Review Summary: The worst Tool album is still pretty damn good.
Tool: 10,000 Days Review
1. Vicarious (10/10)
This song is a classic Tool song. Even though the album may disappoint prior fans of the band, this song was a perfect way to kick it off, and a classic track of theirs. The lyrics of the song are attacking how we humans feel fear when we read things on the internet involving the suffering and death of others. Hence the lyric “vicariously I live while the whole world dies”. The climax at the end of the song is the strongest point of the entire album, leaving the listener awe struck. With quiet possibly some of the best lyrics that Tool has ever had, as well a destructive sounding climax, this song is perfect.
2. Jambi (8.5/10)
This is a good song, but it really cannot compare to Vicarious. The song (while the guitar is very fast) goes somewhat slow. While the drums are perfect, the lyrics are not, and the melody is not either. However, Jones has a talkbox oriented guitar solo in the middle of the song, which sounds amazing. It shows how underrated his talent is. After that, the song does get better, bringing us to the end of the track. While it ends strong, it still does not leave as much of a mark as Vicarious did.
3. Wings for Marie (Pt. 1)/10,000 Days (Pt. 2) (8.5/10)
Written about the death of Maynard’s mother, the two songs definitely have a darker vibe than the rest of the album. This rather hurts the track a little bit. Wings for Marie appears to be segue into 10,000 Days. The track introduces us to the sound of 10,000 Days through a general buildup of instruments. 10,000 Days without a doubt is a beautiful song, with a haunting sound to it. Maynard’s vocals are reflecting a mantra type sound that could not suit any other song as well as it does with this. 10,000 Days somewhat intensifies later on in the song that makes it even stronger than it was at the beginning. The problem with the two tracks is that together they run to become over 17 minutes in length, which eventually becomes boring and less fun to listen to. The track is still a good listen, and definitely a unique listen tool
4. The Pot (9.5/10)
This song kicks serious ass. Aside from Hooker with a Penis, this may be the most aggressive song from Tool. If 10,000 Days was supposed to set a ballad type mood for you, this song just tears it completely down. This song has a very intense sounding drum beat that goes along with the bass very well. And the guitars in the chorus are just fantastic. This is a phenomenal song.
5. Lipan Conjuring (-/10)
You can’t really rate fillers. However, this filler is probably the worst thing that Tool ever made. Unlike Ænima, which actually had some cool fillers, this one is terrible. It’s just a minute of chanting. An awful waste of space on the album. On Ænima, the fillers seemed to have been trying to enhance the songs that would follow. This adds to NOTHING!!!! This is definitely the album’s lowest point.
6. Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)/Rosetta Stoned (8/10)
So Lost Keys is a filler track that is supposed to do what the fillers on Ænima tried to do. Enhance the following song. With its guitar tone, it builds up mystically. There are vocals of a phone call with two doctors, which will eventually break into the track Rosetta Stoned. Rosetta Stoned is a song that you really need to make your own opinion about. I personally enjoyed the track a lot, greatly appreciating the way the song broke into the beginning, with the distorted guitar sound following the fast spoken vocals. The vocal tone is pretty cool too. The reason the song is extremely hit or miss is the fact that it bears quite a few similarities to their absolute masterpiece Third Eye. While Rosetta Stoned is good, it cannot compare to the beauty that is Third Eye, which is (arguably) the greatest track that Tool ever released. The biggest problem with the song is definitely the fact that after the first 2 minutes, the song becomes very boring and forgettable (unlike Third Eye). So this song would probably be a lot better if they cut some (a lot of time from it). Except for some reason, the ending is 10x better than the song. Typical Tool.
7. Intension (7.5/10)
This song has a REALLY weird beginning, being very wind chime, tribal drum, mantra type vocals, and bass influenced. Lipan Conjuring may have actually been an effective filler to this song, being the fact that both are really weird and give off the same vibe. As a whole, there’s really nothing about Intension that impresses me, more of the fact that the song bores me. The volume swells at the end of the song are coolish. This really showed to me that after the Pot the album never really got back to the brilliant sound that songs like Vicarious provided. However, it did.
8. Right in Two (10/10)
I get the feeling that this is an unpopular opinion, but this song is a complete masterpiece. The lyrics are illustrating how our society is destroying itself slowly, and damn do they do that well. The tribal drums created a really cool feel to the song, as eventually (when the guitar comes back in), the song creates a very destructive tone to it. I know that a lot of people never really cared for this track, but this is really one of the albums highlights.
9. Viginti Tres (-/10)
And we close the album with another filler. Unlike Third Eye and Faaip de Oiad, the ending of this album is very forgettable. I mean, Right in Two could’ve been a great closer on it’s own. But this song is literally 5 minutes of wind. Literally, this album closes with wind. Unbelievable.
So overall, while it is definitely not on the level of Ænima or Lateralus, it’s a good album that’s worth a listen. I personally think that Vicarious is the song that specifically saved the album the most, but if you’re a Tool fan, you would know that one already. I would also recommend the Pot and Right and Two, being the fact that those two songs are the greatest thing I’ve ever heard from Tool. However, the mediocre filler tracks and boring songs that fill up most of the album’s second half will bring down the overall rating of the album.
