Tool – Lateralus

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Have I written about this album before? I don’t think I have, but I am experiencing a mild form of déjà vu as I type this, so maybe that is the case. I have record of 20 album picks on this website so far if my hand counting is correct, with this one being the 21st. Perhaps I missed one from a year or more back? Who knows? Everything is cyclical. Or, perhaps everything is a spiral.

Many of my friends and other people my age seemed to get into Tool in their teenage years, with their albums Undertow (released in 1993) or Aenima (following in 1995). I was too busy listening to Nine Inch Nails, Underworld, and the Chemical Brothers, among other bands, to notice at the time I guess. It wasn’t until I hit A&B Sound one day after work and picked up Lateralus in the spring of 2001 that I had my first full dive into Tool’s heavy and hypnotic sound.

The first time I listened to Lateralus was on the CD I bought – sitting at the food court at Sunridge Mall. I was mesmerized. I could have walked to the train and headed home while listening to it, but I didn’t want to be distracted by that whole having to walk thing. I wanted to be a lump on a chair, ignoring the world moving around me, and consume the album. So I did.

I have come back to this album again and again and again over the past two plus decades, and it still holds up to the power and feeling the first listen gave me incredibly well. The entire flow of the album is impressive, ranging from quiet introspection to bombastic, aggressive noise. It goes back and forth in an almost hypnotic manner, often within the span of one song. I have my favourite tracks on the album, but I cannot put one song on without wanting to listen to the entire thing.

This is the album that made me a fan of the band. I have gotten every Tool album on its release since – a fairly easy feat since the band seems to go dormant for 6 to 8 years between these drops. I have also gone back and gotten into Aenima, which also has a place in my heart and mind. Lateralus still stands as the best of the Tool releases for me, though.

I have seen Tool live four times now – all at the Saddledome. Live, the band’s shows have been hit-and-miss for me, ranging from epic and transfixing to surprisingly dull and seemingly mailed in. Tool’s music – especially the interplay between the guitar and drums, is mathematical and complex. It doesn’t necessarily lend itself to a live, more ad-libbed environment.

Lateralus is the epitome of this. It’s precisely produced range from a claustrophobic echo in an empty room of solitude to full-on thunderous wall of sound just doesn’t translate well to a stadium venue full of other noises. Listen to this on your own, with headphones ideally, and immerse yourself. Nothing else quite hits the level of the production of this album. It could have been released 40 years ago, or it could be coming out tomorrow. Either way, it is timeless.

Cheers,
Evan

if there were no rewards to reap
no loving embrace to see me through
this tedious path I’ve chosen here
I certainly would’ve walked away
by now

Bonus viewing: TOOL The Patient live NJ *HQ AUDIO* spy glasses & condenser mic 02-26-2022