Tool - Lateralus (2001) #Review

Hello friends, in this opportunity I will present you one of the best albums of Progressive Metal, and besides the art rock, it is a complete work of art, for its complexity and artistic structure. Lateralus is the third album in the discography of Tool, band that had its beginnings in 1990 in the city of Los Angeles. And which has always maintained a unique sound, creative and mystical, with many mysteries and reflections. I highly recommend this production, no doubt you will like it, it is one of the best works of rock in general in the first decade of the present century.

Without disregarding the previous works, or later ones, it is undoubtedly "Lateralus" the best Tool album, since it covers a much greater complexity and a much bigger musical conception, in all the senses, in all the instruments. With this I mean that it is a structured album so that all its components have a meaning, leaving aside any aletoriority, the album presents a creative content in each of its elements, not only in its lyrics, but also in your concept, base, chords, rhythms, notes. Since all these are based on a mathematical structure, which many have already known, and is the succession of Fibonacci.

This album is based on Fibonacci, in its times and rhythms in most of the songs, and also makes use of this succession, in a hidden order, known as "The Holy Gift", promulgated by its fans, which they consider as the beginning of the album theme 6 (Parabol), and from it, applying fibonacci, we find the following songs. As a result we obtain the following order: 6, 7, 5, 8, 4, 9, 13, 1, 12, 2, 11, 3, 10. If we listen to the album in this order, we will perceive a continuous production in its majority, except small jumps, finally a long song. In case of this review, I will do it in the original order of the album, but I invite you to try the succession of Fibonacci.

1. This album starts with "The Grudge" , a great song, where the bass hypnotized us with its melody. It is a very complex subject, lyrically, and structurally, a great piece of progressive, with fascinating changes. Moments of tranquility, moments of aggressiveness and moments of very good progressive. A phenomenal start.

2. The second theme, is a small interlude, called; "Eon Blue Apocalypse", despite its short duration and limited mobility, so to speak. He has a very striking guitar.

3. The third song is called, "The Patient" , with a soft start that extends for just over 2 minutes, before the distortion starts. Despite this, this song maintains a smooth style, or that conveys its music to me. A theme with strong but relaxing riffs.

4. "Mantra", it is an interlude that will make us rest for a moment. Without much to say about it.

5. Continue, "Schism". Start with the bass, leaving a pretty good sound. Also including a fairly reflective lyric, about the current society. The combination between the bass and the guitar are impressive, creating a very hypnotizing melody. The favorite of many.

6. We continue with "Parabol", which is for many the first song of the album, if we listen to it in the order based on Fibonacci. Since it represents the middle of the album, but it is a song that could undoubtedly open any album, with a dark theme. And so it happens here, a dark calm composes this song, guided by the sound of the bass. Pleased enough and continues continuously to the next song.

7. Impressive the continuous change, between the previous one and the next, called "Parabola" , which starts with the storm, leaving aside the calm, and with some powerful riffs, a low hypnotize and some drums impressive. Where fury is the main theme, despite presenting us with a much calmer ending. One of the strongest points of the album, one of my favorites.

8. The next one is called, "Ticks & Leeches", it is considered the 4 song, following the Fibonacci spiral. A theme that starts soft, guided by the drums, creating an impressive atmosphere, increasing the pace every second, hypnotizing us, to then appear the voice, with much more fury than normal, in combination of good strong riffs. In the intermediate minutes the song slows down a lot, to get into a dark atmosphere, which will then explode the last minutes.

9. The next one is a majestic composition, and which gives it its name; "Lateralus", the best topic without a doubt. One of the most complex pieces, for its structure and creativity. Start slowly increasing pace, warning of a possible change, which occurs soon, with strong riffs and drums. It's a theme that wanders between fury and calm perfectly, under an impressive bass, and one of the best drummers of the decade, no doubt. The final riffs are very good. Lyrically it is a very complex song, again based on Fibonacci, since the syllables of his stanza is composed under this numerical succession.

10. A beautiful theme, very soft, is called; "Disposition" , which has a nice melody in the background, along with drums that relax a lot. It is a song of much reflection, a very quiet atmosphere.

11. Continue, "Reflection", with a very good start, led by the tones of the bass and the drums, mastery of both, that extends throughout the whole song. Which only shows distortion in the stanzas and in the final minutes. Anyway, it's a very hypnotizing and relaxing song because of its rhythm.

12. The next one, called "Triad", is the most powerful song on the album without a doubt. With really strong riffs and heavily distorted sound layers. Heartbreaking screams appear in the background, in spite of them, it is a mostly instrumental theme, despite its long duration, as I said, it is the most powerful musically. And it tells us the end of this album.

13. The last cut is called, "Faaip de Oiad" , although it is not a song as such, if it is not a recording of the radio program Art Bell's in which a worker is heard of Area 51 quite disturbed, which denounces a plan of extraterrestrial beings to govern humanity. A quite peculiar ending, and that shows us the themes and mysteries that attracts the band. A final out of the ordinary and unexpected for many, but for Tool, has an important meaning in his magnificent work.

In conclusion it is an incredible album, with very good music and composition. Leaving aside its conceptual bases, musically it is impressive, with some riffs quite moved in their majority, with one of the best drums, they have a very catchy rhythm throughout the entire album. The bass of tooll is very good, initiating several themes, with very mystical and relaxing bases. And as not to forget, the voices of Maynard James Keenan (Leader), are very good, loaded with enough mysticism, symbolism, calm and fury. Album very complete in all its styles.