MKnight82 Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 (edited) So I'm bored during quarantine, and with the new Tool album coming out a few weeks ago I figured I'd do a tool tribute here on the forum. I'm going to rank their albums from my least to most favorite. Feel free to comment and tear the list apart. (I'm only considering their main albums, not singles or box sets like Salival) #6 - 10,000 Days Year released - 2006 Best Single - The Pot Best Non Single - ??? This album just missed the mark for me. It had a very weird combination of having very commercialized feeling singles and just a bunch of ambient unstructured noise throughout the rest of the record. The tone of the instruments sound very similar to Lateralus, and honestly a lot of the album feels like a B side of Lateralus that wasn't good enough to make it on that record. I actually think Jambi is their most innovative and interesting song on this record, but The Pot is just too catchy not to list it as the best song on the record IMO. Vicarious is ok, but sounds like it was written to intentionally be a single for the radio. A lot of the rest of the record is unstructured and doesn't have any cohesion imo. The band really comes off uninspired in this outing. #5 - Opiate Year released - 1992 Best Single - Hush Best Non Single - Sweat This is kind of cheating, as technically this is an EP and not a full album, but I think most Tool fans consider this their first album. All of the songs are good on this album, but it definitely feels like Tool before they became Tool. I know some people that think this is their best album because its their heaviest sounding album, but I don't agree with that take. Its their most simple album, but has some very strong vocal performances from Maynard. In fact, most of the songs are structured around strong vocals from Maynard (something that would change later on as the instrumentation came more of the driving force of their songs). Hush is the only single from this record so its the top by default. I like that song but the opening track Sweat is probably my favorite on the whole album. #4 - Undertow Year released - 1993 Best Single - Prison Sex Best Non Single - Intolerance Right of the bat people are gonna be like, not Sober? I really like Sober, its a good song. However, I've gotten burned out on hearing it over the years, and it doesn't as a whole feel like a good representation of what the band is. That is likely because the song was written by Maynard with his band before Tool. On the contrary, Prison Sex holds up really well to this day, and shows their progression as a band towards the progressive rock style they've now mastered. This album as a whole is great, there really aren't any bad songs on it. Some of the songs were recorded and finished by the time Opiate was released but the band held them back for this album. I really like Intolerance as an opening track. The Lied, Cheat and Steal bridge in between the verse and chorus is really catchy. They played this song live when I saw them last year and it still holds up. #3 - Fear Inoculum Year released - 2019 Best Single - Pneuma Best Non Single - Descending This is their most complex record, which is its strength and at times its weakness. It is definitely not as heavy as some of their earlier albums, but it has a lot more structure and direction than 10,000 Days. On my first listen I had two major complaints about this album. First, a lot of the songs sound very similar, there wasn't enough diversity for me amongst the tracks. Second, Maynard's vocals at times feel shoehorned in on top of the music, which is understandable since I don't believe he wrote any of the vocals until all of the music had been written. Maynard also seems a little disinterested at times on this album. However, the musicianship is top notch, and once I listened to it more, the little differences amongst the tracks became very interesting to decipher. The album really grew on me over time and now I find myself listening to it almost every day. There are two singles out so far, and I think Pneuma is a superior song to Fear Inoculum. Like most of their albums, there are really no bad songs on the record. I think its nuts they won a grammy for 7empest which hasn't even been released as a single. Descending to me is my favorite other track on the album. The end where the bassline and drums are at full speed is one of the best riffs on the album. #2 - Aenima Year released - 1996 Best Single - 46 & 2 Best Non Single - Push it This is when Tool became Tool. Not coincidentally, this album is when bassist Justin Chancellor joined the band, and their journey towards progressive rock gods went into full gear. This was the first Tool album I ever heard, and its a brilliant record. There are REALLY no bad songs on this album. Its a cover to cover brilliant record, and its probably the best mesh of their earlier hard rock roots with the complexity they came to adopt. This album generated some of their most famous singles. My favorite is 46 & 2, but that's because I'm a sucker for a great bass line. However, anyone who wants to argue Aenema or Stinkfist are better tracks won't get an argument from me. They still use Stinkfist to close out shows live. The rest of the album is filled out with great tracks, but Pu**** is one of my favorite songs is their whole library. Yes its long, but it takes you on a journey that really pays off at the end. HWAP is probably the heaviest Tool song not on Opiate. Eulogy is another long but impressive track. Altogether a great album that reminds me of my high school days. I will say that I think this is Maynard at the height of his powers. His vocal performance on this album is great and he's still leading the direction of a lot of the songs. #1 - Lateralus Year released - 2001 Best Single - Lateralus Best Non Single - The Grudge This is their masterpiece. They nail the blend of complexity and heavy elements without getting too ambient or non structured. Every part of this album sounds like it was meant to be where it was. The opening track, the Grudge, sets you up perfectly for whats to come with its complex rhythms and crescendoing riffs until it explodes at the end. How is The Grudge not a single? Probably a top 10 overall Tool song. Schism is the most played Tool song on Spotify, and would probably be listed as a lot of people's favorite Tool song of all time. However, Lateralus to me is the greatest Tool song ever. Who can write a 9/8, 8/8, 7/8 time signature song that sounds so smooth? The bass line, the drums, the guitar, its all ridiculous catchy. Then you throw on Maynard's vocals which are performed to the Fibonacci sequence, and you're mind just gets blown at that point. The Patient and Parabola are also top end tracks that fill out this record to make it as good as it is. I have probably listening to this album cover to cover over 1,000 times. On a final note, this album really represents where the instrumentation started to outshine Maynard's vocal performance, and really made the band stronger. Edited April 2, 2020 by MKnight82 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minutemancl Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 All I know about Tool is that they have the best music video of all time: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlevinKelevra Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 all I really have to contribute here is to THANK YOU for not using the word "metal" in any of that. pretty much one of my top10 "piss me off" is when people say angry + distorted guitar = metal anyways, carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKnight82 Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 3 hours ago, SlevinKelevra said: all I really have to contribute here is to THANK YOU for not using the word "metal" in any of that. pretty much one of my top10 "piss me off" is when people say angry + distorted guitar = metal anyways, carry on. Well ya. Tool isn’t metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Fear Innoculum is definitely last. Lateralus is the best though. I'd put 10,000 Days above Undertow though. I was skeptical about it when it first came out, but when I actually looked at how many times I replay Vicarious, The Pot, Jambi, Wings for Marie, etc., it's an album I listen to a lot. More than Undertow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malfatron Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Smashmouth - Astro Lounge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacReady Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 I don't want to sound like a **** because Lawd knows I like music nobody else likes, but I have tried 10,000 times to get into Tool and every time I feel like every one of their songs sounds exactly the same. I feel constantly let down because every single one of their songs pretends to get somewhere only to fizzle out before it gets anywhere and they all sound exactly the same to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistakey Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 1. Undertow 2. Aenima 3. Opiate 4. Lateralus the rest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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