(2021-08-05, 07:51 PM)Hurmanetar Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah I prefer just the Tool song without the video... a little grotesque... I think I kinda get the symbolism, but not visually pleasing to look at, but thats kind of part of the genre is to shake you out of your trance by disturbing you a little bit.
I had heard some Tool before and had heard the structure of their music was supposed to incorporate stuff from sacred geometry, but I didn't much care for it... only recently it came up on my music app while I was working and I found the long slow builds were good work music and then realized how spiritual and symbolic their lyrics are.... then I started liking them quite a bit.
I've been listening to Tool since 1996, when my uni mate introduced me to them via their recent (at the time) album Ænima. Wow. What an experience. It blew my mind, especially given my personal state of consciousness/growth at the time.
Then, he shared their earlier album Undertow with me. With the exception of one song, (
Prison Sex, which was just brilliant to me from the get-to) I wasn't very impressed. Slowly, though, as seems to have been your experience, it grew on me. Henry Rollins's spoken-word cameo in that album (on
Bottom) is now for me a treat, as is the song in which he appears.
We also listened a little together to their initial EP, Opiate, and, with the exception of one song (the title track, which I don't much care for), I was an immediate fan of that earliest of their releases. When I feel the need to get in touch with my rage, as well as various Rage Against the Machine songs (obviously),
Jerk-Off from that album is my go-to track.
I bought their Lateralus CD (remember CDs? I know you do) when it came out in 2001. By that point, my uni mate had stopped following them. I hadn't. That album didn't have the same immediate and intense appeal to me that Opiate and Ænima even more so had for me, but I still appreciated it, and it grew on me even more over time, and I now rate it pretty highly. I think the title track of that album is the one you're referring to as incorporating sacred geometry: as far as I understand, it's that some of the lyrics are phrased according to the Fibonacci sequence (I've confirmed for myself that they do; it's pretty recognisable when you listen for it). By the way, I really, really like this solo piano cover of that song, and I think you will too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOGCDc34m-4
It took me a while to realise that they'd released their album 10,000 Days quite a few years later, and while it remains my least favourite album of theirs,
The Pot is for me its stand-out track which very much is a personal favourite.
When Fear Innoculum came out a couple of years back I again wasn't
immediately fond of it, but it very quickly grew on me and now I rate it as a latter-day masterpiece. In particular, the drumming of Danny Carey - probably my favourite rock drummer of all time - really, really shines in this album.
Yes, Maynard's lyrics are very thoughtful and impregnated with spiritual meaning and allusions to evolutionary personal growth, speaking to a deeper dimension of life and reality. I don't often understand them, at least not fully, but they always in some way speak to me. The man is also a very impressive vocalist.
As for grotesque, yes, I fully agree. I attended one of their concerts at the Sydney Entertainment Centre early in this century, and they had visuals showing in the background, which I pretty much had to cover my eyes from as they were too gory for me to watch.
Despite its potency, I am not so sure that I should be listening to this type of music. There is perhaps a dark ("heavy") side to it which I sense and worry about, but hey, maybe that worry is entirely misplaced. The band is in any case exceptionally talented, both as a group and as individuals in that group.
So, maybe, keep on exploring their back catalogue. There are some real treasures to be found. I recommend in particular giving with their 1996 album Ænima, and/or their 1992 EP Opiate a good listen. I'll leave you with this one, which is perhaps (although it's really, really hard to choose) my favourite from that album. Here is: Pushit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGm72iNBF8E
It's especially gripping and poignant for me from around 8:20 onwards. Here are the lyrics from there up until the end:
"
If when I say I might fade like a sigh if I stay
You minimise my movement anyway
I must persuade you another way.
Pushin' and shovin' and pushin' and shovin'; pushin' me.
There's no love in fear!
Yeah, staring down the hole again.
Hands are on my back again.
Survival is my only friend.
Terrified of what may come.
Remember I will always love you
As I blow your f***in' throat away.
It will end no other way.
It will end no other way."