ÆNIMA

I think this band deserves all the praise that's heaped upon them. While this album may at times be a little disturbing and graphic, the instrumental work is heavy, complex, dark and at times straight forward like a punch in the face. Great vocals and lyrics from Maynard. I like the 6 experimental tracks that begin with the fourth song "Useful Idiot" and then appear after every odd numbered track (6, 8,10,12 and 14). This album is dedicated to comedian Bill Hicks who can be heard doing his stand up work at the start of "Third Eye". Interesting that Alex Lifeson in an interview with "Guitar Legends" says he listened to this cd over and over, "I don't do that very often" he says. Alex also says "Tool have an interesting, intelligent approach to song construction and lyrics." He goes on to praise Adam Jones and lists the song "Third Eye" as one of his all time favourites.

"Stinkfist" opens the album with some bass and feedback before we are hit with a ton of bottom end. Vocals join in. Check out the bass after 2 1/2 minutes ! Some good headbanging moments on this one. "Eulogy" opens with tapping sounds as percussion comes in around 1 1/2 minutes. It's building. Guitar and drums 2 minutes in followed by vocals. It's built ! I like the way they contrast the heavy sections with the really heavy passages (haha). Scorching guitar solo 7 1/2 minutes in. "H." is dark and heavy to begin with. It settles as reserved vocals come in. This sounds so good. It kicks into a higher gear after 2 1/2 minutes. Hell has broken loose 5 minutes in ! It calms down again. "Useful Idiot" sounds like pulsating static that's getting louder. "Forty Six & 2" again sounds so amazing with the bass and low end sound. They're kicking it hard 2 minutes in. This is awesome ! Adam fires off some guitar fire before 3 minutes. Danny goes to work 4 1/2 minutes in. What an ending ! "Message To Happy Manback" is such a funny title. Pretty much spoken words throughout as an immigrant rants against the USA for sending him back home. "Hooker With A Penis" is on the other hand a disturbing title. Grinding guitar turns into a wall of sound quickly. Maynard spits out the lyrics. Check out the bass ! An unbridled velocity of fury 3 1/2 minutes in. "Intermission" features a keyboard melody with some organ.The keyboard melody is copied by a heavy guitar melody to start off the song "Jimmy". Nice. It settles quickly as vocals and a lot of bottom end come in. Grinding guitar 3 minutes in. A crushing soundscape follows.

"Die Eier Von Satan" means "The eggs of satan" in German. We hear this guy speaking in German giving us a recipe as the crown cheers in the background. Funny. In the beginning heavy industrial sounds are going on. Cool. "Pu[&*!#]" opens with grinding guitar as vocals come in and drums pound away. A calm after 5 minutes. It's great the way this song gets so powerful then lets up only to crash in again. Absolute rage after 9 minutes. "Cesaro Summability" opens with baby sounds that turn experimental. "Aenima" makes me shout "Oh yeah !" This is heavy duty man. The bass and drums are driving this bus right into hell ! "(-) Ions" is a 4 minute soundscape of what sounds at first like an atom bomb going off with the accompanying winds that go on and on with hurricane force. "Third Eye" is the almost 14 minute closer. After (and during) the humerous bit from Bill we get a heavy soundscape. Check out the guitar 2 minutes in as deep bass and drums throb. More power 4 minutes in as Maynard screams. Awesome sound 6 minutes in that becomes explosive. A calm 8 minutes in with spoken words. The storm is back 9 minutes in. More fantastic guitar 12 minutes in as we get more slabs of heavy sounds.

This really goes far beyond the Alternative rock music that existed when this came out in 1996. So complex and progressive, yet it has that Alternative attitude, sound and anger. By the way thankyou evenless for sending me a legitimate copy of the cd.