Lateralus- Tool

This is that other album I wouldn’t recommend to all of my readers. Quite simply because it probably rocks too hard for you. All other bands on Earth that aspire to be “heavy” really just wish they were Tool. Cause unlike other ‘heavy’ music, Tool will not seem wussy 10 years later. Tool will never sound wussy. It will only sound awesome. While Aenima kinda blew people away and put Tool on the map, it was their third full length album that made me learn to appreciate the music of Tool. Lateralus is the very definition of bad@$$. I actually don’t know a lot about the recording process of Lateralus, so we get to skip the history lesson and jump right into why this record sounds so good.

I only know it was recorded and mixed in more studios than I care to count and principle production credit is given to the band and David Bottrill, a producer known (up to that point) only for his work with King Crimson in 1995 and Tool’s first 2 albums. He is now one of the most highly demanded hard rock producers in large part for the sound of Lateralus. Most often this album is classified as “prog” or progressive rock because of the mathematically complex rhythms and modal structures that dominate the music. In the end, if the interest factor were merely that it’s complicated and hard to play though, I don’t suppose I would like it very much at all, as most “prog-rock" bores me to death. It’s that it’s so easy to surrender to. Start this album so you can hear it loud and clear and then make sure your stereo can handle what’s coming. The opening drums in The Grudge will make you want to go hunt Elk with your hands. The dynamic range (softest sound to loudest) of this record will catch you by surprise even after lots of listens. The clearest example is the song “Parabol” which is mostly pretty quiet but the last guitar swell exploding into “Parabola” will knock you on your butt. No one in the world sings like Maynard James Keenan. He can sing the softest parts then scream like an army like it’s effortless. The ‘single’ on Lateralus was Schism, a song as fascinating to me today as it was 6 years ago when I first heard it. I’ve never heard another bass or guitar sound like that... like they’re a perfect extension of the drum set. Many of the sounds on this record are honestly still a mystery to me and I love figuring out how sounds are made. If I hadn’t seen the band reproduce them live before my eyes, I’d believe most of them were synthesized or highly manipulated in the studio. The album continues on it’s ‘make you listen carefully then tear your brains out through your nose’ course to the very end which culminates in inharmonic noise and static over some absurdly incredible drumming. Sometimes I feel like I could kill a black bear with my bare hands when this album is finally done with me. Fortunately, I’ve never been near a forest at those times.