10,000 DAYS

This is the next Tool album after the awesome Lateralus and it took five years to be released. The expectations on my side were accordingly high. Unfortunately the album was a heavy disappointment. It is very different to Lateralus in style, concept and (imo) quality.

Vicarious: I really like this track and it's my favourite of the album. It has the same feel as most Lateralus tracks, basing on riffs with complex rhythms and powerful vocal melodies. The problem, however, is that it seems a bit out of place on 10 000 Days. It would have been better to release this track on one of the Lateralus singles than on this album. When I saw them live a few months ago, Maynard "forgot" to sing the concluding chorus, which for me is the most important part of the song, I felt kind of let-down. 4.5/5 Jambi: This song starts with an odd guitar riff that at first seems interesting but soon becomes very annoying. The whole song features non-stop staccato muted riffs with silent and weak vocal melodies. In the middle, there is a talk box-solo which fails to make the song more interesting. 2/5 Wings For Marie, 10 000 Days: Now the big epic of the album starts. Both parts are very atmospheric and melodic. They have great build-ups until exploding in catchy riffs. The problem, however, is that both parts follow the same basic structure, just that the first is smaller and the second bigger. Additionally, for my taste, both take too long until something happens, that it feels a bit monotonous. 4/5 The Pot: This song sounds very fresh with freaky riffs and catchy melodies. The instrumentals breaks in the mid unfortunately do not add the extra "kick" to the whole, like in other Tool songs. 4/5 Lipan Conjuring: Unnecessary. 0.5/5 Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned: Lost Keys acts like the intro for Rosetta Stoned and live, they are always played together, so I rate them as one song. Here Tool is once again very innovative; it starts with long spacey sounding guitar notes eventually leading into a driven beat over which the effect-manipulated Maynard "raps". Soon, however, it becomes boring and odd lyrics destroy the atmosphere of the beginning. Once again, it is too long. 3/5 Intension: A very quiet song. It starts with tasty bass playing with whammy effects, guitar and vocals join in, but the song does not develop and stays on the same level for seven minutes which is definitely too long for such an intermission. 2/5 Right in Two: This is the last real track and is also calm in the beginning, but suddenly bursts out with a heavy riff before coming back to the former themes. This track is not too bad but fails certainly in closing the album. 3/5 Vigenti Tres: Like Lipan Conjuring, but five times as long. 0.5/5 Final Rating: A clear 3/5