10,000 Days
Well, as advertised, here's the first of two reviews of--what was for me--some of the most highly anticipated albums I've ever had to wait for in my life.
Tool's new CD, 10,000 Days, dropped last Tuesday, May 2nd. And in a week's time, it has managed to be the #1 selling album in the land. Proof that despite that half-decade hiatus, Tool fans were willing to wait. I know I was. In fact, I waited the whole five years. I first got into Tool right after the release of Lateralus in 2001.
And just like any and all of Tool's releases, this album does not disappoint. This band could never disappoint me, short of singing about tacos and tequila or, more realistically, kicking a member out. This album is goddamn amazing. And it starts with the packaging. The band has always taken an interesting stand on the packaging it's albums come in, but this one takes the cake. It comes in a wrap-around booklet with stereoscopic glasses that make the corresponding inside liner artwork and photography 3D. Truly wild. The name of the album is named 10,000 Days, but I can say with almost 100% certainty that the cover art is fashioned after "Roseta Stoned".
But onto the album, which is truly wild itself. Tool has always been focused on the power and effectiveness of the entire album rather than an album's length of tracks. It's very Pink Floyd of them. Not only do they create actual albums, they're damn good at it. I've stated on multiple occasions that Tool is an abnormal band that makes magnum opuses, not just albums or songs. You don't listen to a Tool album. You experience it.
This album not withstanding. Let's go track by track.
01 - "Vicarious"
Quintessential intro. The first notes from Adam's guitar and Justin's bass come alive, equipped with the same voice that have made them famous, reassuring the listener that the Tool sound has not vanished in 5 years. "Vicarious" is the closest thing Tool will get to a single. Especially on this album. And what a doozy this song is. Powerful attack from the strings, typical tom slapping Danny. And Maynard. Ahhh, Maynard--singing like a slippery serpant. This song has the most obvious meaning in the lyrics since Aenima's "Hooker With a Penis". Maynard's singing in the first-person about America's love of watching tragic events and reality television.
"Eye on the TV
'Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be, like
Killed by the husband
Drowned in the ocean
Shot by his own son
She used a poison
In his tea... kissed him goodbye
It's no fun 'til someone dies"
We all knew it was true. I know I did. But with Maynard singing it, it just brings whole new meaning behind it. The music is as strong as any Tool song in the past. This also features the most rampant drumming by Danny on the entire album. Gotta love the double bass.
"'Cause I need to watch things die... from a distance
Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies
(You all need it too, don't lie!)
18/20
02- "Jambi"
Musically, the song is brutal. Low down and powerful. The guitarline is gutteral low while the bass just chews away. Whenever I hear the intro, I envision a monster or beast on the prowl in the night. But when Maynard's lightened vocals come in, it dissways that. It continues eschewing for another 6 minutes. It gets slightly repetitive around the 5 minute marker, but it never gets boring.
15/20
03/04 - "Wings For Marie/10,000 Days (Wings Part 2)
I cannot believe this song. Even for how profusely I praise this band for it's ingenuity, I can't believe the band came up with a song as emotional and sullen as they came up with this. The two combined parts are nearly 14 minutes long. The song never really explodes into anything, keeping a crestfallen, quiet tone the entire length of time with one or two breaths of hardedge. "Wings For Marie" starts off with the band playing a very mournful riff while Maynard speak-sings some tributing words whisperlike softly. The band let's loose on a couple seconds before it transforms into "10,000 Days", which sees the band back to it's saddening riffs. Playing behind the band is the sound of a thunderstorm. Maynard starts singing a little louder, and getting louder and more emotional the more the song advances. This song has some of Maynard's most emotional, saddening, and best lyrics he's ever written. It shows him at a state we've never seen him, probably will ever see him again too. The whole song is a tithing tribute to his mother whom had perished during the time just before the band was going to enter the studio. The title "10,000 Days" refers to the fact that his mother had been living with paralysis from a stroke for over 27 years, or roughly (you guessed it) 10,000 days. And he holds nothing back in his singing or writing.
"10,000 days in the fire is long enough
You're going home.
Probably my favorite lyric in the entire song, and one of my favorites written by Maynard to date has to be when he let's loose a long tirade toward the middle-end of the track:
"You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fist at the gates saying,
'I have come home now!'
Fetch me the spirit, the son and the father,
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended."
The whole song is littered with absolute brilliance by Maynard
Full song lyrics for proof.
20/20
06 - "The Pot"
Holy shit. Is that really Maynard singing in the intro? Wild. And so quoteworthy.
"Who are you to wave your finger?
You must've been out your head
Eyehole deep in muddy waters
You practically raised the dead"
Justin unloads a heaping helping of bass in this song. It's amazing. The general feel of this song is something different. I mean, it's definitely a Tool song. But the general feel of the song is something I haven't come across in any other Tool song. It grooves along at a pace unbeknownst to Tool. But it kicks just as much as anything else. 20 bucks says this is the second single (if Tool decide on a second single).
17/20
07 - "Lipan Conjuring"
A minute of some weird African like chanting with some jingly percussion. Kooky in a way. I look at it like a segway from the first half of the album to the second.
08/09 - "Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)/Rosetta Stoned"
Another 14 minute combined track gem. Two on one album, how'd we get so lucky? It opens with some closed-throat like guitar wail (Which is actually Adam playing his guitar with a long copper pipe in front of his amp. Wow.) with some light guitaring over it. After 2 minutes of the wailing, the voice of a nurse conferring with a doctor about a patient comes through. The doctor goes in and says to "Tell me everything...". The copper pipe guitar wail ceases and a crunchy guitar line begins to play as a muffled Maynard speed speak-sings, insinuating the voice as the patient who was being met with in the intro. Musically, the song is a smash. I don't think the band has shown their professional musicianship this much since "Third Eye" on Aenima. I think the song is a new measure of Tool. It pushes the bar up a couple more notches. Their potential has been exceeded again by this song in every facet. Instant classic. Best song on the album, which is definitely saying something.
21/20
10 - "Intension"
Swaying like guitar and breathy vocals. This song is very soothing, which is needed after the maelstrom of "Rosetta Stoned". On it's own, this song would never stand up. But as a breather between the power tracks of the album, it works well. It reminds me a lot of "Disposition" on Lateralus. Essentially a track with no substance, yet still adds something to the album.
12/20
11 - "Right In Two"
Killer. This might be looked at as "Rosetta Stoned (redux)". It has the same tempo and manner as the track, but performed in a different mood. Around the middle of the track is when the band just explodes, like you've been waiting for them to the entire way, with the strings and drums (especially the drums) drilling away while Maynard sings in euphamisms about the senselessness of humans and their unfounded adoration of violence.
"Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground."
Next to "Wings", this song houses Maynard's best written lyrics on the album.
18/20
12 - "Viginti Tres"
Weird sweeping noises for 5 minutes. Weird way to end it, but the band put it on for a reason. (What reason, I don't know, but...)
Overall, this album is golden. Very broad and true to the Tool name. I haven't listened enough to fully place it in order of Tool albums. However, at this point, I'm willing to guess that it rests in 3rd place behind Aenima, and very very closely behind Lateralus. It might ascend to 2nd after all is said and done.
Album rating: 46/50
What depresses me is that it might be another 5 years until we hear the magic of this band again (if ever again). But I think Justin Chancellor really made some great sense of it in an interview I read recently:
"If a band [puts out an album a year], how can you evolve? How can you have anything new to say? Maybe you can, but I don't hear it. You win on one level and you lose on another level that way. With us, it sucks - you don't get any music for a long time, but when you do, it's something you can sink your teeth into. It lasts a little longer. Think of it like fast food - sure, it's instantly satisfying, but it doesn't really sort you out in the long run. I don't know which is better, but that's just how we roll, you could say."
That's certainly true with Tool. You can very audibly hear how the band evolves from album to album. But I'll still be counting down the days to a new album from them. I'll wait 10 years if necessary. They make some of the most astonishing music of this generation.
And in honor of the release, I changed my LJ layout to match my Tool-ism. Yeah, it's that good.
Tool's new CD, 10,000 Days, dropped last Tuesday, May 2nd. And in a week's time, it has managed to be the #1 selling album in the land. Proof that despite that half-decade hiatus, Tool fans were willing to wait. I know I was. In fact, I waited the whole five years. I first got into Tool right after the release of Lateralus in 2001.
And just like any and all of Tool's releases, this album does not disappoint. This band could never disappoint me, short of singing about tacos and tequila or, more realistically, kicking a member out. This album is goddamn amazing. And it starts with the packaging. The band has always taken an interesting stand on the packaging it's albums come in, but this one takes the cake. It comes in a wrap-around booklet with stereoscopic glasses that make the corresponding inside liner artwork and photography 3D. Truly wild. The name of the album is named 10,000 Days, but I can say with almost 100% certainty that the cover art is fashioned after "Roseta Stoned".
But onto the album, which is truly wild itself. Tool has always been focused on the power and effectiveness of the entire album rather than an album's length of tracks. It's very Pink Floyd of them. Not only do they create actual albums, they're damn good at it. I've stated on multiple occasions that Tool is an abnormal band that makes magnum opuses, not just albums or songs. You don't listen to a Tool album. You experience it.
This album not withstanding. Let's go track by track.
01 - "Vicarious"
Quintessential intro. The first notes from Adam's guitar and Justin's bass come alive, equipped with the same voice that have made them famous, reassuring the listener that the Tool sound has not vanished in 5 years. "Vicarious" is the closest thing Tool will get to a single. Especially on this album. And what a doozy this song is. Powerful attack from the strings, typical tom slapping Danny. And Maynard. Ahhh, Maynard--singing like a slippery serpant. This song has the most obvious meaning in the lyrics since Aenima's "Hooker With a Penis". Maynard's singing in the first-person about America's love of watching tragic events and reality television.
"Eye on the TV
'Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be, like
Killed by the husband
Drowned in the ocean
Shot by his own son
She used a poison
In his tea... kissed him goodbye
It's no fun 'til someone dies"
We all knew it was true. I know I did. But with Maynard singing it, it just brings whole new meaning behind it. The music is as strong as any Tool song in the past. This also features the most rampant drumming by Danny on the entire album. Gotta love the double bass.
"'Cause I need to watch things die... from a distance
Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies
(You all need it too, don't lie!)
18/20
02- "Jambi"
Musically, the song is brutal. Low down and powerful. The guitarline is gutteral low while the bass just chews away. Whenever I hear the intro, I envision a monster or beast on the prowl in the night. But when Maynard's lightened vocals come in, it dissways that. It continues eschewing for another 6 minutes. It gets slightly repetitive around the 5 minute marker, but it never gets boring.
15/20
03/04 - "Wings For Marie/10,000 Days (Wings Part 2)
I cannot believe this song. Even for how profusely I praise this band for it's ingenuity, I can't believe the band came up with a song as emotional and sullen as they came up with this. The two combined parts are nearly 14 minutes long. The song never really explodes into anything, keeping a crestfallen, quiet tone the entire length of time with one or two breaths of hardedge. "Wings For Marie" starts off with the band playing a very mournful riff while Maynard speak-sings some tributing words whisperlike softly. The band let's loose on a couple seconds before it transforms into "10,000 Days", which sees the band back to it's saddening riffs. Playing behind the band is the sound of a thunderstorm. Maynard starts singing a little louder, and getting louder and more emotional the more the song advances. This song has some of Maynard's most emotional, saddening, and best lyrics he's ever written. It shows him at a state we've never seen him, probably will ever see him again too. The whole song is a tithing tribute to his mother whom had perished during the time just before the band was going to enter the studio. The title "10,000 Days" refers to the fact that his mother had been living with paralysis from a stroke for over 27 years, or roughly (you guessed it) 10,000 days. And he holds nothing back in his singing or writing.
"10,000 days in the fire is long enough
You're going home.
Probably my favorite lyric in the entire song, and one of my favorites written by Maynard to date has to be when he let's loose a long tirade toward the middle-end of the track:
"You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fist at the gates saying,
'I have come home now!'
Fetch me the spirit, the son and the father,
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended."
The whole song is littered with absolute brilliance by Maynard
Full song lyrics for proof.
20/20
06 - "The Pot"
Holy shit. Is that really Maynard singing in the intro? Wild. And so quoteworthy.
"Who are you to wave your finger?
You must've been out your head
Eyehole deep in muddy waters
You practically raised the dead"
Justin unloads a heaping helping of bass in this song. It's amazing. The general feel of this song is something different. I mean, it's definitely a Tool song. But the general feel of the song is something I haven't come across in any other Tool song. It grooves along at a pace unbeknownst to Tool. But it kicks just as much as anything else. 20 bucks says this is the second single (if Tool decide on a second single).
17/20
07 - "Lipan Conjuring"
A minute of some weird African like chanting with some jingly percussion. Kooky in a way. I look at it like a segway from the first half of the album to the second.
08/09 - "Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)/Rosetta Stoned"
Another 14 minute combined track gem. Two on one album, how'd we get so lucky? It opens with some closed-throat like guitar wail (Which is actually Adam playing his guitar with a long copper pipe in front of his amp. Wow.) with some light guitaring over it. After 2 minutes of the wailing, the voice of a nurse conferring with a doctor about a patient comes through. The doctor goes in and says to "Tell me everything...". The copper pipe guitar wail ceases and a crunchy guitar line begins to play as a muffled Maynard speed speak-sings, insinuating the voice as the patient who was being met with in the intro. Musically, the song is a smash. I don't think the band has shown their professional musicianship this much since "Third Eye" on Aenima. I think the song is a new measure of Tool. It pushes the bar up a couple more notches. Their potential has been exceeded again by this song in every facet. Instant classic. Best song on the album, which is definitely saying something.
21/20
10 - "Intension"
Swaying like guitar and breathy vocals. This song is very soothing, which is needed after the maelstrom of "Rosetta Stoned". On it's own, this song would never stand up. But as a breather between the power tracks of the album, it works well. It reminds me a lot of "Disposition" on Lateralus. Essentially a track with no substance, yet still adds something to the album.
12/20
11 - "Right In Two"
Killer. This might be looked at as "Rosetta Stoned (redux)". It has the same tempo and manner as the track, but performed in a different mood. Around the middle of the track is when the band just explodes, like you've been waiting for them to the entire way, with the strings and drums (especially the drums) drilling away while Maynard sings in euphamisms about the senselessness of humans and their unfounded adoration of violence.
"Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground."
Next to "Wings", this song houses Maynard's best written lyrics on the album.
18/20
12 - "Viginti Tres"
Weird sweeping noises for 5 minutes. Weird way to end it, but the band put it on for a reason. (What reason, I don't know, but...)
Overall, this album is golden. Very broad and true to the Tool name. I haven't listened enough to fully place it in order of Tool albums. However, at this point, I'm willing to guess that it rests in 3rd place behind Aenima, and very very closely behind Lateralus. It might ascend to 2nd after all is said and done.
Album rating: 46/50
What depresses me is that it might be another 5 years until we hear the magic of this band again (if ever again). But I think Justin Chancellor really made some great sense of it in an interview I read recently:
"If a band [puts out an album a year], how can you evolve? How can you have anything new to say? Maybe you can, but I don't hear it. You win on one level and you lose on another level that way. With us, it sucks - you don't get any music for a long time, but when you do, it's something you can sink your teeth into. It lasts a little longer. Think of it like fast food - sure, it's instantly satisfying, but it doesn't really sort you out in the long run. I don't know which is better, but that's just how we roll, you could say."
That's certainly true with Tool. You can very audibly hear how the band evolves from album to album. But I'll still be counting down the days to a new album from them. I'll wait 10 years if necessary. They make some of the most astonishing music of this generation.
And in honor of the release, I changed my LJ layout to match my Tool-ism. Yeah, it's that good.