Tool “10,000 Days”

"Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies"
Tool - "Vicarious"

Seldom are the terms "thought-provoking" and "art," used to describe most music today. Without a doubt, they both apply to Tool.

With the group's 6th album, 10,000 Days, Tool continues to re-invent themselves through lyric-heavy, passionate songs. Perhaps that's why 10,000 Days reminds one more of their previous album Lateralus, and less of earlier works like Undertow. Each Tool album seems to have its own individual identity and meaning. Throwing one Tool song under the microscope seems to demean the rest of the album it belongs to. Despite the fact that a couple of songs here and there are single-worthy, the album has to be considered as a whole and not just the sum of all its parts.

So, in the "experience" that is 10,000 Days, there are several things worth noting. Tool has a reputation for deep, complex music, and this album is no different. To someone whose only kind-of listening, several songs on the album will sound similar. But as you listen to the album, especially when it's quiet and mellow around, you'll start to hear remarkable subtleties. This being said, if you're looking for a music quickie now and then, 10,000 Days may not be the album for you.

Maynard James Keenan once again shows a remarkable range and control in his voice throughout the whole album. He varies from angry and passionate to hauntingly quiet and without it seeming awkward or out of place. Danny Carey again delivers amazing drum work. While it's not as prominent as it was on Lateralus, it's a sound that helps define what Tool is.

Helping along with the idea that a Tool album is an experience and not simply a collection of songs in some random order is the inventive packaging the CD comes in. The flap of the case has two plastic lenses in it that are used as stereoscopic glasses to see the artwork within. It gives a 3-D effect to the pictures in the booklet, but it can take a while to figure out how to make your eyes "snap" to seeing it properly. It may be completely useless to anyone with any kind of eye problem. I don't think it's too hard, though, seeing as how I can see these images in 3-D but I have NEVER been able to get one of those stupid magic eye puzzles to work. I can't see the goddamn sailboat!

As far as the songs themselves, the first half of the album has a distinctly different feel than the second half. The CD starts with the single "Vicarious," which stands alone well. The high energy and driving beat continue with "Jambi," another excellent song in its own right. The 3rd track, "Wings for Marie (Part 1)" begins to take everything down slowly, weaning the listener down with softer melodies and sorrowful lyrics before giving you a taste of what's to come in the next track. "10,000 Days (Wings for Marie, Part 2)" continues with some of the same melodies but jacks it up to a higher crescendo before crashing down hard with a sad ending. Both parts are about Maynard's mother, Judith Marie Garrison, and about the time leading up to her death. His mother had suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed. It was 27 years between the stroke and the time when she died, which is approximately 10,000 days.

The CD seems to enter a different flavor here, with "The Pot," another excellent track, but overshadowed by the Wings for Marie opus. The next two tracks, "Lipan Conjuring" and "Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)" are both non-song tracks filled with spoken word, odd sounds and seem akin to Tool's other filler tracks like "Message to Harry Manback." "Lost Keys" however, is a lead-in to the next track, "Rosetta Stoned," and may be able to be thought of as part of it much like "Parabol" and "Parabola" were linked. "Intension" is another mellow song and serves as a nice left jab when the follow-up right hook that is "Right in Two" floors you, being one of the best songs on the album. It ends, like most Tool albums end, leaving you to sit thinking with another filler track called "Viginti Tres," being little more than recorded noise. Of all the filler tracks, only "Viginti Tres" has a feeling of it being a bit long, but since it's at the end of the album, it winds you down and is not really necessary to sit through.

Overall, for any Tool fan, this is of course a must buy. For someone who isn't familiar with the band, there are other albums I would recommend before giving 10,000 Days a shot, like Ænima or Lateralus. But this remains another great CD from an amazing band.

"Please forgive this bold suggestion:
Should you see your Maker's face tonight,
Look Him in the eye, look Him in the eye, and tell Him:
I never lived a lie, never took a life, but surely saved one.
Hallelujah, it's time for you to bring me home."
Tool - "10,000 Days (Wings for Marie, Part 2)"

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