10,000 DAYS

I have to admit I am not a Maynard worshipper, but the majority of Tool and APC fanatics I come across are. I got into Tool around the release of Lateralus and even then when I had no idea what prog was I wasn't too fascinated like everyone else seemed to be. I recently found out why.

It's what a lot of people before have said as "filler", which happens to be the prominent feature of this album, and I fail to see the reason behind all this "filler". I could imagine it just being some kind of "alternative" facade with no meaning whatsoever and that's why I find it so freakin' annoying when that's the only conclusion I come to. The difference between filler by other artists and filler on this album is that by other artists it still can be accessible even if it isn't that great! Yet with Tool no matter how much sense it DOESN'T make, people seem to dismiss it as some sort of "artistic direction" that is just beautiful because "Maynard is God".

I was anticipating the release of this album and when I got my hands on it I was expecting something maybe a little different and that's what I got. BUT saying that, it's not the good kind of different, it's the forceful kind.. I don't know but it just seems as though they are running out of ideas but no matter what, even if they decide to make a full 70 minute one track album full of rubbish static noises (that seems to ring a bell..) their fans will always stick up for them. It's amazing when a band succeeds in having a solid fanbase for themselves, .. It gets a little too overboard when people blow an album like this totally out of proportion!

Throughout it feels as if there's just one massive build up and we're just getting ready to rock out... yet it's like a rollercoaster being derailed at the very end of a steep slope leaving us hanging. It definately starts of good with "Vicarious" but still the track reminds me of rehashed material and they aren't introducing anything new.

Now "Jambi" is probably up there as one of my favourite tracks from the album, maybe it's because it took me in a positive way, and the riffs seemed really tribal and new at the same time.

I'm not going to go in depth about "Wings For Marie" because it would be a waste of time... and that waste of time could be compared to listening to both parts of "Wings For Marie".

"The Pot" RULES! Woah this is undoubtedly my pick from 10,000 Days. What can I say, I just wish 10,000 Days was filled with nice little tunes like this one. I really liked the intro and I was taken by surprise by Maynard's high vocals which because of a comparison made by a friend when I showed it to him, now reminds me of Jon Anderson from "Yes". The bass is also standout, and because of the bassist guy I am I love it!

"Lipan Conjuring".....

"Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)" .....This makes even more sense than the last track!

"Rosetta Stoned" - Average.

"Intension" I'm pretty sure I don't care about this one, then again this is probably the less listened part of the album for me.

"Right In Two" It has a climax! Hooray! Still didn't capture my interest.

"Viginti Tres" Yeah... Maybe they should've stopped while they were ahead because this track is pointless to me, I mean who would listen to "Viginti Tres" and get pleasure out of it. What is the point of this track? What is going on? Doesn't sound like much to me.

Despite how negative I am I could imagine the good songs and even maybe average songs off 10,000 Days being amazing live and unfortunately that wasn't the first atmosphere I was to hear them in.

So this album starts of on a fairly good note, travels through the album inconsistantly, is actually quite atmospheric at times but there's never much going on which brings that aspect down, people overrate the hell out of it, there is too much filler and not enough action and something else I forgot to mention... Half a decade.. it took them to make this album, and I don't care if "Maynard" had this and that going on. As far as I know he had APC going on, which isn't THAT much.. Take a look at Frank Zappa, Buckethead or Devin Townsend and how consistant they are with their releases and good those releases are for that amount of time. Then you look at this and think 5 years.. wow that could be 5 awesome albums by another artist.

I think peoples praise is wasted on this band.