ÆNIMA

While I am a big fan of Tool... I gave it a 3-star rating (Good, but non-essential) because Tool's sound is very iffy. It's arguable to whether they're progressive rock or not, as well. While their heaviness will turn off a ton of 70s progressive rock fans, and the lack of tehnical and/or bluesy and whammified solos will turn off a ton of metal fans... This band is still genius on it's own. Take murky metal with some progressive overtones and a dash of creativity, and a VERY charismatic frontman. Come on, who else around here is doing that? Okay, so we have a lot Tool imitators out there... But nobody can exactly get the same feel that Tool gives you.

On this album Maynard dumps the straight-foward angst themes. Still, this album displays a lot of emotions in its lyrics - but they're mainly about progression, or going from negative to positive. On the other note, the music seems to be going for a more atmospheric progressive typicalness, but it still definitely has Tool's sound.

To say whether this is a step up from Aenima is subjective. I think Aenima is better than Lateralus in ways, but I think Lateralus shows some improvements... and it's atleast different from Aenima... it's good that they are experimenting (although not as drastic of a change from Undertow to Aenima)...

Hm, I wonder what the next Tool record will be like?

Anyway, Tool have one of the most distinct of atmospheres and a fantastic drummer. I could care less if they tune in drop D and use a mountain of powerchords - infact, I like it! They made it work. In conclusion, if you don't mind a few powerchords, drop D tuning, and whiny (but very good) vocals, but like bands that can really set the mood for their music and are quite original, then Tool is for you!