent piece, with a great melody and yet another puzzling structure, because of he alternation between heavy and calm moments. after the interlude Disposition, we have "Reflection", the longest song of the album, and also the creepiest, due to the enigmatic chords of guitarist Adam Jones, Maynard's mysterious high peaked voice, the ferocious bass line and the strange and unusual drumming by genius Danny Carey. One of the best moments of the album. The two final songs are "Triad" a long instrumental, very interesting and original, and the closer "Faaip the Oiad", which is probably the most creepy way to end a magnificent album such as "Lateralus".

I'm very fond to this album, especially because it was one of my first journeys through the fantastic and enigmatic world of progressive rock. I think this is one of those timeless, yet complex and dark masterpieces that hopefully will be always listened by the generations ahead of us. Essential.