ÆNIMA

I'll rate myself a level 2 for Ænima by Tool. A friend of mine made me a CD copy of this album and Lateralus several years ago, but I rarely played it. I have an immense amount of respect for their musicianship and will enjoy a tune here or there on occasion. But Tool have always been a "small doses" band for me. Let me try to give it a fresh listen.

Track 1 - Stinkfist

Some soft percussive sounds establish a rhythm, followed by guitar feedback. This gives way to a heavy Rage Against the Machine type of groove. I have never been a big fan of Keenan's vocal style, but it's tolerable. This one is kind of repetitive, so far. The bass takes center stage after about 2:30, then guitar over the top. A variation on the riff happens around 3:40. The vocals are kind of in the background here. Not bad, not great.

Track 2 - Eulogy

A similar start to the first track, with soft percussion establishing a rhythm. The music begins to build very gradually. Guitar joins at around 2:00, followed by vocals with an effect. The music opens up at around 2:40. After the first chorus, the vocals get the effect again. The effect alternates with non-effected vocals. A guitar solo begins just before 5 minutes, then the bass takes over. The guitar riff and vocals come back in and carry the rest of the song.

Track 3 - H.

Big power chords start this one. Things chill out to more subtle playing when the vocals begin. Adam Jones sure likes pick scrapes?lol. Interesting accents during the verse. There is a 4-note guitar ostinato over the rhythm section around the 4-minute mark. I like the groove starting at roughly 4:45. Tool are good at creating moody soundscapes.

Track 4 - Useful Idiot

Just a brief 40 second interlude here. Sounds like static on a record, getting louder.

Track 5 - Forty-Six & 2

A nice riff to start us off. Maynard's vocals are kind of buried at first, then things open up at around 2 minutes. This one has a bit more complexity, rhythm-wise than the first few. We go into a 7-8 rhythm at around 4 minutes. Nice! This is my favorite track, so far. Pretty cool polyrhythms at around 5:30.

Track 6 - Message to Harry Manback

A soft piano and a voice that sounds like it's on a telephone. Can't understand all of it, but several F-Us in it. Only about 2 minutes long

Track 7 - Hooker with a Pen!s

A few seconds of sound effect then the riff begins. A bit reminiscent of Summertime Blues, but not exactly. High tempo. The rhythms keep changing. Lovely lyrics, lemme tell ya! Maynard has some issues he seems to be working out here?lol. I hope he's gone to therapy since.

Track 8 - Intermission

Some cheesy organ provides some comic relief after the last rage-fest.

Track 9 - Jimmy

A heavy guitar with a shifting complex meter opens this one. Some more mellow sections on this one that always seem ripe to explode at any moment. We seem to have locked into a 3-4 for a while now. Yep, the music exploded around 3:45. Pretty good track

Track 10 - Die Eier von Satan

Another short connecting track here, I believe. Electronic sounds with a rhythm, joined by guitar. Spoken word in German, I believe. Have we found an unused Rammstein demo? It starts sounding Hitler-like?Kind of scary.

Track 11 - Pushit

The second longest track at just under 10 minutes. More electronic sounds at the start of this one. The vocals start kind of quietly over the riff. The meter is complex. I believe this one is going to be a slow burn. It builds up one level around 2:45 in. Lots of anger again. Rhythm shift at around 4 minutes. A bit of a mellow interlude just before 5 minutes in. The dynamics increase at around 6 and a half minutes. Adam Jones' chords get less-restricted here. After a question-and-answer type section between instruments and vocals, the tempo increases before the ending.

Track 12 - Caesaro Summability

Baby crying sounds and then sound effects at first. Jones is doing a thing that sounds like a racecar accelerating.

Track 13 - Ænima

A whisper precedes the opening guitar riff. I haven't mentioned Carey's drumming, really but he's had nice grooves throughout, including the tom-tom beat here. Once again, Maynard has lots of angry F-Bombs for us. It was the 90s. Many a rock band was pissed off about something weren't they? Cool drumming at around 3 minutes in. Cleaner guitar around 5 minutes in. A big explosive ending section.

Track 14 - (-) Ions

Wind sound effects fading in at the start. Possibly a plane flying overhead? Some electronic buzzing joins the mix after a while. Thunder, now? A 4-minute sound effect interlude, I think

Track 15 - Third Eye

A big epic length closer here at nearly 14 minutes. Bill Hicks, the late comedian is doing a routine about musicians taking drugs. I believe Tool used to have him for an opening act. A bit more Bill Hicks?. The music is bubbling and building underneath, led by cool Carey drumming. Jones comes in with slide guitar, then gives way to the vocals. 6- 8 rhythm. Some screaming, then a slight shift in feel, while still in 6-8. Then we get some middle eastern style guitar licks for the solo. The rhythm section is insanely holding everything together. Justin Chancellor is quite the bassist as well. Call and response with power chords and whispered vocals in the middle of the song. Everything drops out except subtle bass drum and very soft vocals. We blow up at just under 9 minutes. More angry vocals then they bring it back down. I like what's happening at around 12 minutes. A huge ending is building up for the album. I like it better than the part where he is screaming about his 3rd eye that follows. But then the song ends in an explosion of power chords.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

Pretty good. The weakest tracks (excluding all the short interlude parts) were at the beginning of the album. It got better as we went along on the main tracks. I'm not sure what the need was for all of the little filler tracks was, but it drags things down for me. I stick with my previous assessment that I like Tool in smaller doses. And boy, there is so much anger here. All in all, I give high marks for the playing, but the lyrics/subject matter/mood of the album makes it difficult for me to listen to very much. 3.5 out of 5 stars. (a bit of a theme over the last few albums?)

Clicked 3 but really 3.5.