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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.
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Date: 2005-02-25 04:00 (UTC)Agree with you on Tool.
APC -- they were going through a sound check before their Red Rocks concert this last June. This I know because the assisted living facility my 100-year-old grandmother is at is in Morrison, and well within earshot of Red Rocks. Grandma liked what she heard. People who know my grandmother know that this is NOT an indictment -- it is high praise. Made for a very pleasant afternoon out in the garden with Grandma.
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Date: 2005-02-25 04:49 (UTC)