Ænima

Yeeeah, this should have made the original list. Nuanced, adventurous and deeply dark. Thanks for sharing. Fave Songs: Stinkfist, Forty Six & 2, Eulogy, H.

I’m surprised that this was not on the list. Tool is one of the most respected prog/alt metal bands. This particular subgenre of metal is not my favorite, but I still enjoyed this album quite a bit.

I keep trying, but took still don't do anything for me

Not a huge fan, but these guys are extremely talented musicians like a few in the history of music.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Pushit, Ænema

A much more focused and intense (almost hardcore) effort than I was expecting from the band having only listened to 'Lateralus.' While I still prefer the more long-form efforts of the latter, this was an exhilarating listen and gave the band some room to shred and let loose for a bit. The interludes could be dropped (they're solely in the throwaway filler camp), and some of the arrangements tightened, but this LP still fucks heavy overall and that's what I needed today.

Never listened to Tool before. Positive surprise, energetic and creative.

If you like Pearl Jam and FNM then this is for you. I however don't.

Serious hard and heavy rock in the Sabbath zone. Shane the good lyrics are a little muffled. Not a bad choice for inclusion in the list.

I'm not a big Tool fan, but this album is just *that* fucking good. I remember seeing the video for Stinkfist on rage when it first came out, and just couldn't get enough of it. I was only 12 and could barely comprehend its brilliance. The song is a journey, with really distinct parts that tie together so well, and the video clip just tops it off. Fucking masterpiece. And the rest of the album isn't far behind. I still listen to it every other week. It reminds me of the mid-late 90s, when I was getting exposed to all this new music, trying pot, surfing on weekends, trying and failing to impress girls... it's the sound of my youth. I should repeat: I'm not really a Tool fan, I've heard their other albums *maybe* once each, but I totally GET this one. I swim in it. I drink it. I escape into it. I listen to it and forget about the rest of the world, forget about the daily bullshit 40 year olds put up with. 5/5.

I am not a tool fan

Would really like to like it, but after giving many chances to Tool, its definitely not my style

TOOL are expert architects of strange temples. That much is clear when Maynard's voice resonates from behind an edifice, or we find ourselves in atria neither suited for nor inhabitable by humans. That isn't the whole record, but whether the sensory organ is ear, heart, or third eye, it sees what it sees, not polyrhythm ratios. Sex is about angles; Doesn't make it math.

Nice choice. Thanks for suggesting.

Never a big Tool fan... Maybe that staticky ancient com system microphone voice wasn't a huge cliché back in 1996, along with many other kind of hacky dark rock tropes. Not terrible, not half bad really but not something I need a lot of in my life.

No explanation needed, since this was the album I introduced to you all. This is why I listen to music and create it.

TooL is just freaking awesome. I understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea, and I understand that many people might find it pretentious nobish music, but I can rock to this ANY day. One of the best live acts I've ever seen, and Ænima will always be my go-to TooL album.

With songs such as Stinkfist, Message to Harry Manback, and Hooker with a Penis... how can you not give this a 5?

I'm a TOOL.

People who like Tool REALLY like Tool. Definitely a band with a cult following. There have been songs here and there that I've thought were decent, but overall Tool's discography doesn't quite mesh with me. I don't dislike it, but I don't love it. I can sorta respect what they are doing though, they do seem to be trying to do things to the beat of their own drum and there are some surprising moments in the album that I would not have expected. Lyrically and thematically some of the juvenile humor is kinda cringe to me though. From the New Yorker: "There is a superficial similarity between Tool’s career and that of another nineties band that spiralled out into its own world. Radiohead, after a rock hit of its own (“Creep”), became one of the most celebrated British bands of all time, expanding its palette and ambition while cultivating a hip and highbrow sensibility. By contrast, there is something unpretentious about Tool’s artsy experiments, which have enough snap and snarl to sound terrific coming out of even the tinniest car speakers, and which seem calculated to delight both drug-addled weirdos and hyped-up dudes in skater jeans." I suppose I am fully into the hip and highbrow sensibility camp.

I personally think I prefer the proggier Lateralus, but this is still such a classic album that I'm shocked the list didn't already have.

Honestly surprised this didn't make the original list, because TOOL is such a "music lover's band", but a great addition that harkens to other entries such as NIN, Bauhaus, and King Crimson.

I am a TOOLER

Not my favorite Tool album by a long shot, but they are pretty undeniable. I'm enjoying Nu-metal more as I get older.

Amazing album! Atypical rythms, loud but hypnotizing

5/10. This was fine, but metal's not really my thing. Better than I expected though, considering that seeing an 80 minute metal album in my path was one of the things that made me take a hiatus from listening to user albums.

If you submitted this, don't take this review personal. I find this band extremely cringe, and I really couldn't care less about the gimmicky stuff with pi and the golden ratio that their fans put so much emphasis on. 3/10

One of the darkest, most ominous, complicated, twisted, and yet, in some strange way, gratifying masterpieces. It could only have been born in the 90s. Another unforgivable "oversight" on the original list

When I decided to continue this journey with the user submitted albums, I told myself I wouldn't force myself to listen to something that had no appeal for me. But then I realized that I would be a little sad if people didn't at least give the album I submitted a chance. So, I've modified my approach: I'll at least listen to a sampling of an album and then decide whether to listen to the whole thing. So that's what I did with this one. I listened to 4 random songs on it. And to be honest I can sort of see the appeal. There's more going on than I thought. But at the same time I confirmed this really isn't for me. Maybe if I was in a very particular mood, but overall I'm just not a fan of this style. 2 stars.