LATERALUS

Tool's Lateralus is for me the nearest there is to musical perfection. Melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, color, repetition and contrast all seem optimally balanced, creating a paradox of minimalism and complexity. It at once satisfies both my intellectual, progressive rock needs - each track being sufficiently long to be fully developed - and my primeval, heavy metal urges. The individual musicians performances complement each other, fitting together seamlessly like the parts of a finely tuned machine - the definitive example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The same applies to the overall effect of all of the individual tracks. "I know the pieces fit."