Quote:
Originally Posted by zeppy111
11. Tool - Lateralus
Year: 2001
Genre: Progressive Metal/Art Rock
Tool's 2001 release Lateralus brought praise and hate from the general public, with a rather huge divide between lovers and haters with not much in-between, which side do you fit on?
The complexity of the album and the multi-layered depths of the music is a real treat once you have stripped off the packaging and get to the roots of the album. The musicians in the band, like them or not, are a pretty talented bunch of lads, with some superb pieces coming in from all angles whether it be bass, drums, guitar or vocals(to a lesser extent), you will see them showing off their skills somewhere in the album.
The one draw back to the album is that it does not come with the visual show that Tool can be recognised with, which I have heard, they use to detract the audience from the members of the band and rather on the music/visuals. It must be quite an amazing sight to see them live... Sigh!
On a side note: I think this is a really solid release, however not Tool's best. That would go to Opium Den, for me personally as it captures them in their raw, unrefined days. The version of Sober that is on that bootleg is amazing... |
This review makes me happy. Not enough people appreciate Tool on this forum, perhaps because many of their fans have this stupid stigma attached to them in which they overrate the band ridiculously. I'm on the 'love it' side, obviously. Lateralus is my favourite Tool album. Like you said, all members are very talented, and the technicality and musicianship of the album is just incredible. Not only that though, I just love the message that the album gradually explores through song to song.
And although most people despise this, I actually loved the insane fanaticism that was attached to it where fans figured out the 'real' tracklisting of the songs by plotting the track numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, the same sequence in which the title song 'Lateralus' is played in, etc etc etc etc. A lot of haters responded with the attitude of
This is why I hate Tool fans, but I thought it was ridiculously awesome.
The album art was pretty cool, too. I guess they used that to try and capture the visual aspect of them.
Anyway, I don't know if I've replied in here yet but I am a lurker of your journal
Great work, keep it up!