Review Summary: Tool has very talented musicians, but the album still feels like it's lacking something...
1 of 1 thought this review was well writtenI’ll start this off really simply; I was extremely reluctant to buy 10,000 Days. I’m not a fan of Tool, nor am I pleased with the way Tool has practically gotten a cult following, but after hearing Tool as an influence to some of my favorite bands (namely Chevelle) and after a friend was bragging about Lateralus, I decided to check them out. I’m sure every fan has their own favorite Tool album, Hard rock fans for Undertow, Alternative metal fans of Aenima, the mathematical sequencing fans of Lateralus, but I found after listening to a few tracks that 10,000 Days was the album for me.
1) Vicarious
I first heard Vicarious on Guitar Hero World Tour, and after playing it through Hard mode several times, I became a defendant fan of the song. Most of it is genius, from Jones’ guitar tunes to Maynard’s lyrics. To an extent, the song is brutally truthful about how people can feed off of others problems, from the TV or another source, and feel happy about it. All and all, this is an outstanding opener and track.
2) Jambi
Named after the Indonesian province that was split, Jambi is a song for any chugga-chugga harder rock fans, and the bass work is great on the song. The voice-box solo was an amazing contribution to the track, because without it, there wouldn’t be much excitement and uniqueness until the last 20 seconds. This song unlike Vicarious takes a few listens to get into.
3/4) Wings for Marie/10,000 Days
Wings for Marie and it’s following track 10,000 Days are written about Maynard’s mother, who suffered a cerebral aneurism when he was just 11 years old. She was paralyzed (or something among those lines) for 27 years (about 10,000 days) and critically ill. These two songs are very emotionally saddening but outstanding, and I wish that his vocals were more clearly able to hear. 10,000 Days is the better of the two tracks in my opinion, with improved bass, a CD record topping 11:13 timespan, and additional weather sound effects. Wings for Marie is more about saying goodbye, and 10,000 Days is more focused to Marie “gaining her wings” and begging to get into heaven which makes the titles somewhat confusing and misleading. Again, two great tracks.
5) The Pot
For a long time, The Pot was the only Tool song I’d heard, and for that time being I thought it was great. Then I heard the rest of the album. Wow. Not saying this is bad or anything, but not only is it more mainstream, it’s also way less interesting after a few listens of the whole album. If you are trying to just get into Tool, I would recommend this song for you
6) Lipan Conjuring
I’m pretty lenient on judging Tool’s segues, because they can turn out to be great atmospheric experiences such as Cesaro Summability, Mantra, or (-) Ions, but this track is a useless filler, and shouldn’t be on the album. I may not have a lot of time, but 1 minute and 11 seconds is enough to do something else more fun than listening to Native Americans chant.
7) Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)
Okay. Not only is the echo noise and guitar picking extremely catchy, but the conversation of the Nurse and Doctor is intriguing you to listen to the next track with more attention. Sadly, I almost like Lost Keys better than Rosetta Stoned altogether.
8) Rosetta Stoned
This track explains the awkward story of “Dr. Watson” and his patient who claims to have been abducted by aliens as “the chosen one” to tell Earth of it’s forecoming doom, though we can inference that his doctor seems to think he’s tripping on a drug (most likely DMT as mentioned in the song) To me the whole song depends on which side you take; the doctor or the patient. This song really only lyrically brilliant so, the middle instrumental section can become boring easily.
9) Intension
Intension is the softest song on the CD, and there isn’t really much to it except a break after the powerful, edgy song right before it. It’s still not a bad listen, when you want to get calmed down.
10) Right In Two
This song is amazing. The whole thing is somehow catchy in one way or another and never loses its focus. The song is about an angels’ view of how humans (referred to in the song as monkeys) have evolved so thoughtlessly and are now killing each other over stupid things, like land, money, and aspects of personal life. Where as Jambi was about 2 becoming 1, this is about 1 becoming 2. I can’t believe the song isn’t as popular as some others, cause it’s certainly better.
11) Viginti Tres
The title means 23 in Latin, and is rumored to be about the death of Julius Ceasar, and the moments leading up to it in soundscape. The only thing said in the song is a low-pitched “Ascisco;” another Latin word which means “to receive, take up, approve, or adopt.” If anyone has tried the iDoser challenge “Gate of Hades” this is a much less harmful but still creepy substitute if the same rules are applied. Although I wish an actual song ended the album, this still works too.
So that was it. 10,000 days is now over. When you get a chance, try and look in the stereoscopic glasses that come with the packaging. There’s some cool stuff in there.
OVERALL: 3.5/5
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:
Vicarious
Jambi
10,000 Days
Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned (If played back-to-back)
Right In Two
