2),” are a sterling example of this and a two-part eulogy honoring Keenan’s departed mother, Judith Marie Garrison, the woman referred to in A Perfect Circle’s “Judith.” An aneurysm left Garrison paralyzed and complications from it led to her death 27 years – approximately 10,000 days – later. The third and fourth tracks, “Wings for Marie (Part 1)” and “10,000 Days (Wings pt. This time around, the words go straight to the gut instead of above the head. Well, his effects are back, but so are his Ãnima-era lyrics, singing style and place in the mix. Those who paid attention to his efforts with A Perfect Circle would have noticed he’s increasingly utilized vocal filters more as he’s aged. A significant number of those who had problems with Lateralus thought he spent too much time on top of rather than in the mix. So, what about the lyrics? In the minds of many, vocalist Maynard James Keenan was the wild card on this album.
This notion is especially credible on the second track “Jambi,” a love-it-or-hate-it piece full off-kilter rhythms and strange changes in tempo. His pace and accuracy are astonishing as usual, and his work on 10,000 Days is bound to inspire an entire generation of drummers and air drummers alike. The man puts on an exhibition every time he sits down he’s a drumming demigod, and he’s in top form throughout the album. It’s been said that Tool is Danny Carey’s band. Even for a group with the talent and vision of Tool, it’s hard to maintain that kind of power for the 70-plus minutes that Tool albums run. That’s not to say the rest of the record fails, but rather that “Vicarious” may be one of the best songs the band has ever produced.
Unfortunately, the track’s mood and delivery are unmatched anywhere else on the album. As the introduction winds down, a dramatic drop-in reminiscent of “Parabol”/”Parabola” introduces a rhythm that’s patently Tool and, though it feels like it would have fit in on Lateralus, contains the edge that made songs like “Sober” popular and satisfying. Easily the album’s most visceral track, it opens with a lilting guitar a la the titular effort of Lateralus atop a distorted, palm-muted arpeggio reminiscent of “The Patient” from the same album, and packs the punch of Ãnima’s title track. 10,000 Days still has the comfortable crunch Tool is known for, but it’s significantly heavier than Lateralus and has a newfound depth.ġ0,000 Days’ first single and opening track, “Vicarious,” is a punishing, aggressive and seamless synthesis of Tool’s past. Meshuggah is known for masterfully stacking severely downtuned, dissonant melodies on top of heavily distorted guitars playing tight, monolithic rhythms over drums that are played in anything but standard timing. The friendship makes itself known on 10,000 Days. With each imminent Tool album comes the question, “What will Tool sound like now?” It’s a fine thing to watch a band evolve, but the distanced, intellectual turn 2001’s Lateralus took left some fans feeling a twinge of disappointment because the album’s rhythms and lyrics were noticeably more cerebral and less visceral than those on 1992’s Undertow and 1996’s Ãnima.ĭuring the gap between albums, the guys from Tool were seen cavorting with members of Meshuggah and are admittedly big fans of the band’s music, sharing the stage with them for a time during the Lateralus tour. Three years from now, 10,000 Days will have left its impression on music, but on May 2 it made its mark. They sell millions of copies and influence thousands of artists, dozens of whom inevitably make it to the mainstream. Tool releases are a big deal in the world of music.