Lateralus

This was in consideration for my addition but there was already one Tool album. I love this album and it’s my favorite by tool. The instrumental rhythms are a winding rust of prog metal brilliance. The album is strong and yet tame. It’s forceful but done so proficiently it’s soothing to listen to. 9.0/10

The original list is infamously weak on metal, especially anything post-Metallica, and Lateralus is one of its most egregious snubs A remarkable and hypnotic prog metal album that deserves all of the hype. It’s ridiculously virtuosic yet still punchy and emotional. Schism is the song that blew up but the title track is the true highlight for me, especially the ‘bridge’ section where each instrument comes back in in a different time signature and the melodic lines weave together as it builds. Even ignoring the metric complexity and the constant Fibonacci sequence references throughout the song, the build just sounds so incredibly powerful

I kind of think you need to either be incredibly dumb or incredibly smart to like TOOL. I hope I'm the latter but I'm fine with being the former.

Can't do wrong with Tool for me. The rhytms, the heavyness and the atmosphere. It just speaks to me

Man I just really like Tool. I'm not smart enough to understand the lyrics, but boy do I love the music. I love playing "Guess the Time Signature!" on all the songs.

Ticks and leeches puts this to a 5 by itself.

This third album of Tool contains a lot of fantastic alternative metal songs with many (rhythm) twists and turns. A bit long though.

Fuck the "ni nu ni fa" guy hey. What does that shit even mean? Anyway, Tool is pretty objectively good. 4/5.

I maintain that this album could have been about 30 minutes shorter, but it’s a classic record at this point. Very deserved placement on this list, and much more than many of the post-2000 picks

Ya gotta give it up for TOOL. Cool stuff, fun time signatures, great use of dynamics. Maynard is a madman. Whole albums are a little exhausting to me though

Perfect, epic album.. One of the best ever.. Favorite song.. Ill go with Lateralus today ane not Schism..

Perfection

I grew up with a couple of Tool megafans in high school in the mid-90s, which gave me a bit of an aversion to them for a while. Something about the intensity of the fandom made it hard to approach the music on its own terms. But I got over that eventually, and I’m glad I did. Listening for myself, Lateralus quickly revealed itself as one of the most exciting, complete albums I know. It’s heavy without being numbingly aggressive, cerebral without being cold. The drumming alone is worth the price of admission. It's complex, unpredictable, yet never self-indulgent. Guitars and bass lock in perfectly, not just to show off, but to serve the structure and mood of each track. The whole album breathes, shifts, and surges with purpose. This is where everything Tool had been building toward came together: the raw power of Ænima, the refined intricacy of their later work, balanced perfectly. It’s loud, meditative, explosive, restrained and sometimes all at once. The lyrics dig deep into personal and philosophical territory without slipping into pretension. And it all just works. I could say so much more, but honestly, it’s all been said. Lateralus is a masterpiece of modern progressive metal, and one that never loses its emotional core. An essential listen, and one of the most glaring omissions from the original 1001 Albums list.

As I mentioned in my notes for the other Tool album on the user submitted list, I have made this band’s acquaintance a while ago but didn’t stick with it outside the bounds of the friend who was a fan. I kind of enjoyed this although it did rock a little harder than I might have felt like rocking. The musicianship was great, and there were songs I really liked even if I might not listen to this again.

Ah - nu-metal for the MENSA crowd. I thought that this album needed to be in this list. Just a densely-beautiful and surprising explosion of noise.

I don't hate Tool, but I find them overrated and I'm not much of a fan Keenan's vocals

Honestly I’m shocked. I never thought I’d enjoy a tool album but this one was actually pretty good. Just the right mix of metal and prog rock. Honestly I’m surprised I slept on tool for this long. Every time I’ve tried to listen to them I didn’t like it but this really worked.

Second Tool album in a week and this is more what I'd hoped for.

Never actually sat down to listen to TOOL before. I'm into it, kind of falls in between "weight lifting music for intellectuals" and "stoner sludgy," depending on the song.

Progressive metal, progressive rock, art rock, alternative metal. Ni fu ni fa.

TOOL lovers love their TOOL, and I don't mind it honestly, just solid heavy rock. As I commonly find in that genre it takes itself a little too seriously. The last item on this album also felt like a basic FU to my ears but at least it was short.

I don't typically gravitate to this type of stuff, but this was quite good. Intense, smartly crafted music. This does run long though, and would have benefited from dropping a couple of songs off the back half. Still, the quality is top notch overall. Definitely worth a listen. Fave Songs: Parabola, Schism, The Patient, The Grudge, Ticks & Leeches

Gotta have some TOOL 4 3

I remember playing through some of these tracks in Guitar Hero when I was younger and not being fully able to appreciate them at the time. Now, it’s easy to recognize the instrumental and compositional prowess of the band and how well-executed the ideas are on this LP. As a full album, however, I do think this collection of tracks suffers from pacing issues – the quieter, shorter interludes peppered in between the behemoth showstoppers introduce too much negative space between the melodically interesting moments.

Rating: 6/10

I know some people who are huge TOOL fans. TOOL is also very good at what they do. The music is compelling, but it's not something that I ever really listen to much.

Not my favorite Tool album

I prefer the other tool album to those one, but can always make room for this one on the list too.

Don’t like the voice sorry

It was a matter of time before TOOL appeared here. I have nothing against it, I even know some people who like it, and they (sometimes) are nice people.

It's a strange album because of the relaxing pauses it makes between tracks, as well as other "experimental" tracks that really detract from the album and seem like "filler". The relevant tracks or hits don't give you more or less than you expect and those are a pleasure to listen to with good instruments and good metal. 2.5 stars

I didn't hate it quite as much as I thought I would, but I didn't like it either. Just not my thing really. 2 stars.

I find that tool albums just trundle on, like a train that you don't want to be on and that has no destination. I've never got the hype and I still don't.

It was OK.

Not my kind of music at all

Well like what was I supposed to think of this? It was really long too. No thanks

Not for me

FFS 3rd Tool album and they're all exactly the same