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Tool is by far my favorite band. The first CD I ever bought was their 2001 release Lateralus, which perhaps is their best album yet. I highly recommend the song "Lateralus" for non-fans to sample .

Tool isn't my favorite just because of their awesome, thought-provoking, carefully planned music. Their actions as a band are truly commendable. The wikipedia entry for Tool is as follows:

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Tool was formed in 1990 by vocalist Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Paul d'Amour, and drummer Danny Carey. They are a contemporary American rock band whose music includes elements of heavy metal, progressive rock, psychedelia and art rock.

Indicative of their varied and far-reaching influences (chiefly King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, and Progressive Rock Bands Pink Floyd, and Rush), their music features complex harmonic structures, unconventional time signatures, and borderline New Age subject matter. They may be the only popular musical group to have recorded songs about the mutation of DNA and geometric plane curves. Paul d'Amour left the band in 1995 and was replaced by Justin Chancellor of the UK band Peach in time for Tool's 1996 album Ænima.

Tool has long clashed with conventional television and radio due to their dark musical content and dry disposition: their first single from Ænima was at first shortened for radio play by broadcasting companies until overwhelming fan response compelled them to play the track uncut. The music video for that single, "Stinkfist," was consequently renamed by MTV America because of the title's suggestive nature to "Track #1." Though their Ænima singles received heavy radio play, their 2001 release Lateralus featured songs that averaged six and a half minutes in length, unwieldy for even the most pioneering of commercial radio disc jockeys. Additionally, the length of their most recent music video for the song "Parabola" clocked in at an unheard of ten and a half minutes, almost condemning it from being aired on mainstream music channels. Compounded with their aversion to appearing in their own music videos, these aspects of their collective personality makes the band's popularity especially peculiar.

Tool are currently working on their fourth full length album which is expected to be released by this year's end or the first quarter of 2005. Tourmates Fantômas and Meshuggah were cited as influences.

Many stories and rumours circulate this band, and they've been known to incite rumours themselves, encouraging fans and listeners to think for themselves.

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"They may be the only popular musical group to have recorded songs about the mutation of DNA and geometric plane curves." How awesome is that?

So, since this may be my last post on Hatrack, I advise that if you haven't listened to Tool, give them a chance to inspire you too.

[anticipation]Or, you can wait for their next album to come out, it should be out late this year, or early next year![/anticipation]



Edit: And they have quite an interesting website, at least the "Dissectional" half. -> http://toolband.com

[ September 29, 2004, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: kaioshin00 ]

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