LATERALUS

Third studio album which was released in 2001. This is my first Tool album after many recommendations from friends, school friends and guitar forum fellows. And yes, since I am very into Dream Theater, Lateralus by Tool is one of the best progressive metal albums ever made.

My first impression of the album was when I looked at the cover. For you who don't know yet, the inner cover is the layers of human body. When I looking at it, I was thinking, ohh, this must be a progressive metal band. I also have asked some of my friends who are very into Tool. Most of them said, Lateralus is possibly the best album that can reflects the real character of Tool's music. Personally, I think besides progressive metal, Lateralus also contains some alternative metal/rock elements. But don't mistaken, the songs are just as heavy as progressive metal song can be.

The Grudge - What a great way to start the album, the intro of the song is really dark and heavy. The guitar sound is very dark and creating mysterious ambiences. And again, the song is very progressive, by looking at the time signature, 10/8, what a really unusual time signature. The drum riffs are very dynamic and change throughout the song, with heavy guitar rhythm. The vocal style is constant, always metal and dark. Really perfect and fits with the title, The Grudge.

Eon Blue Apocalypse - The song is rather short, just about one minute. In an interview, Eon Blue was Adam Jones's Great Dane that had cancer and died. The song is also rather simple, just guitar and bass for the whole song.

The Patient - Cool nice muted guitar intro along with wah-wah guitar sound. The vocal sound is also nice and mellow with slow drum riff. The energy of the song increased at 2:22, becoming heavier and metal, just great. Great vocal style and combination of cool melodic and drums. The style keeps constant until the song ends, however, the ending really good, with percussions and guitar part just like the intro.

Mantra - Another short song, just about one minute. I was freaked out when listened to this track for the first time, moreover, it was midnight. The track is just a weird sound like a slowed-down recording creating a sound like mantra being recited. Keenan stated the sound was the slowed-down recording of his Siamese cats being squeezed.

Schism - This is my favorite song and this is probably the most complicated song. The song won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance song. The time signature varies throughout the song, in this song, the time signature changes for about 20 times. The song starts with a nice mellow guitar line follows with cool bass line, very good, the time signature is 5/4. I always admire any drummer who can create and mastered such an amazing song with sick time signatures because I know its not easy to play a song with lots of time signature changes. The guitar solo has sound like Tom Morello's Audioslave, the song is Like A Stone, I don't know, that song was just passed through my head. The song ends with 4/4 time signature, very cool.

Parabol - A quite short song, but is the first part of a nine minutes song, since this song is directly connected with the next song, Parabola. Parabol is somewhat a mellow song, but very dark, and seems mysterious. The bass and guitar line is the same throughout the song, with nice slow/mellow vocal style.

Parabola - The continued song from Parabol, really different with Parabol. The energy of the song really high and very dynamic. The best part of this song, for me is the guitar rhythm and melody, just beautiful, with non-stop and dynamic drum riffs.

Ticks & Leeches - Cool drum intro with steady bass line. Slowly, the guitar volume brought up, really good, with also strange time signature. The drum riffs then becoming heavier with scream vocal sound. The song is also considered as one of the hardest vocal sound for the vocalist himself, as this song was rarely played at a concert because of its difficulties. With lots of screaming sound, he has to have a somewhat great stamina, that's why the song was rarely played.

Lateralus - Starts off with nice slow guitar line but changes when the drum section begins. The song is really metal and heavy, from four of the instruments (including vocal). This song is my second favorite song, really good musical composition.

Disposition - Not a very long song, but not very short as well, about four minutes. The bass line for the intro is really beautiful and good with guitar harmonics. The overall style is a slow song, no drum line whatsoever, just percussion sounds, simple but really has deep feeling.

Reflection - The first three minutes is instrumental section, means no vocal, just slow guitar, bass and drum lines. The vocal style is also dark and deep for the entire song. The coolest part is the guitar solo, simple but really fits the song, deep and mysterious.

Triad - It's a really strange song, with no vocal. The last two minutes is just empty, no any sound whatsoever, I was keep waiting for surprise, whether crazy guitar solo or sick drum riffs but there was nothing. However the instrumental part is pretty good, really has feeling in it.

Faaip de Oiad - The last song and somewhat short. The song is somewhat related with extra-terrestrial activity and Area 51 with a recorded sound about, like a interview with one of ET witness. Faaip de Oiad also means "the voice of God". The track ends with just like it was cut (the witness voice).

I give five giant stars to this album. Although at the first time, I don't really appreciate their music because its too strange for me at the first time, but lately, I can understand the real composition and concept behind it. Moreover, the hidden nuggets are extremely amazing, a masterpiece of progressive music.

Timur Imam Nugroho - Indonesia

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