ÆNIMA

"Aenima" was a great leap forward for this american band, adding a great quantity of experimentation, progressive structures and also some silly things to their first full lenght album... The result was a milestone of experimental metal, and maybe one of the most important metal albums from the 90's. The stoner-based riffs mixed with some extreme influences, along with noise experimentation and progressive elements, made a great formula in "Aenima", although it was surpased later by the outstanding "Lateralus".

Sadly, here also started the interest fo the band of adding some silly tracks to the records, wich break the mood of Aenima in my opinion... Some people can find in cool, and I've heard another records like Devin Townsend's "Terria" where this kind of experiments are good, because their are a whole with the songs. But in "Aenima", I think that tracks like Useful Idion, Cesaro Summability and Ions don't add nothing really interesting to the album... And they are perfectly forgettable.

Nevetheless, the album is full with good songs... Eulogy, Forty Six & 2, Jimmy, Pushit, Aenema... A incredible digest of tech metal bullets , and although they are more friendly for the masses than other experimental metal bands like Voivod, Meshuggah or Neurosis, they are also a pleasure and a challenge for every prog-tech metal lover. The band was really incredible here too, every one of them sounding perfect. A special mention deserves Adam Jones, the man who gives more details and personality to the Tool's songs, and the great Maynard James Keenan, a man with a beautiful and fragile voice, but who is also able to sound rageful and powerful like a beast.

Conclusion: "Aenima" is an album wich deseves a special place in the 90's music... The band was able to develope the "Undertow" style in a new and even more attractive direction, offering a jewel for the experimental metal lovers, but also with a great hook for the masses. So although the album has some forgettable moments, in the form of four or five silly noisy tracks wich don't add any interest to the album, "Aenima" is an obligated stop to people who don't want to miss an important part of the modern day prog metal. A classic!

My rating: ****1/2

Share this TOOL review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to The Crow
• Report this review (#231879)
• Buy TOOL music online with PA partners
• Show all TOOL MP3/Stream
• Go to TOOL page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Ænima page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for TOOL related discussions