Tool - Aenima
|
List Price: Our Price: $11.55 You Save: $7.43 (39%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.96 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Aenima
Free Music Review: Probably Tool's best album
Hit: 5 Stars
I first heard Tool when I saw the "Stinkfist" (excuse me. "Track #1") video on MTV. Sure it had cool claymation effects, but the thing that really seemed to stand out was the voice track. It was downright beautiful. True, I had heard his voice before on the Rage Against the Machine track "Know Your Enemy," but I hadn't made the connection yet. I later saw the videos for "Sober" and "AEnema" and I was hooked.Aenima came out in 96, and we still haven't seen a new Tool album, but I really don't seem to mind. All Tool tracks, whether they're from Aenima, Undertow or Opiate, have remarkable staying power. They're so different from contemporary music that they always seem fresh. There are two reasons for that, and they both revolve around Tool's singer, Maynard James Keenan.
Maynard has the best voice in the business. It's that simple. I've never heard another voice like it. The notes can reach to soprano-like registers, and once it comes down to a gutteral scream, he can truly chill the bones. The other reason for Maynard's supremacy in music today involves his lyrics. They're tailored more toward intellectuals, and when you know the story behind the songs, they have a completely different, more interesting meaning. A perfect example of this would be "46 & 2," the best song on the album. There is a lot of shadow imagery, and the normal person would not pick up on the true meaning. I read some books, and found out that 46 & 2 stands for the chromosome mapping of an evolved form of the human, capable of singular thought. The shadow also represents the darker side of one's self. Maynard makes the listener think about what they're listening to, and if you get it, it becomes much more of an experience.
Other highlights of this amazing record include "Third Eye," the 13 minute opus that closes the album, and "Aenema," a more comical tale about the hypocrisies of the state of California qand Maynard's wishes to see it sink into the Pacific Ocean. These songs, as well as all the other ones on the album provide a perfect mix of lyrics and guitar with a driving rhythm section. Every project involving Maynard Keenan has always been a special one, and Aenima is one of the best.
Free Music Review: More of a piece of fine art rather than a musical recording.
Hit: 5 Stars
I've had this album for about six months now, and I've listened to it every day since I've had it. This album is extremely well thought out, and to my surprise they've received a lot of negative criticism because of their 10 minute songs or "filler" tracks. Take the song Third Eye for example; there is no way the band could've made this song with depth without making it 13 minutes long. As for their "filler" (such as useful idiot and message to harry manback) tracks, they're there for a purpose, I won't give it away, but Tool put them there for a reason. Some people say the band-members in Tool have no talent. Well, I beg to differ. The lead singer, Maynard, has one of the best voices in modern rock, and to those who say he sucks, listen to that guy from Creed or Limp Bizkit, then tell me Maynard sucks again. Go ahead, I dare you. The guitarist, Adam Jones, I'm not going to say he's the best guitarist since Hendrix, but his simple yet intricate guitar riffs suit me fine. The bassist, Justin Chancellor, is pretty much the driving force in Tool, with his again, simple riffs. Now, the drummer of Tool, Danny Carey, is definately one of the best drummers ever. His unique style, and the way he can just hammer it like no other astounds me. Sadly, he is often overshadowed by the other band members. Now, on to the actual music. The lyrics are so beautiful, their songs have almost made me cry. People interpret Tool's songs in different ways. Every song of theirs means something different to everyone who hears it. They never say in interviews what a song means, rather they just give it to the fans for them to decide for themselves. Also, I've read some other reviews, and people said this is just for angst-ridden teenagers. Just a little background on myself, I listen to everything. Everything from Mozart to Shostakovich and Dave Matthews Band to The Beatles. So don't think I'm some dumb teenager who doesn't give a damn about music. Tool has talent, on so many different levels. I recommend this album to fans of Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin, and pretty much everyone in general. However, when you listen to this album, listen to it in small doses. Then, look up the lyrics for their songs, and go to a Tool web board or something. Just buy this album.Free Music Review: Who is the Pink Floyd of our generation?
Hit: 5 Stars
So, fifteen years from now, some of us will be raising teenagers who may be like us, who scour our parents record collections looking for something heady or trippy like I did when I wore out my dad's 'Dark Side of the Moon', 'Led Zeppelin II', and 'the Crazy World of Arthur Brown'.
I would love to say that Tool is an original band with no influences. But I know that to be incorrect. Tool has been inspired by many of the bands I listened through during that period in high school where i learned about what my parents experienced during the sixties. Disagree? Go see them live. I do not mean this as an insult. Tool has assumed the position as the premiere thinking man's rock and roll band (well, actually, they split that title with Radiohead). Splitting titles aside, I've got a feeling my kids will be listening to my Tool albums over my Radiohead allbums in the year 2020.
I think they are the most talented band recording music today, but I am biased. BUT - I want to know where Tool will place in the annals of rock. They will easily assume the position that Black Sabbath holds in twenty years. I love Metallica, but they're sort of the metal Lynyrd Skynyrd - wonderful rythyms, no psychedelia. I believe Tool will hold multiple classic rock parallels. They are both the Pink Floyd, the Black Sabbath of our generation, and I hope to see kids wearing their t-shirts for decades to come.
Now, onto how I rate the album in the discography of Tool. This is my SECOND favorite album, behind Lateralus. Both albums are drenched in creativity, but to me, the sole weak track on this album is worse than the weak track on Lateralus. 'Ticks and Leeches' is better than 'Jimmy'. And the other deciding factor - the trilogy that ends Lateralus is f-ing phenomenal. Not that this album doesn't merit attention. This album trumps the previous work of Paul D'amour with Justin Chancellor, awesome packaging, wonderful arrangements, and to me - the firdt full-on combination of heavy music and philosophy. We've got the ingenious theories of Terrence McKenna, Bill Hicks, and Timothy Leary taking on the questionable teachings of MTV and L. Ron Hubbard. Need I say more?
Free Music Review: Utterly compelling
Hit: 5 Stars
One would expect nothing less from a band with such a manifesto: 'Our goal remains to touch our audience on a deep, psychological level'.This is a truly groundbreaking work for the band, and for 'metal' as a whole, that rather poorly defined musical genre. Yet, Tool create and sustain their own, personal genre.
The album may be dark, with snatches of spite, justified anger and self-depreciation creeping subtely into the lyrics, yet the melancholy tendencies and anger are focused: the sheer intelligence driving these purveyors of rage is unquestionable, while the emotive and cathartic qulaities of the music only serve to entice and excite the listener further.
Of course,the music itself is breathtaking: prominently bass driven song dynamics underpin stellar drumming from one of the best in the business, along with inspirational guitar lines and Maynard's honey coated, steel wrought vocals.
Sadly,it is hard to fully praise this work without mentioning the songs themselves in some detail: loathe as I am to drag up an old cliche, in Aenima's case hearing really is believing.
However, a brief overview of the themes contained can easily differentiate this album from anything else recorded recently, possibly ever recorded: 'Stinkfist' concerns opening up to another person on a previously unexplored level, with the songs meaning delivered to us shrouded in a metaphor rather crudely suggested by the song's title, whilst Eulogy tackles the status of an unnamed friend who 'Had a lot of nothing to say' as a martyr, or otherwise.
Later tracks such as '46&2' and 'Aenima' explore Jungian philosophy and the hypothetical benefits of that 'hopeless hole' LA being 'flushed away' by a cataclysmic earthquake respectively.
In short, the album is a masterpiece of stunning musicianship and lyrical complexity-even incorporating excerpts from the late comedian Bill Hicks and numerous (criminally misunderstood, let alone necessary) segues into its fabric.
Tool not only challenge on a psychological level, they fully justify the price of the album: years on it still spins in my CD player every day.
Essential, compelling, unforgettable.
Free Music Review: "I'm the man, and you're the man, and he's the man as well"
Hit: 5 Stars
This is, and it will always be, the best of Tool. Even the seagues rock! Let me rate each track to prove my point:StinkFist (*****): This is one of the best tracks on the CD. It starts out with an atmospheric guitar riff and kicks into a catchy metal tune.
Eulogy (*****): This is one of the most intelligent songs ever written. Shows off their songwriting skills. It is sort of a ballad, in Tool form.
H. (***): Although this was the first song I ever heard by Tool, this song means nothing to me now. Good track, but listen to Amazon's thirty-second sample and you've pretty much heard the whole thing.
Useful Idiot (*): This is nothing but fuzz. It's like your own television going blank in your headphones (let's hope they're not trendsetters...)
Fourty Six and Two (****): Well, Chancellor is my favorite bassist ever to live, his work here is just flawless. Keenan's vocals are pretty limeted to "my shadow" and other boring phrases.
Message to Harry Manback (*****): For what it is, it is hilarious. It's really hard to take it seriously when there's piano in the background.
(Track seven) (*****): The name of this song has nothing to do with the song itself, it's about being a rock star and selling out. Very angry, heavy, angry, heavy, heavy, and angry.
Intermission (*): Sounds like Insane Clown Posse.
Jimmy (***): This song is a little bit hard to understand. What exactly is the significance of eleven?!
Die Eir Von Satan (**): A strange industrial tune, not quite my cup of tea.
Push It (*): Monotonous is all this is. Worst song on the record.
Cesaro Summability (*): Just a screaming baby, nothing special here.
AEnima (*****): This song just rocks. I see why it won a grammy in '96. A ballad about LA.
(-) Ions (*): Wind with occasional electric pulses.
Third Eye (****): If you have the guts to listen to a thirteen minute track, by all means do so, but I'd say check out something shorter.
It is really hard to pick a best song, StinkFist, Eulogy, Track Seven, and AEnima are tied as the best. This is Tool's best, Undertow is second, Lateralus is third, and I'm not a big fan of Opiate.