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torquillIf I'm going to be mad for a little while, I might as well have good music to be mad to.
Tool is really what I think of as heavy metal/heavy industrial for the musician. To anyone who knows any sort of musical theory or has any particular sophistication in terms of chords and rhythms used, Metallica/Megadeth and that crew can get... well, boring. All thrashing and no music. The stuff has its place, but it is not a joy to listen to in a musical sense.
I take real pleasure in listening to Tool. I do prefer Lateralus as a cohesive album, but I like various songs from the other albums as well. It's powerful, harsh, sometimes deliberately discordant metal interspersed with almost delicate meanderings on electric guitar. It's also musically complex: Schism starts out in 5/8-7/8 time (that's 12 beats to the double measure, boys and girls!) with enough syncopation to spin you off your chair. Add in Maynard's voice -- the distinctive blend of insanity and angel -- and the chords they use, and I'm almost sorry that the only time I really listen to Tool is when I'm supremely irritated.
A Perfect Circle has quite a bit of the same elements, of course, and I tend to think of it as the softer version of Tool... I need to get the second album of theirs. It takes a particular sort of brooding contentment for me to listen to A Perfect Circle, but not the sort of all-out anger that really fits Tool proper. And I'll do a lot for a chance to listen to Maynard in good form.
Tool is really what I think of as heavy metal/heavy industrial for the musician. To anyone who knows any sort of musical theory or has any particular sophistication in terms of chords and rhythms used, Metallica/Megadeth and that crew can get... well, boring. All thrashing and no music. The stuff has its place, but it is not a joy to listen to in a musical sense.
I take real pleasure in listening to Tool. I do prefer Lateralus as a cohesive album, but I like various songs from the other albums as well. It's powerful, harsh, sometimes deliberately discordant metal interspersed with almost delicate meanderings on electric guitar. It's also musically complex: Schism starts out in 5/8-7/8 time (that's 12 beats to the double measure, boys and girls!) with enough syncopation to spin you off your chair. Add in Maynard's voice -- the distinctive blend of insanity and angel -- and the chords they use, and I'm almost sorry that the only time I really listen to Tool is when I'm supremely irritated.
A Perfect Circle has quite a bit of the same elements, of course, and I tend to think of it as the softer version of Tool... I need to get the second album of theirs. It takes a particular sort of brooding contentment for me to listen to A Perfect Circle, but not the sort of all-out anger that really fits Tool proper. And I'll do a lot for a chance to listen to Maynard in good form.
