Back when I was in 5th grade, if you were the rebellious type and wanted to listen to "bad, dirty music," you usually listened to 311, Korn, or Tool. I put the description of these bands in quotes because I haven't listened to much of any of those bands, so I shouldn't judge them. But that is definitely the reputation that they had, and so naturally I stayed away from them.
So to be quite honest, the only reason that I listened to Lateralus, by Tool, was because of David's endorsement of the CD in his review on The Rebel Base. So I decided I would give it a shot, if nothing else to quench my curiosity about the insert that is in the CD, which I will get to later on in this review.
Lateralus starts out with a rather hard, appealing beat, in the song, "The Grudge," immediately showing off that they do have some serious talent, unlike other bands of their ilk that just yell and make noise. "The Grudge" explains how holding up bitterness can totally ruin you. I like how it depicts a grudge as a cornerstone in your life, and then at the end of the song, it pleads to "give away the stone." Throughout the CD I found some very Biblical principles, and then some very not-so-Biblical thoughts. It's a mixed bag, but it will make you think and challenge you nonetheless.
The next song is a short, instrumental song called "Eon Blue Apocalypse." This is a perfect example of some of the deep stuff and inner meaning that Tool may or may not have in their songs. It's kind of creepy listening to a song like that and have no idea what the message is. The thought lingers, "am I being brainwashed?"
"The Patient" comes next and the CD starts moving once again, building up gradually. This is another one with a very Christian message to it. At least that is what I got out of it; there could be some bias as I am looking at it from a Christian perspective. The author of the song expresses boredom, pain, and suffering. But he is going to keep the faith, because of the promise that he is holding out for. ("If there were no rewards to reap/no loving embrace to see me through/This tedious path I've chosen here/I certainly would've walked away by now") The guitars are heavy and fun to listen to, and blend well with the lyrics. Not only are the guys from Tool musicians, but they are artists with their words as well.
The next song is another instrumental number, called "Mantra." I wasn't sure what exactly a mantra was, so I looked it up. Webster calls it a "Hindu or Buddhist formula for reincarnation." It consists of low moans that are pretty creepy, leaving me wondering more and more just what this band is all about.
Moving in some kind of recognizable pattern, another Christian type of song comes up again. Song number five, "Schism" clearly talks about how failure to communicate means failure to bond together. The last sentence leaves us a warning: "Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy, any sense of compassion between supposed lovers/brothers." The Bible says that lovers once they are wed are to be bound together for life. But lack of communication can easily break that bond. Our brothers in Christ are extremely vital to the journey, and failure to communicate has a "tendency to atrophy," or tendency to waste away.
The next three songs are fairly cryptic, but also very clearly showing a dark side of Tool. The last of this trio, "Ticks and Leeches" gets pretty aggressive, and some harsh profanity is found here, although it isn't excessive. I'll admit that I actually didn't listen to this song. After reading the lyrics, I decided that there was a limit to what I would listen to as I am branching out into quite a different type of music.
The title track starts out with a fantastic intro beginning with someone softly plucking at an electric guitar, then moving to more frantic, heavy guitar action. The message shifts more to the theme of moving further inside the body: "Over thinking/ over analyzing separates the body from the mind." The lyrics continue to get more and more cryptic.
After another short track called "Disposition," the last "real" song on the album comes. It is also perhaps my favorite as well. It starts out with some good bass action and creative drums, and some synthetic guitars come in adding a spooky effect. There is quite a long instrumental section before any lyric. This is another one that has some Christian morals, calling people to "crucify the ego before it's far too late," although by now I am sure they are not coming from a Christian perspective at all. But that doesn't mean you can't get a good message out of it.
After the coolest instrumental song on the album, "Triad," Tool pulled something that is by far the freakiest thing that I've heard on the whole CD on the bonus track called "Faaip de Oiad" (once again an odd name that I don't understand). They played a recording by a former Area 51 employee that can hardly be heard through some kind of interference. He is talking about aliens of some sort and how they are going to invade the earth through the military and in big cities. I, personally, don't believe in aliens, however, I do believe in something else that he called them: "extradimensional beings," or demons/angels. I don't know what exactly this is, maybe he's demon possessed, maybe I'm wrong, and there are really aliens, or maybe this guy is just crazy.
The insert to this CD, as I alluded to earlier is also worth your time to check out. It is a picture of the upper half of a human body. It starts out showing muscles and veins, as well as four fiery eyes, one in the heart area, one in the throat, one outside of the head, and one in the hand. There is a big spiral with different colored flames going around it into the eye near the heart. Whatever this is supposed to mean, I don't know, but I do think that the eyes are positioned there for a reason. Your soul (heart), your deeds (hand), your words (throat), and your thoughts (head), are how you affect the world.
On the next page the fiery eyes and the spiral are gone, and what's left is the body and some of the images on pages to come, as each page is transparent.
Then, a body with the different bones is showing, and around 20 eyes with fiery eyebrows making a semi-circle above the character. There is also a circle behind the head with white lines cutting through it.
Next there is a body with the brain and lungs and other things on the inside showing, and there is a white star inside a white circle (different from the other white circle) just inside the mouth.
After that, the lungs and heart are opened up and the star type thing is gone. The page turns and the final page is revealed.
The body is finally removed, and there is a strange insignia that resembles a directional compass that you would find on a map telling you which way is north. There are many lines and circles making a pattern outside of this strange object.
Well, to sum it up, Lateralus is quite a journey to listen to. I did learn a lot from each of the songs, more than I learn from many Christian artists. It's sad, but a lot of the CCM artists these days do seem to stay inside the box to make sure that they don't step on any toes.
The music is very good. As I mentioned before, these guys really can play. However, I found that although it was fun to listen to, after a little bit the downcast atmosphere of the whole thing seemed almost overbearing.
Mark's Score: 4/5
Josh's Score: 4/5
Other coverage for this album
The Rebel Base 2002Reviewed by David MartinIt's calling me One repeating line, buried deep within the bowels of Tool's much talked-about epic Lateralus, perfectly describes the quandary this music reviewer found himself in a few months ago. When the infamous prog-metal band put out their first new album in five years, giving desperate fans their fix after a five-year hiatus, it seemed like everyone had something to say about it. Having…Similar sounding releases
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