For years, I dismissed Tool as "another bad modern headbanger band" without even having heard them, because I had a terribly closed mind towards new music. And it's a shame I wasted all that time on that mindset, because I missed out on some amazing music.
The music is heavy, with odd time signatures, polyrythms, and long jams on guitar. There is an obvious influence from the Larks-Red era of King Crimson, but the sound is not derivative. They have a very modern sound (although that era of King Crimson manages to avoid sounding dated quite well) and are very original and unique. Vicarious kicks the album off with a balls-to-the-wall start, and it doesn't let up. Keenan uses something he calls a "pipe-bomb microphone" on Jambi (from what I can tell, it's a guitar pickup inside a tube, although I'm sure there's more to it than that.) Next is the album's epic (although half of these songs have enough length to qualify for that title,) the Wings for Marie/10,000 Days suite. It's heavy and darkly mellow in all the right places, and doesn't get old even though it stretches out to nearly 20 minutes. After that comes the album's hit single The Pot with its convoluted bassline, executed with amazing precision. The rest of the album isn't quite as strong as the first half, although Rosetta Stoned is a great song. And that's not to say that the second half is not good, that's just saying that the first half is really hard to compete with.
This album comes highly recommended for fans of King Crimson, and fans of heavier rock in general. If complex timing and metal turn you off though, stay away from this one.
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