A true tune hound will admit when he missed the boat on an artist. TOOL has been around since I was a sophomore in high school and I had my head buried in grunge and alternative, the prevailing sounds of the time. Maybe it was too much to digest for a high school kid clamoring for easily accessible riffs, chord progressions, and standard song structures (e.g. intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, outtro).
I did hear more of TOOL once I made it to college and rock radio and MTV become more accessible. Yet again, my feeble musical mind wasn't ready to commit the time and resources necessary to understanding and appreciating TOOL. Maynard and company are a unique group and an acquired taste. Odd time signatures that constantly change and song structures that aren't of this world are not easy to adapt to. And we haven't even scratched the lyrical surface yet. It's a cocoon of sensory overload for the virgin listener.
With the release of Fear Innoculum in 2019, I was able to hear Pnuema and for some strange reason it was palatable with Adam Jones's intro riff and Justin Chancellor's piercing bass lines. It was the gateway and I took it and ran with it and haven't looked back. TOOL is literally unlike any musical artist I've ever heard and I don't know that it can every be recreated in a similar form.
Oh, Danny Carey is simply not human....
12) Bottom
11) 7empest
10) Schism
9) Forty Six & 2
8) Ticks & Leeches
7) The Pot
6) Invincible
5) Right In Two - contains my favorite lyric of all time
4) Aenema
3) Pneuma
2) Lateralus
1) Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)/Rosetta Stoned - These two tracks must always be played in the proper sequence
No comments:
Post a Comment