TOOL - Lateralus 25th Anniversary Analysis and Review
I'm a few months late, but I have a good excuse, promise. You'll find out in very soon! Let's discuss this album now. Maybe it was destined to be, but TOOL became one of my favorite bands growing up and remain to this day one of my all-time favorite artists. Their music actually called out to me unlike any other music some 20-something years ago. Allow me to explain.
Upon hearing their title track’s soft, opening guitar melody for the first time in my early teenage years, a meditative, almost religious-like refrain, at an undetermined time and place, the knowledge of who it was was lost to me, because as soon as it had come, it was gone, and I didn’t have the clarity to find out who I had heard. But the melody of Lateralus continued to whisper to me in many quiet moments for several years after, without me knowing who or what was replaying in my head. It felt like a lullaby or a comforting mantra that gave me this sense of peace that cut through all of the noise and the pain and the inner struggles I had growing up.
It wasn’t until several years later on a fateful day a short time after moving with my family to Connecticut that I heard the sound again, playing on a neighbors computer. “What is that song?!”, I could hear myself thinking. My eyes fixed upon the computer screen and on the dark, ambiguous album cover (the original one before streaming) and the title underneath it: Tool - Lateralus. At that moment, I had one of my great musical awakenings.
Fast forward more than two decades later and I’m writing a lot about music and classic albums that are beloved to many. I started this Masterpiece Crate series in 2019 and took some long breaks in between. I actually wrote about TOOL’s long-awaited 5th LP, Fear Inoculum, released that same year, which is number 3 in this series. It couldn’t be more perfect that the 25th anniversary of Lateralus, which is my next Masterpiece Crate analysis and review, slots in at number 8, a number with great significance. If you don’t know yet, read on, fellow Drifter…
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Table of Contents
Lateralus Ltd. Edition Vinyl Picture Disc
Introduction
TOOL is one of those rare acts that have remained important all throughout their 36 year career. All four of its members, Maynard James Keenan, Adam Jones, Danny Carey, and Justin Chancellor, are all masters of their craft in their own ways, including the visual artist behind their artwork, Alex Grey, who had sex with a corpse (I'm not even joking, look it up yourself so now you also live with this horrible knowledge, Spoiler alert: She was missing the top half of her head). It’s no wonder that when they get together and meld into one another, they create a body of work that is transcendent and music albums that will undoubtedly remain timeless classics. I know those words get thrown around often with fans of beloved artists, but it couldn’t be closer to the truth with TOOL.
Lateralus is their magnum opus. Unlike their ultra-refined Fear Inoculum, which gave me so many serotonin spikes due to its long awaited release that I quickly declared it a masterpiece, Lateralus is an all-encompassing work of art that really has no equal. Through all of its 13 (numerology) tracks, there is always something fruitful to be gained. So without any further explanation, let’s go song by song and discuss its importance.
The Grudge
The first song of the album doesn't hold back. It has a quiet industrial whirring that sounds like a machine that's starting up, shortly followed by the sudden, bludgeoning guitar riffs and drumming of Jones, Chancellor, and Carrey. To me, this quiet but quick to blow-your-ears-off opening sequence reminds me a lot of In The Flesh, the opening song off Pink Floyd's The Wall, with its cute little woodwind and outro of their last track, Outside the Wall, that is unexpectedly blindsided mid-note by a deafening chord progression. Both of these albums are equally epic and thematically rich, but Lateralus turns the heaviness that '70s rock and roll had to offer and turns it up to 11.
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Justify denials and grip 'em to the lonesome end
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Terrified of being wrong, ultimatum prison cell
Saturn ascends
Choose one or ten
Hang on or be humbled again
Humbled again
First discovering TOOL in high school, and learning of the Saturn Death Cult got me wondering if this song had any significance. Given their cryptic compositions, I wouldn’t put it past them to include something so ominous, since the guys admit to being fascinated by and thereby adding numerology, symbols, and esoteric influences in their music. This is an alleged elite cult that worships Saturn, hence the Saturn ascends, and who desire to control all the affairs of our physical world, hence the opening lyrics of being “desperate to control all and everything.”
This Saturn Death Cult also makes me think of Stanely Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, when Kubrick switched the planet that the astronauts were originally traveling to in the book, Jupiter, to Saturn. Why did he choose to switch to this planet from Jupiter? Was it to send a message or reference this elite group? Was it due to our fascination with Saturn and its rings? Regardless, Saturnian mythology has existed long before all of this.
Saturn comes back around to show you everything
Let's you choose what you will and will not see and then
Drags you down like a stone or lifts you up again
Spits you out like a child, light and innocent
Saturn comes back around
Lifts you up like a child
or drags you down like a stone
To consume you till you choose to let this go
Choose to let this go
The rhythmic riffing and bass-guitar-drum interweaving eventually gives way to possibly one of the top 5 heavy metal screams, coming from our little West Point graduate, Maynard. It's stupefying to behold, and one must hope he doesn't have a cough in the middle, because damn, it is long and full of wrath as he scorches the track with what has become one of his most ferocious moments as a vocalist. The only other performances that I think stand up to this are possibly Ticks & Leeches or Rosetta Stoned off of 10,000 Days. What an opener The Grudge is. It hits so hard that they need something to follow that softens the blow, which is where Eon Blue Apocalypse comes in.
4K HD scans of Alex Grey's Lateralus layers, courtesy of Redditor u/OfficialRichGuyPlays
Eon Blue Apocalypse
TOOL during Lateralus promo
The Patient
The Patient wastes no time after Eon Blue, and its rhythmic plucking tells listeners that every note, beat, and rest is deliberate, and no space is left without intent. It's a meditative riff that slowly travels as yet more guitar effects wah and respond to it. The guitars really are talking in this moment. The Patient is the first song on Lateralus that shows Maynard's more vulnerable and delicate style of singing for TOOL, as well as the group's overall cohesion when playing a softer, steady movement that keeps their music from becoming a fatiguing heavy double bass drum, guitar, and metal vocal screams in listeners' ears.
It's a dual meaning, The Patient, meaning a medical patient but also a reference to those who wait with faithful hearts. Theories suggest that it is a deeply personal take from Maynard about his mother, Judith Marie Keenan, who suffered a massive stroke in 1976 and was paralyzed and wheelchair bound for... 10,000 days (their 2006 follow-up album), give or take, until she sadly passed away in 2003 at the young age of 58. It goes without saying that Maynard is incredibly affected by this experience and his mother's unwavering faith. Judith, off of Maynard's other band, A Perfect Circle's album Mer De Noms, is specifically about faith and Jesus' suffering and sacrifice for all of us sinners. Wings for Marie parts 1 and 10,000 Days (part 2) off of that album is about her ascension. This song then, takes a deep stab at the heartstrings and twists it in.
But I'm still right here, giving blood, keeping faith
And I'm still right here
But I'm still right here, giving blood, keeping faith
And I'm still right here
Wait it out
Gonna wait it out
Wait it out (be patient)
Absolutely gut-wrenching. The sudden transition into massive soaring guitar chords and the breakaway guitar solo as Maynard laments "Gonna wait it out" is just epic, and shows their mastery at weaving a very personal life story into a heavy progressive metal song. This section of the track always feels like such a statement to me, and it sounds as if it could have been put at the end of the album due to its melodic transitions and its deep compassion. Without a doubt, there's something very different and special with TOOL than their brooding album art lets on.
Mantra
In keeping with tradition of including atmospheric and ambiguous interludes (think Useful Idiot from Ænima), Mantra is a thematic and strange detour. It sounds like a weird throwaway track of Gregorian chanting, but its substance and its title are put to good use. The feeling is that it evokes something ancient. And that's before you realize it's Maynard's cat that he's petting with its purring slowed down. ...What? I guess it is a great troll move to include the purring cat as the key to unlocking ancient wisdom. For such a serious sounding band and such a wicked sounding album, MJK does find ways to f- with his fans, or he's just smug and amusing himself with his oddball sense of humor. This isn't the first and certainly wasn't the last. Overall though, this track, Mantra, is something that is strangely fitting and even satisfying to hear, maybe for the fact that car purrs are scientifically proven to lower stress hormones. It's mysterious and dark and it fits the bill. Before too long, the album approaches its first single, an epic and an homage to interpersonal relationships.
TOOL’s Adam Jones during Lateralus
Schism
This song starts off with one of the defining moments of bass fretting. Justin's short melodic lullaby gives way to... really, such a damn cool bass riff, as his fingers seem to trill like water over the fretboard, thus creating one of TOOL's many iconic and unforgettable riffs. He is joined by Danny's tuned percussion and Adam's stormy guitar swells, as Maynard confesses on the mic,
I know the pieces fit
'Cause I watched them fall away
Mildewed and smoldering
Fundamental differing
Pure intention juxtaposed
Will set two lovers' souls in motion
Disintegrating as it goes
Testing our communication
This is the heart of the song. It is a highly unusual presentation of song, style, lyrics, and delivery that make Schism stand out and tower above most other progressive metal cuts. It's probably why TOOL won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance, because this song for some reason just sounds like it's operating on a higher level than most of the other tracks on Lateralus. I know when I first heard it, I thought it was such an insane opening, and the lyrics about broken relationships and the importance of communication, I found so mature and relatable and that it was a chilling universal message to take from it. Communication can be such a broken system. Just ask any family. This song however is for the lovers who have allowed the passage of time and consequence to pull at the sinews and fray their connection to one another. Finding a way back can sometimes seem like an impossible task. Maynard really sums it up perfectly.
The light that fueled our fire then
Has burned a hole between us so
We cannot seem to reach an end
Crippling our communication
I know the pieces fit
'Cause I watched them tumble down
No fault, none to blame
It doesn't mean I don't desire
To point the finger, blame the other
Watch the temple topple over
To bring the pieces back together
Rediscover communication
The guitar and bass riffs that swell after these lines feel so overwhelming. To relate to these lyrics while being swept up by the music I find to be one of the most cathartic experiences of heavy metal for me, probably only second to Aerials by System Of A Down, which coincidentally Toxicity also has a 25th anniversary this year (don't get me started).
There was a time that the pieces fit
But I watched them fall away
Mildewed and smoldering
Strangled by our coveting
I've done the math enough to know
The dangers of our second guessing
Doomed to crumble, unless we grow
And strengthen our communication
The breakdown and guitar echoes in this later section are really Floydian by design. They call one another and wail into the abyss. It’s madness, and this ode to communication, and feeling like we’re islands apart, is just such a universal feeling, and TOOL are the guys to highlight such a unique perspective in a heavy metal song.
Parabol
Starting off Lateralus' only two-parter is Parabol, which is a nice play on the words parable. Also, it seems fitting given TOOL's propensity for obscure, dark, mysterious art direction, that Adam would create an epic music video that's essentially a short film. This shortie is the first music video that is representative of the album, and it is done in a super compelling, practical effects, Pan Labyrinth-style grotesque dark fantasy world. It opens with some really weird business suit abominations. These Mitch McConnel-looking ghouls meet from across a stone altar, have candles for fingers, and have a bad case of black bile that oozes out of their mouth orifices. Does it fit the lyrics? Who's to say. Not really, but I'll be damned if TOOL didn't have something borderline repulsive but so compelling that you can't look away for their music videos.
Maynard helps to lay the lyrical foundation of the song, which carries over to Parabola, while Adam and Justin repeat deliciously moody, subdued riffs and Danny creates a world-style meditative call and response of cymbals that carefully and intermittently rise and embellish the track.
So familiar and overwhelmingly warm
This one, this form I hold now
Embracing you, this reality here
This one, this form I hold now, so
Wide eyed and hopeful
Wide eyed and hopefully wild
We barely remember what came before this precious moment
Choosing to be here right now
Hold on, stay inside
This body, holding me
Reminding me that I am not alone in
This body, makes me feel eternal
All this pain is an illusion
That's it for the lyrics, but they are the main focus of the entire Parabol(a) movement. They are very existential, with the thought of not knowing what has come before but the ultimate decision of the spirit to be here in the now. After the McConnel ghouls finish their horrific black vomiting, the video zooms in through a sacred geometric pattern and the epic saga expands into Parabola.
Parabola
Being the second follow-up song after Eon Blue Apocalypse -> The Patient, Parabola can be argued is the second most important song on the album, second only to the title track for obvious reasons. It is TOOL's "standard" progressive rock song of the album, and I mean that with no disrespect. If anyone who is a fan of progressive rock were to be shown a single song off this album, Parabol(a) would be the one (two). When I say it is standard, I mean it is just a solid rock song and technically flawless. I could make comparisons to other songs and artists but that would just make the TOOL army mad. Does this by-the-numbers execution make Parabol(a) wow-worthy? If I'm slightly downplaying its importance, how could I call this album a masterpiece? While I have heard this song over and over and over, I still enjoy it a great deal. And anyone new to TOOL will get the most out of it, but I am usually listening to it at this point for completion's sake and as a means to an end to get to the next more visceral track of the album. This single (double) is an essential piece of the whole, and Lateralus would be much less of an album, and possibly not really a masterpiece without it.
In this holy reality
In this holy experience
Choosing to be here in
This body, this body holding me
Be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me
Feeling eternal, all this pain is an illusion
Twirling 'round with this familiar parable
Spinning, weaving 'round each new experience
Recognize this as a holy gift and
Celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing
A chance to be alive and breathing
This song has that heady and existential transcendental elements that are inseparable from TOOL lore. It makes us fans feel super intellectual and superior to others and why we are treated as insufferable… you know. It’s just a super solid track and technically flawless. It’s a primer for the even more ferocious song that follows.
Ticks & Leeches
This song is the first one that sounds like a feral beast, except it is still calculated and mathematical. Ticks & Leeches gives listeners an idea of how TOOL might sound if they were a black metal band. The opening drum solo is a marathon around Danny's drumkit, which he uses to its full potential, while Justin's bass adds some tension. After a few cycles of racing drums and steady bass, Adam's guitars howl above the mix, creating a chaotic but measured wall of sound. The singular riff that gets played alone opens the door for Maynard's unbridled growl.
Suck and suck!
Sucking up all you can
Sucking up all you can suck and suck
Working up under my patience like a little tick
Fat little parasite (parasite)
Suck me dry
My fruit is bruised and borrowed
You thieving bastards
You have turned my blood cold and bitter
Beat my compassion black and blue
Hope this is what you wanted
Hope this is what you had in mind
'Cause this is what you're getting
I hope you're choking
I hope you choke on this
I hope you're choking
I hope you choke on this
The blasting in your eardrums never felt so good as Maynard’s tourettes burst inside your earholes with a speedy staccato-like singing style. Suck it!!! Suck!! The toxic subjects and energy vampires that leech off of relationships can bring you to your knees. They are truly the vile scum you want to wipe off your shoe and Maynard’s rejection of them and hoping they choke is palpable.
The song does break though, and it feels like an aftermath of destruction. Adam and Justin’s strings are left strumming through the ashes of ground zero. The ambiance for some reason makes me think of the barking dogs breakdown of Pink Floyd’s Dogs or even many Godspeed You! Black Emperor tracks with its eerily similar crying out in the distance sound effects and their guitars that sound like violins.
Before too long though, there is something buried even further in the void, and if you listen closely you’ll be able to hear vocals. He creeps me the hell out, but if that was what they intended, it’s working. The drums start to cautiously enter the field of sound again before Ticks & Leeches grows into another killer heavy metal assault. Maynard puts all he’s got into the final chorus line, “I hope you choke!!”
TOOL - Lateralus original CD sleeve
Lateralus
We finally made it to the title track and man, it’s been a journey so far. This is the song of the album. It was the first song I ever heard by them and is a testament to the universe and our place in it. In a sense, TOOL are a very think-y band, but at the same time they don’t seem to get why their fans are in their words over-thinking and over-analyzing their songs and albums. This song toys with the idea of embracing what comes at random and feeling the moment we are all in in this crazy universe we call home.
As below so above and beyond, I imagine
Drawn outside the lines of reason
Push the envelope, watch it bend
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind
Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind
Feed my will to feel this moment
Urging me to cross the line
Reaching out to embrace the random
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come
I embrace my desire to
I embrace my desire to
Feel the rhythm, to feel connected
Enough to step aside and weep like a widow
To feel inspired
To fathom the power
To witness the beauty
To bathe in the fountain
To swing on the spiral
To swing on the spiral to
By this point in the song, we are thrust into the thesis of the album. To be. And to face whatever may come with the wisdom and the grace that is inherent in us. And maybe to overcome. This isn’t the first time connection is referenced on the album. The softness of this one though feels like a warm embrace.
Swing on the spiral
Of our divinity
And still be a human
With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
Between the sounds and open wide to suck it in
I feel it move across my skin
I'm reaching up and reaching out
I'm reaching for the random or whatever will bewilder me
Whatever will bewilder me
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been
Spiral out, keep going
Spiral out, keep going
Spiral out, keep going
Spiral out, keep going
This is the epic conclusion of the title track. What does it mean to spiral out? Maynard seems to know what it means. Maybe you should go find him at his winery and ask him what it means.
Disposition
Disposition is something of a meditation and the first of a trio of songs that are supposed to go together for fans. Whoever decided this is the case, I don't really hear it, because they don't really seem to have any relation to one another in style or lyrics, at least for two of them, except of course the trailing drum patterns that multiply into the circular drum patterns of Reflection. This song Disposition though is a gorgeous melodic reprieve. It starts with Justin transforming his bass into an new age-y, eastern sounding hypnotic hymn. Its delicate chimes resonate and are very intricate as they set the scene. The drums join in with a definitely eastern tabla sounds and an acoustic drum. Adam adds some ambient textures to the atmosphere as Maynard starts to sing about the changing conditions one may face, which is most certainly an introspective look.
Mention this to me
Mention this to me
And watch the weather change
Watch the weather change
Watch the weather change
Watch the weather change
This song to me always gives me the visuals of storm cloudy skies and how the weather conditions can roll in swiftly, or change very gradually. The modes of the weather can go from clear as day to blotting out the sun, and TOOL's use of this motif to speak to the human spirit is pretty awesome. The song is short but that's all it has to be, before its outside sounding ambient layer is at the forefront. Danny's talking drums, as I mentioned above, trail off and seem to be dying down, before they pick up in speed like a slow record that starts to spin.
TOOL during Lateralus
Reflection
The title of this track should give you a hint at its themes and meaning. It’s another life lesson as Maynard seems to be handing out a lot of them in this album. To look at oneself with total honestly and truly understand where we’ve went wrong and the mistakes that were made due to ego and hubris is a form of self-actualization. Maynard uses the first movement of this song to detail the journey of self-discovery. In the darkest moments come the greatest revelations. How much of you is truly you and not your ego?
And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping
The moon tells me a secret, a confidant
As full and bright as I am
This light is not my own and
A million light reflections pass over me
The source is bright and endless
She resuscitates the hopeless
Without her, we are lifeless satellites drifting
And as I pull my head out, I am without one doubt
Don't want to be down here soothing my narcissism
I must crucify the ego before it's far too late
I pray the light lifts me out
It makes sense that this would be the last lyrical song of the album. Where do you go from here once you crucify the ego? It’s full of desperation and a command to all of us to cut the $hit and get on with a renewed sense of self.
So crucify the ego, before it's far too late
And leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical
And you will come to find that we are all one mind
Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable
So let the light touch you
So let the words spill through
And let them pass right through
Bringing out our hope and reason
This second track of the triad is epic, but it’s far from over as the penultimate track has something to say but without words, building up from the ashes of a crucified ego.
Triad
For the second to last track, the boys felt, pretty definitively, that Lateralus didn't need any more vocals, for this and the final track don't feature Maynard at all. They're all set with him and his job is done. It is purely an Adam, Danny, and Justin (a triad) instrumental rock off. Since the boys record by tracking the instruments first, it's very possible that Maynard took a listen to it, stepped back, and after a few moments said, "... nope, I'm good. This song is already finished."
Triad has a weird unsettling middle eastern synthesis to it, and it sounds like something that would be in the background of a horror or action movie. I felt like this song was especially visual for me because you don't have to go on anything lyrically other than the instruments to feel its weight. It's a jam that is stormy, a 7emptest if you will? And there appears to be some really mystical timbre in the middle quietude that for years went unnoticed by my ears, mostly because I focused on volume and heaviness. It's a whispering barely audible lullaby of notes that has a mystifying pleasure when listening to it repeat, but its moment is fleeting as Adam's metal riffs quickly break this unsettled calm.
The song rises once more after this quiet solace, and it's just the 3 brethren belting out loudness and giving each other high fives by the end of the song. They really outdid themselves with this album. They can now rest.
TOOL - Lateralus alternate cover art
Faaip de Oiad (translates to "Voice of God")
Everyone except Danny that is, because he's got one more in him for this somewhat anticlimactic closer. One of the eeriest tracks TOOL have ever committed to tape, Faaip de Oiad is shrouded in mystery. Accompanied by a distant sounding and dissonant drum solo that is submerged in a wash of stressful transmission signals that sound like white noise buzzing, this "song", if that's what it should be called, features an alleged former Area 51 employee who called-in to a late-night radio show on September 11, 1997.
The unnamed man is genuinely freaked out as he describes his experiences and what he knows, and very much sounds like he's on the run. Released on a medical discharge, the man attests that there is a very sinister plan for the world with the extraterrestrials that the US and other world governments have made contact with, and been in contact with for decades. This is possibly one of the first verbal claims that ETs are "extra-dimensional beings", which adds an extra layer of fear, and sounds straight out of a science-fiction alien invasion film.
Think Spielberg's latest ET film Disclosure Day and try to tell me that the world governments aren't or haven't been preparing the masses for a paradigm-shifting world event for the better part of our modern era. I've read Richard Dolan's scientifically-backed UFO books, that are based on reports from the US military among other reputable parties, and they all point toward government investigations that may eventually lead to disclosure, which we are already getting in smaller doses to prevent fear and chaos. But ultimately, the official reveal of alien bodies will forever change our world in a way that will be studied for centuries as the most pivotal moment in the story of humankind, second only to Jesus Christ.
The plan is dark and the claims are horrifying. The unnamed man states that ETs have infiltrated our military, including Area 51. The goal for those in control is to herd the world's population to the major population centers and "wipe them out". What does that mean? It's never disclosed, but the reason is to more easily control the few that are left living. It's a terrifying claim and there are many theories of a new world order, mass exterminations using biological and chemical warfare, and technology and AI asserting total control and surveillance of citizens which is already happening, so things seem to be lining up more and more.
Transcript
"I, I don't have a whole lot of time
Um, okay, I'm a former employee of Area 51
I, I was let go on a medical discharge about a week ago and, and...
I've kind of been running across the country
Damn, I don't know where to start, they are
They are gonna, um, they'll triangulate on this position really really soon
Okay, um, um, okay
What we're thinking of as, as aliens
They are extra-dimensional beings
That, an earlier precursor of the, um, space program they made contact with
They, they are not what they claim to be
Uh, they've infiltrated a, a lot of aspects of, of, of the military establishment
Particularly the Area 51
Uh, the disasters that are coming, they, the military
I'm sorry, the government knows about them
And there's a lot of safe areas in this world that they could begin moving the population to now
They are not, they want those major population centers wiped out
So that the few that are left will be more easily controllable"
Take what you will from this caller, who may or may not still be alive. The radio station suffered a massive outage which is why his call got cut off. Perhaps a targeted EMP? The reports state that the station had dead air and was off the air for around 20 to 30 minutes. Was it all a hoax for attention and intrigue? The FCC wouldn't approve. A later caller called back months later and fessed up to the gimmick, but that still doesn't explain why the station went down right at the end of the call. It remains to this day the strangest radio call in broadcast history, and TOOL decided to incorporate it into this album.
The Holy Gift
I'll start this off by saying that TOOL fans are insufferable. We believe that because they have written profound and esoteric albums that they unlocked the key to the universe. Somewhere along the way and across the interwebs, a fan theory was born, called pretentiously, The Holy Gift. I put it together for you to try out. This mix is basically the meaning of life wrapped up with a bow as a re-sequenced Lateralus.
In case you are reading this for the very first time, here is what we are dealing with: The spiral motif that is prevalent throughout the Lateralus artwork, music videos, and lyrics, and specifically in its title track, gets applied directly to the track "list", meaning if you're looking at it on a page or screen, you drag your finger starting with Parabol (6), then go to Parabola (7, the only 2 tracks that couldn't be separated), and literally "spiral out" 🌀 the track list, with Schism (originally 5) as the 3rd track, following by Ticks and Leeches (originally 8) as the fourth, Mantra (4), Lateralus (9), and then to make things even more complicated, a new spiral starts with the final track, Faaip de Oiad (13), followed by The Grudge (1), then Triad (12), Eon Blue Apocalypse (2), Reflection (11), The Patient (3), and finally Disposition (10).
Are TOOL the gods of the universe who have graced us with the holy grail of music and sacred art? What do you think? Just look at them.
TOOL being TOOL
Maynard demonstrating how to spiral out
Conclusion
Like any uber-serious (but prolly not), technical wizards of music, TOOL have managed to absolutely crush their competition with their heady, humanistic, earth-shattering, reality-tearing, heavy progressive metal art. Maynard understandably gets annoyed with TOOL fans for believing that they planned to obfuscate the secret of the universe in their music, but can you blame him really? It's really all their fault for pushing the envelope and watching it bend.
Lateralus won TOOL the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for Schism in 2002 (remember my Fear Inoculum deep dive, where they won the 2019 Grammy for 7empest as well), and it has gone on to cast a lasting legacy in the world of progressive rock. (Almost) universally praised, if you don't count the click-bait-y try-hards at Pitchfork with their 1.9/10 rating (they are notorious for giving classic timeless albums, such as Discovery, horrible ratings, I'd give them a 0.2/10), Lateralus is a testament to how far Jones, Carrey, Chancellor, and Keenan are willing to usher progressive metal music into a deeper realm of purpose. Complete with the corpse lover Alex Grey, TOOL are unstoppable behemoths of rock... and a once-in-a-generation talent. Do I need to leave a rating?
Recommended tracks: The Grudge, The Patient, Schism, Lateralus
