SATCHMO

Live in Japan is fantastic. Some more great Metallica covers (Orion & One) and a cover of Stairway to Heaven that doesn't make me nauseous. Of course, their originals are great too.

LoathsomePete

They have another live album entitled Live Manchester and Dublin and another one called Re-Foc. If you experience difficulty tracking them down let me know and I will secure you a download

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lene

Well, after I've been listning to their selftitled album I think I'm going to pick up 11:11. But you can't buy their CD in this little town where I live in Denmark. People (and music stores for that sake) are so mainstream. And it's annoying the hell out of me.

LoathsomePete

Ænima is quite the album for the mainstream audience. It's not quite offensive enough to be off putting to the “average” listener, but it has enough bite in the lyrics to appease the “harder” crowd. Not that I ever pay much attention to the lyrics from Tool to begin with, they always seem to fall secondary to the soothing background music that the album itself creates. OK perhaps that is a little harsh, the lyrics are deep and open to interpretation if you wish to view them that way, however the band has always been about creating an atmosphere, the only time the lyrics becoming a core contribution when I don headphones. Irregardless of whether the melody or lyrics take precedent, the album is a soothing, poetic, well produced, and meaningful with some killer guitar hooks and bass lines that showcase the talents of each member of the band.

Tool have been with me since nearly the beginning of my journey into the wild world of heavy metal. In fact... after Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, and Type O Negative they were either part of the second or third batch of bands I got into, all the way back in 2002. I bought Ænima along with Undertow as part of a 2 for $25 deal at HMV and Ænima was probably my first real exposure to the more progressive elements of metal. Everything else that I had known was either beginner's thrash, Gothic metal, or the pinnacle of NWOBHM, so when I first heard Undertow it was quite the different experience aurally. Undertow was kind of the wrong album to start off with, and in fact actually turned me off of progressive metal for a little while. It wasn't until a few months later that I even threw on Ænima and my entire idea what music could be.

The entire album from start to finish is just this amazing and unique sound that countless bands have attempted to replicate, but none in a faithful fashion. From Adam Jones' ear catching melodic hooks to Justin Chancellor's hypnotic bass lines to Danny Carey's pounding drum beats the album has everything one would want and more from an alternative or progressive metal album. While some of the track lengths are longer than one would expect from a more mainstream band, none of the songs feels artificially lengthened with useless additions, extended verses, or guitar solo wankery that plagues so many prog songs.

Overall the album is a dense, deeply layered, and amazing journey into the world of progressive metal. It's easy enough to listen to for the average music fan without alienating some of the more dedicated listeners. That is quite the tightrope to walk and for a band to not only succeed but get near universal acclaim for it, it is quite the achievement. Seeing as how just about everyone on this site has this album it seems kind of pointless to further praise an album we all know and love so I'm just going to end it here. The music is quite addictive, the lyrics after reading them, have a great deal of depth to them and can be interpreted many different ways, and it's that perfect balance between mainstream and underground acclaim.

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sidewinder

Fantastic album and songs, well deserving of a spot in a top 100 (and one) list.

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OctaneHugo

Love Ænima. Probably my favorite Tool album.

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LoathsomePete

To most people, black metal is a product of the Scandinavian countries (Norway in particular) that has a controversial history and is esoteric to the extreme. It's a genre that is clouded in arson, anthropic/ anti religious lyrics, murders, and national socialist undertones made infamous by a small group of loud dickheads. Those reasons are enough to turn off most people from the genre, but in doing so they miss out on an incredibly atmospheric and intense style of music. The next two reviews are for two albums in particular that have done the best to show just how versatile and amazing this genre can be when done properly.

First up is the 2001 epic masterpiece Imaginary Sonicscape by Japanese metal band Sigh. Japanese metal isn't very well known outside of Japan, the only other band that I can even name is Japan X and I do so with great disdain. ANYWAYS Sigh is a band that has been around for 20 years now and has been continually experimenting with their sounds, trying to create new styles and sounds. Imaginary Sonicscape was their first real success in doing so, but it wasn't their first attempt. Since 1997's Hail Horror Hail they had been experimenting with new things, moving away from their black metal roots, but Imaginary Sonicscape was where they really hit their stride.

The only thing black metal about the album is really the vocal style, and even then it sounds nothing like more of the "true" black metal music from places like Norway. The drumming is not particularly black metalish, meaning there's no extended blast beats or high snare pounding, yet everything is pieced together nicely. I don't know if band went in expecting the album to sound like this and just adjusted accordingly, but whatever the reason is they readjusted their sound accordingly.

With all the differing sound styles present on the album it is easy to look at it as some kind of patchwork monster, and thus it being this ugly monstrosity. This is one of the ONLY times when I think all the music shifts work better than just sticking to one style. There's only a few select artists out that I would see take on such a task and not fuck it up, and Sigh are one of them. At any moment one song could be a heavy set with the harsh vocals, then all of a sudden there's a soothing orchestral section, or some kind of weird synthesized sound, and then some kind of corny guitar solo you would expect off a Guns 'N Roses album, oh and then just for shits and giggles they'll throw in some operatic male vocals along with a folky recorder. Yeah the album is that over the place.

This is easily the best starting point for beginners to Sigh and I would even venture a great entry point for newbies to extreme metal. The vocals are harsh, but not as harsh as bands like Nile so they don't immediately deter neonates to extreme metal. An astonishingly amazing album from a country I would not expect such an album to come from and single handedly proves that you don't need to be Scandinavian to make good metal.

(Shamelessly stolen from gunnels): It's like a raging, sweaty disco was sucked into hell, drugged, and sent back into the world.

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gunnels

Fck yes.
[i]Imaginary Sonicscape was my first BM album, and still is the best I've heard so far. It's like a raging, sweaty disco was sucked into hell, drugged, and sent back into the world.

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LoathsomePete

Well if Imaginary Sonciscape shows us what can happen when foreigners are allowed to take a style of music and mutate it into something amazing, then Death Cult Armageddon shows us what happens when progenitors are not so imposed by others to keep things "real". Yes, Death Cult Armageddon is an album that proves to all the diehard fans out there that the world wont end if black metal bands are allowed to expand their sounds and potentially their fanbase with bigger labels.

Death Cult Armageddon is an album that Black Metal fans love to hate because of its overly polished sound. To them that kind of goes against the entire concept of the genre, and in a way it kind of does, but I'm a sucker for good production. The album is so nicely polished that it works as a perfect entry point for potential new fans by giving them the traditional black metal approach, but with a nice veneer over top to buff out the scuff marks.

The coolest thing about the album is that it plays the like the soundtrack to some dark fantasy movie. I've been trying to write an short story out around the album, but I'm more of a sci-fi person than fantasy so it hasn't gone so well. But there are a few songs that sound exactly like what I'd expect, specifically "Blood Hunger Doctrine", which I always envisioned as some kind of Saruman like character doing a kind of thaumaturgy.

On a melodic note (get it?) the album is pretty much perfect in every way. The drums are on time, however they do not sound too perfect so there is a human element there. I know it's kind of an odd observation, but there are too many albums out where I can't tell if the drummer is a human or not, so when I can it's something I notice.

Overall the album is a beautiful piece of poppy black metal that may not appease older fans, but is definitely something fun to put on and enjoy.

Well there you have it, two black metal albums that skirt the more traditional sounds of black metal in order to further develop the genre into something more than what the controversy has created. Both albums are excellent starting points if you're trying to get into it but don't know where to start.

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LoathsomePete

Well I think it's time to depart the metal train to painsville for a little bit and explore the other genres I've learned to accept and to some extent actually enjoy over the years. Punk and I have always had a turbulent relationship, on some days it treats me right with warm and loving coos while gently massaging my temples and on other days it takes a steak tenderizer to my ass. While I've never had much of a problem with the music, the fanbase it has spawned has always annoyed me to some extent because they remind me of metalheads, yet they haven't come to terms with their inherent geekiness, and continue to try best each other. Not only that but the hypocrisy I found in their ideals was more than enough to turn me off, however unwilling to turn my back on an entire genre because of a bunch of cu*ts I secretly went back... under the cloak of darkness.

Death From Above 1979 was a band I got into solely for a girl at high school I fancied during my sophomore year. She was one of those rare hot punk girls that everyone drooled over. Punks, emos, jocks, nerds, metalheads, it didn't matter whether you were lawful good or chaotic evil, she was the girl you wanted to fu*k. Unfortunately she knew this and played us all, however in my time being played I did learn a few good bands, and DFA1979 was one of those bands. I saw she was wearing a pin of their only album and immediately went out and bought it, listened to it, and memorized as much trivia as I could for talking points the next time I would be her little ego boost amusement toy. Normally I'd never say or think this, but this was one of those rare occasions where peer pressure may have actually been a good thing.

You're A Woman, I'm A Machine is very different from any of the other punk albums I ever listened to. By the time I got it I was well versed with The Clash, Sex Pistols, Richard Hell, and Stiff Little Fingers, but nothing could prepare me for the kind of fuzzy electro sounding garage punk that made me want to shake my booty. Coupled with the aggressive and often intelligible vocal delivery of punk, You're A Woman, I'm A Machine surpassed all previous expectations of punk music.

The music unique aspect of the band was that they scoffed the traditional aspects of punk in favor of simplicity through using only two instruments, drum and bass (with the odd synthesizer). Not only that but drummer Sebastien Grainger took up vocal duties, one of the few drummers I can name that has actually done both drums and vocals. The exclusion of more spotlight stealing instruments (ahem, guitars) allowed the band to focus on creating a fast and fun rhythm, which made the sound fun to manipulate. I use to remember going to a school dance and trying to get the local DJ to play "Romantic Rights" to no avail.

That said though the album isn't perfect (if it was it would be number 1 wouldn't it?) and as innovating and unique the sound is, problems are present on the album. Minus a few really good songs, the rest just feel like filler or unfinished. Specifically "Cold War" and "Pull Out" which just end a little abruptly for my liking. The titular song "You're A Woman, I'm a Machine" and "Little Girl" just kind of meander around, going nowhere and really adding anything to the album as a whole. I use to always skip over the fourth track "Get Home, Get Down" because it just sound bad, even now I cringe slightly when it comes on. After you take away those songs all you're left with is 6 songs from an 11 song album, which makes me feel like the album would be stronger as an EP. Even though there's a lack of songs that really grabbed me, none of the songs are bad enough to really skip (except "Get Home, Get Down") and most of them are short so they feel more like a minor inconvenience than an actual nuisance.

All in all You're a Woman, I'm a Machine opened up my eyes to the fact that there can be more than the traditional style to punk music. That punk can be more than talking about societies ills (often poorly) and can be turned into a rhythm based fun music that can get your body swaying. It's just a shame the band pretty much folded a year after the album was released because I feel like they could have added more to this style of music. So if you're after something different, yet slightly familiar then I would highly recommend this album.

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101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life, But I Really Like And You Might Too