See, I feel like they do this already with both Lateralus and 10,000 Days. I pretty much agree with scottsy, only minus the Maynard vocals. I've said this so many times before on here. He's an amazing factor to the band, but I'm sick of him. I'm sick of people overly glorifying his every project whether it be wine or a new band. As a whole, Tool is already epic and progressive. The idea of a completely mellow album is enticing, but I don't think it's something they'd be into. Especially considering how much time they devote to each album. A purely instrumental one would almost seem too easy. Also, I think a more toned-down album in the sense of instrumentation can be heavy as well as mellow. Loudness isn't the key to heaviness all the time and very few bands have grasp this aspect.

@storymilo: If you're already begun your Tool exploration from the end, I suggest you keep backtracking and experience their growth in a new light. Maybe you'll notice something we haven't discussed on here. So, your next assignment: Lateralus, which happens to be my favorite Tool album. Enjoy.

I'll download it as soon as I get the chance:D

But this is exactly what I was saying - that they do combine both mellowness and heaviness together to create such a complete, full and progressive sound which is Tool. And so I agree with you in that a more 'mellow' album is indeed enticing but it's not something that I can never see them doing, something I don't think would be received well, and something that I just don't think would be true to Tool. And I agree completely that loudness isn't the key to heaviness... you're right in that very few bands grasp this and I think this is one great thing that Tool do grasp. So, although they certainly have mellow aspects and have created mellow music, I just don't see a completely mellow album (in the way scottsy was referring to mellow) as something that would suit Tool.

As for the thing regarding Maynard, I've never really glorified him and his projects in any particular godly way, I'm just interested in his pursuits and think he is a very intelligent person. I always find myself appreciating Carey, Chancellor and Jones more than I find myself appreciating Maynard or worshipping him as ridiculously as so many other Tool fans do. When it comes to Tool, I'd have to say that Maynard is definitely overrated. However, when it comes to some of his other pursuits, I still find him very interesting and like reading his writing and getting into his other projects, just as I like exploring the other members' projects outside of Tool. It's got nothing to do with glorifying him or overrating him, I am just genuinely interested in his projects. It's also funny that Maynard himself KNOWS that he his worshipped in ridiculous ways by people of the public, and so he tries to purposefully downplay himself.

PM me if you're interested in a link :)

This is what I wound up doing when I first got into Tool, started with 10K Days and worked backwards. I think I'm almost glad I did it that way, because each step I took backwards kind of reinforced the albums ahead of it. It took me about a month to feel like I had fully clicked with Lateralus, but once I did made me appreciate 10K Days even more (which I had already clicked with) because of the differences between it and Lateralus. Hope that makes sense:hphones:

I've never heard Tool but you guys have all convinced me to check them out. Thanks for all the recommendations and suggestions.

You're welcome and I am sure you won't be disappointed! They're an amazing band without a single bad album in their back catalogue...

How many albums do they have anyway? Too lazy to do a search...

6 that I could find and I've ordered them all.

Lets see... beginning with the Opiate EP, then albums...

Undertow
Aenema
Lateralus
10,000 Days

So four albums and an EP.... and I think there could be DVDs the band released too...

What was the sixth one.... I need it! lol!