10,000 DAYS

10,000 days (literally) translates into just over 27 years... isn't that how long it takes Tool to release an album?

Anyways, apparently the time was well spent, this album is fantastic. Following up Lateralus wasn't going to be easy, and this is pretty much about as good as they could do. The disc is home to two 10-minute+ songs and a variety of 5 minute tracks, as well as little bit of filler, but it's all good in the end.

The band seems to have a hit a nice little niche by now, with each album containing material that could fit on their prior albums, material that is completely new, and material that hints where the band is going. Not to meantion that all the parts are played to perfection. From the opening riff of VICARIOUS to the very end, it's easy to get lost in everything that's happening, and even as you listen to is one hundred times you can still find something you missed before.

As for the songs, some of the best come in the form of a more listener friendly Tool. THE POT and VICARIOUS were the two singles, and each one easily widdles it's way into your heart. JAMBI and RIGHT IN TWO are even better, as they're more inticrately constructed, and less "friendly" leaving Tool fans with more to listen to. The best parts of the album, however, are the longer tracks, WINGS and ROSETTA STONED. WINGS is actually two parts (WINGS FOR MARIE PT. 1 and the title track), the first of which slowly introduces the song as done formally by Parabol/Parabola, while 10,000 DAYS itself is much more haunting and heavy. An excellent track by all means, with some great vocal highlighting by Keenan, but we should know by now that Tool does not disappoint on title tracks. ROSETTA STONED, paired with LOST KEYS is the other epic. Harking back to the "Aenima" days, we see a much heavier, sparatic band than on the former tracks. The song seems a bit scattered at times, but is quite good in the end.

About LIPAN CONJURING and VIGINTI TRES it's also good to note that, yes, the tracks are filler, but LIPAN is kind of a nice intermission that eases you from one epic to the next. As for VIGINITI, it's a kind of strange outro to the album, about five minutes of zone-out time.

But hey, this is a great offering by a band that seems to be only getting better with time, hopefully their next will be as good, or even better. 4 stars, maybe not a masterpiece, but certainly the next thing to it.