I wouldnt say hes bored tho, Maynard is definitely more reserved here which makes the moments he cuts in truly memorable.

Compared to their older stuff I can see why some find his vox underwhelming here. He picks his spots for sure. But the vox on Invincible and 7empest in particular add a lot more depth to those songs.

Hes using a more meditative tone in a lot of moments as opposed to being heavy and I think it pays off

Album Rating: 4.0

Just posting a comment to my brother who is in China spying on me via this thread.

Album Rating: 5.0

"Hes using a more meditative tone in a lot of moments as opposed to being heavy and I think it pays off"

I think on Culling Voices he pulls that perfectly too.

(and finally something positive...not bad for a 4.5er which I'm certain has a lot of complaints too lolol)

"(and finally something positive...not bad for a 4.5er which I'm certain has a lot of complaints too lolol)"

Could be a 5 in time but the interludes are such a turn off haha, similar complaint on aenima where I think it holds it back from being classic but the core content is brilliant

Album Rating: 5.0

I could have one or two complaints on that matter, but just won't give these fellas wood to burn.

So I'll just say I like 2 of those interludes (not considering Chocolato an interlude)

Album Rating: 3.0

Haha DDD you're awesome don't ever change bro

Album Rating: 5.0

LOL TKS I guess...I won't! Although change is good.

The Ænima interludes are much better than the ones here, glad they’re technically optional on FI

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm good with all the interludes bar Mockingbeat (which may not, strictly speaking, count as an interlude since it doesn't sit between two songs?)

Album Rating: 4.0

when you get to the likes of that hammer on part in "7empest" it stands out a lot more to me. [2]



That hammer on part is insanity. Literally the first time he ever made me go "what the fuuuuuuck".

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

The interludes/joke tracks on Aenima add to the album - esp 'Intermission' and 'Die Eier von Satan'



That was their creative peak - even the castoff ideas were worthy of your time

Album Rating: 5.0

@sitarhero



Haha! I did the same thing

He should’ve let loose like that way more tbh

Album Rating: 5.0

Nah, less is always more

Yea but here it was like waaaaaaaaaaaay less

Album Rating: 4.0

So I've been thinking how everyone, even those who like this album, largely agrees that this album is not very immediate. If there is anything of high quality here, it reveals itself over time. If this is good, it won't be obvious on first listen. Indeed, even the band themselves seem to think that, hence Maynard's comment about this requiring patience. So the question is, when you give it that first listen and it does indeed seem underwhelming, do you have any reason to trust that it will get better over time?



Normally, the fact that a band has said that it will take time, and that the majority of people who like the album said that it had to grow on them, is some reason to trust it will get better. Of course, that can be overridden if you just find your first listen to be not merely underwhelming but awful. But it strikes me that some people have merely found it underwhelming yet have not seemed optimistic about the possibility of it getting better on future listens. I'm curious about why that is. Here are some factors I can think of:



- the testimony of tools fans is given little weight due to their bad reputation. The worry is that tool fans so worship their band that they would say that this is an excellent grower even if it was a dud.



- the age of the band is such that it is easy to believe that they have just churned out a dud here.



- relatedly, the length of time between releases here makes it easy to believe that the band could just be out of their stride, and so easily produce a dud.



- Tool in general like to play with people, and it perhaps isn't past the realm of possibility that they might try and pass off a consciously phoned-in product as something great.

Album Rating: 4.0

Any other factors? Not trying to criticise anyone here. These can all be legitimate reasons to not give this thing the benefit of the doubt. And of course, you might give it the benefit of the doubt, listen more, and still not like it, as some people have experienced. And finally, I'm not trying to explain why people haven't actually gone ahead and listened to it more. For even if you were willing to give the album the benefit of the doubt, you might just have other priorities other than sitting through this lengthy record in the hope it will click. But it's possible to have an attitude like "first listen was pretty underwhelming. Not enough of a priority to come back to this but I understand that there's an okay chance I might enjoy it more on subsequent listens." Instead, first-listen dismissals are being portrayed as quite decisive. So it's the lack of trust/optimism rather than the lack of actual listening behaviour that I'm focusing on. Again, no critique here, just finding it interesting.

Im not really a big Tool fan but what I think is the hardest part for me about listening to this album is how little anything chances during the course of the album. Same tempo, same peace in the clean melodic riffs. Even when it gets heavy it is the same type of pattern most of the time with that dobblebass drumming underneath. I wish i liked this a lot more and im really glad most of the site and the fans enjoy it, but it just bores me to sleep.

Album Rating: 3.0

I like this cropped version of the album cover much better.

Album Rating: 5.0

A massive amount of effort exploring this thing is needed in order to fully grasp its full capacity, yeah.