katt5995 Registered User
Posts: 1
(5/31/01 10:43 am) Reply
The Album
I would love to hear everyone's opinions on Tool's new album Lateralus. I find it to have a lot of astrological references and to be almost prophetic in certain respects. I love it and consider it the best Tool album ever. It gives me reassurance that I am not alone in many of my beliefs on the road that the human race is heading down. Please tell me your impressions of Lateralus.
Kaylena
(a 31 year old fan of Maynard)
Well, I know that Lateralus is good because my attitude towards it keeps changing. At first I thought it was really good, but not quite as good as I expected, then I got a little sick of it... then I thought it was amazing, then a little bland... now it is back to amazing.
That's how all Tool albums are for me... there are times when I think it is the most beautiful music I've ever heard, and there are times when I just can't listen to it.
Is Lateralus a prophetic album? ... I'm not sure. To me, Ænima was more prophetic, and had more of a solid concept behind it. Going along with the Tool's pre-album webcast, Lateralus seems to be a more personal, reflective piece.
However, there are the recurring themes of growth, evolution, evaluation of self versus non-self, etc. My favorite at this point is without a doubt "the grudge", not only for its intense rhythms, but also for the message (give away the stone/grudge, let go).
It takes a great deal of courage to make positive music that still has an edge to it. Songs that are too happy or too angry are also too stationary, they don't encourage any movement or productivity. Tool seems to have something that other bands don't.
At this point, I still prefer Ænima... but I am trying harder to stop comparing them. They do seem to complement each other well. Try listening to them back to back, if you can handle it. I haven't been able to yet.
Zorak18 Registered User
Posts: 1
(1/14/02 1:39 am) Reply
My thoughts on the albulm
At first i didn't really like the albulm, that was a while ago.
after listening to the albulm more and more, it grows on me still. I now absolutely love it. I mean, it seems to me that tool out did themselves. I feel they are the best band, musically, lyrically, and spiritually. I feel Lateralus simply stimulates you to think, even more than AENIMA did. Tool is probably one of the most educated bands you will ever hear. the philosophies they bring to us are simply amazing. after seeing them in concert on the Lateralus tour, i became a more adament fan than ever. the messages they gave in concert were up lifting. At one point in the concert, Maynard addressed the lack of quality music in the media. He then said that we all should try our hand at art, make something beautiful, and then share it with others. If you were unable to see them on tour, i suggest you do everything possible to catch them next time around.
Re: My thoughts on the albulm
I've noticed that a lot of people who have heard TooL's earlier works have had to take a "period of adjustment" before they liked Lateralus. I think this is largely a result of the emphasis on melody in the album. Barring a few songs (read:The Grudge, Ticks and Leeches) the album is beautiful, pretty music, which one really doesn't see in a "metal" band all that often. TooL's earlier stuff is really heavy, but it seems they get a little more melodic with each album. I have all of their CD's, and I love all of them, equally. You really cannot compare them to each other, because each one is so very different, as far as sound goes. Of course, they're basically all the same quality...Great beyond comprehension.
Consequences dictate our course of action. It doesn't matter what's right, it's only wrong if you get caught. If consequences dictate my course of action, I should play god and just shoot you myself.-TooL, "Jerk-Off", Opiate
matster40 Registered User
Posts: 5
(10/4/02 11:34 pm) Reply
spiritual
As someone said above, all the albums are different, and I love Lateralus and see it as a progression for the band. When I got the lyrics off of the net I was a bit surprised to how spiritual the songs were. It made me realise I hadn't really understood Tool at all. So now I have become more aware of what they really are about, and Lateralus what helped clear it up for me.
Re: spiritual
I thought that Lateralus was very spiritual. I guess from Aenima and Lateralus, it could be quite possible to call them a "religious" band. Aenima leans more toward the prophetic part, while Lateralus leans toward the spiritual part, as some of you have said before. In something I read on the 'net (it was a review for Aenima by the way), it said that Aenima had many aspects of religion. And at some points, it even said that it seemed that Tool had turned the album into a religion itself. It emphasized that point most when they mentioned Maynard screaming, "Don't you step out of line!" It seemed that he was preaching to the multitude of his church. All in all, Lateralus gives us a great listening experience. Pleasure and emotion are strong when listening to this enchanting album.
just shoot me
don't bring religion into this, please...
the whole philosophy and message that tool is trying to portray is not to believe anything, because anything is possible. seeing and hearing is believing. experience is knowledge. rely only on what you feel is right in your own heart, not what some power freak tells you. "it could be quite possible to call them a religious band"?!?!? no, actually it would be very probable and acceptable to call them a philosophical band of open minded intellects, and/or spiritually inclined indivuals... unlike all the other sheep that consume the vast majority of our civilization...
also, in regards to chronic stupidity's response where he's states that maynard was preaching to his church by saying "don't you step out of line!"... this is something i find somewhat infuriating... this peice of the whole songs lyrics is totally out of context to the rest of the song and the whole message of the song isn't really that hard to figure out... even though the depths of tool's symbolism ranges drastically from one song to another sometimes... it would just take a complete moron to interpret this song in this fashion... ohh, and nice "pop sucks" icon... little boy, you're trying to hard not to conform, but your ignorance and your close minded nature that can clearly be detected from your stupid interpretations and mentality, basically i can't tell any difference from you and the rest of the white sheep that drive me from wanting to bash in my brains everyday...
later
Franki Registered User
Posts: 1
(4/24/03 7:56 am) Reply
Just one question ?
I'm new here, i'm from france, so i apologize for my english.
I know only one album from tool: lateralus. I just can tell you i love it, but i've got one BIG problem. I've bought, or listened to, many lateralus cds, and i still have the same pb. Once arrived at track 7 or 8, it seems like my cd-player is about to blow up ! I can't listen to he rest of te cd. So i've stopped listenning it and i'm very very disappointed.
Am i the only in this case ? It's the only cd not read by my cd-player, so the pb is not with it, but with the cd...
zerom13 Registered User
Posts: 1
(5/15/03 3:13 am) Reply
Tsk tsk
I don't think you realize that your post only makes you sound childish. I'm glad you like Tool, but the constant repetition of the word "sheep" in your post leads me to beleive you only know how to agree with ideas, rather than creating your own. Do I agree that Tool is not a religous band?...Depends what you call religion....However, it seems that philisophical band would fit TOOL slightly better. While you made some decent points I suggest you relax. Your aggressive attack leads me to believe you think quite highly of yourself, or quite low and need to put down others to feel satisfied.
I'm a Huge TOOl fan. While some of the things they say seem to fit my own beleifs, never have I once decided to follow a "message" from the band becuase I love their music. I love the fact that the songs are well thought out and can induce discussions of epic proportions.
However, I think there is a message that Maynard has stated quite plainly to Tool fans that they should follow;
THINK FOR YOURSELF!!!
Obviously you are more of a follower than you actually beleive.
lateralus
my opinion about this album... well, ill start by stating the obvious, maynard and danney carrey have figured out how to mass hypnotize people. its really not that difficult when you think about it, hypnotic rythms, intense psychological imagery, repetitive phrases with positive connotation, its not rocket science, although those floating cells at the live shows are some mad mathematics at work.
anyways, i think this album is a long sequence of suggestions, in the form of some kind of strange machine. at the beginning of the album, the sound of some huge machine turning on is heard before the grudge starts. and at the end of triad the music comes to an abrupt halt, almost jerking you out of the trance the album seems to induce.
check out the Divine Soma Experiment for some more info on hypnotic beat patterns and other nifty info.
thats my two cents,
Re: lateralus
The cd strikes me more as a journey than anything else. When i listen to it i just get pictures of the different phases of the journey with each song.
Wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye...
katt5995 Registered User
Posts: 3
(5/18/03 9:52 pm) Reply
What I meant by astrological references as well as prophecy
I do agree that Aenima is very prophetic........Arizona Bay speaks of the fate that is to come for Mother EARTH with the earthquakes that are to take place and California's sinking into the ocean, ect. But the astrological references comment I made refers to the first song (The Grudge) where "Saturn ascends...comes round again", "The ONE the TEN" (meaning the first house or the tenth house) is mentioned in the chorus. That song refers to the belief that in many people's astrological charts, the house that Saturn is in at the time of your birth can cause great hardships on you throughout your life.Thus the phrase "Wear the crutch like a crown......give away the stone (the weight that Saturn's placement has put upon you.)
As far as how Laterulus is prophetic, in Aenima there is a much angrier tone to the album, to me it seems that there is a great chip on Maynard's shoulder that he is struggling to get rid of. It seems to be an anger over people's pettiness, shallowness and lack of compassion for each other. To me he seems to generally feel that MANY of the people that live in this world today are wastes of oxygen. In Laterulus, specifically the song Parabol, he is hopeful and has come to peace with everything and possibly through his son found a new meaning that was obviously missing before. As you said, it IS more personal but he is also trying to speak to his listeners about the fate that is soon to beset mankind. For instance, in Schizm, he speaks about how today's comforts have weakened our communication amongst each other, greed and the desire for material possessions have made us soft, and atrophied our sense of compassion for each other. He speaks of how unless we strengthen our communication with each other we can crumble as well. There is also a reference in Reflection to Universal Consciousness, "We are all one mind." Also in Reflection, he says that he has "become curious because of the end though", he says "I may find comfort in the end" ect. This is an obvious reference to the end of our world as we know it. I believe that Maynard believes, as I do, that catastrophies are coming for the earth, as many past prophets have predicted. For more information on this do a search on the internet for the phrase "earth changes." But more than anything the prophetic message to me is the end of the CD, in Faaip de Oiad, where the actual radio call-in excerpt is used. If you listen to that message, everything you really need to know is contained in that. Many people may think it is a bunch of gibberish, but they are too trusting in our government and military and do not question enough and are led around like sheep. Always remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely......and our government is the one with absolute power.
Katt
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