Is this the best Album of all time? – Lateralus by TOOL
Is this the best Album of all time? – TOOL is a legendary, American, alternative metal band. Their first record, Undertow, released in 1993, made decent headway commercially, especially with the aid of the single, “Sober”. Other highlights from this heavy album are “Prison Sex” and “Swamp Song”. This album was, however, not very revealing of their work to come, although it did feature some elements of their later songwriting.
Following up from Undertow is 1996’s AEnima, a great album which I rate highly. AEnima changed people’s perception of TOOL, showing their more melodic and art rock centred side, with songs like “Stinkfist”, and “Forty Six & 2”.
Released in 2001, Lateralus is TOOL’s most phenomenal, mind bending, transcendental record, providing hypnotic performances overlayed with hook after hook by Maynard James Keenan, and the focus of this article.
The record opens with the heavy and brutal track The Grudge, which, while having more tender moments, sets the dark tone of the rest of the album. It leads into an instrumental interlude and then The Patient, a more melodic and lyric focused track.
It is not long before we are then blessed with the exquisite opening bassline to Schism, one of TOOL’s best tracks, a culmination of everything that makes the band so appealing: odd time signatures, heavy riffs, melodic breakdowns, and a tense buildup leading to a satisfying release.
A more laid back song, Parabol, is next up, where Maynard James Keenan shows his mastery of the minor key, hammering in melancholy phrase after melancholy phrase (making use of the b6). All the while the instrumentation slowly increases in intensity until after a swell of feedback the listener is propelled into Parabola, a fast, whirling, rhythmic number, with some of the best lyrics on the album.
To follow is Ticks & Leeches, a violently intense track with even more brutality than the opener, featuring enraged screams from Maynard James Keenan. As all good TOOL songs, however, this song does feature a beautiful breakdown before a crescendo back into a hammering of the initial violence.
The title track opens with a quiet guitar sequence, with a rhythmic ostinato in the bass and drums soon to follow behind, building up into the main riff of the song. With grinding, complex rhythms juxtaposed with hauntingly beautiful melodies with insightful lyrics, Lateralus lulls the listener into a trance. It calls to mind a vast variety of influences, and is, in my opinion, the star song on the whole record, pulling together the concept, mood, and hypnosis the rest of the album presents. After the classic TOOL breakdown in this song, there is a moment at exactly 7:21 in the song which is TOOL’s greatest moment. An overdriven bass, with the most perfect of tones, launches the listener into a passage of music that is the most hypnotic on the whole album, where Maynard sings about embracing and losing oneself in the music, and how “we may just go where no one’s been”, which, along with the phrasing, is the most immaculate, complementary vocal performance I have ever heard.
Disposition and Reflection follow next, two tracks that once again flow into each other, which, while probably the worst two tracks on the album, are still magnificent, with beautiful instrumental sections and unforgettable hooks from Keenan.
Triad, the last song on the album (except for a last interlude), is a fitting end, a simple yet effective, psychedelic, chugging, riff heavy number that acts as a good closer.
Undoubtedly, TOOL peaked on Lateralus, with a masterful fusion of art rock and alternative metal, which they were clearly striving towards with AEnima.
I believe that this is the greatest album of all time. I believe it is a perfect album, rightfully deserving of a 10/10 score.
Least Favourite Tracks: N/A
Favourite Tracks: Lateralus, Schism, The Patient, Parabol/Parabola