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Tool - Aenima Audio CD

A fair review of the Tool "Aenima" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Tool reviews here, or go back to the Tool tabs.

Tool Band: Tool
Title: Aenima
Rating:
Release Date: 1996-10-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Stinkfist 2: Eulogy 3: H. 4: Useful Idiot 5: Forty Six & 2 6: Message to Harry Manback 7: Hooker with a Penis 8: Intermission 9: Jimmy 10: Die Eier Von Satan 11: Pushit 12: Cesaro Summability 13: �nema 14: (-) Ions 15: Third Eye

Wonderful
Nothing else to say! Except Evans Blue or A perfect Circle, no band can be compared to Tool!.


Hard place to start, but the Best place to end
It is often dissonant and it's odd time signatures and complex song structures make this album more than just relaxing music. Tool is not the music that the majority hears and finds love for instantly. But it's involving music. The album is more of an full body and mind experience than a mere collection of songs. I think this is alot of inspired bands try to accomplish but its not easy.

Each song from the album has a way of reaching inside of you and holding a mirror infront of you. You come face to face with yourself, and not only Maynard's compelling lyrics but also the instrumentals' sheer power/ contemplative ambience bring you to another place.

Well that was kind of deep. The best part about this, is that once you do love it, the music can touch anyone on any level. No matter what your life is like, you will find something in Aenima. You will have a new perspective of yourself, the world and humanity as a whole. Pry open your third eye and give this album/ experience an oppourtunity to engulf you. .


Bad Reviews
Honestly, it comes off more like self-loathing than a music review. I am really confused by all the negative reviews Tool generates, mostly by intellectual baffoons who just want to show that they know how to use dialogue that most Tool fans won't even understand, much less care about. Tool is not for everyone, but they work very hard at what they do, and I think they do a pretty good job at it.


MODERN LED ZEPPELIN...YEP, I SAID IT.
It was an experiment that went right for them. This is TOOL's best CD ever produced. I was able to see this tour, and I never looked back. TOOL is by far my favorite band. I don't know if it's the mysticism, their music, the live shows or what, but they really do it well.

I think TOOL is our modern day LED ZEPPELIN.

If you've never heard TOOL before (I can't image you haven't), start with this one. Then LATERALUS, their second best. 10,000 DAYS was good, but not great, I think all the fillers pissed me off on that CD. So please experience this band. I don't know why there are a few haters rating this the way they are. I can't believe that someone could NOT like this. . . oh well, just flush them all away.


Do your really understand.. tool


That Tool's crowning acheivement to the masses on Amazon is Nick's review. Its really ironic. There on the front page of Aenima, Nick has over 1000 helpful votes, where he implores the reader to 'vote yes' to his review if they love tool and disagree with the 4. 5 stars. A review that appeals to the most superficial of impulsions.

Aenima is a phillisophical masterpiece. Stripping the body of flesh, it swarms into the psyche, and swims its way through the spiritual realm.
And what Tool see is dark and engrossing as it is beautiful and liberating.

The album's chaotic tug of war is spellbinding. And from what I have read of negative reviews is the source of most criticism.
Here is where the confusion lies. Tool is not a heavy metal band. They defy the verse chorus verse onslaught of this genre. This isnt armagedon whereby the listener is treated to wave after wave of explosions. Tool is more like a rattle snake, spitting, shaking, tensing and then finally biting your f~c(ing head off in the final exchange. This will bore listeners with a short attention span whilst completely enthralling the patient listeners. Most of Tool's crushing blows come in the final moments of their songs, which is obviously missed by people who tend to skip tracks halfway on their easily accessible ipods. I know, I too was guilty of this the first time round. But it was my brothers persistance that eluded me to the fact that I need to listen start to finish.

Here is a way for the short attention listeners to get started.
Start with
1. Stinkfist
2. Aenima
3. Hooker with a Penis
4. Forty Six and two
5. H.
6. Eulogy
(slowly develop an attention for the music this way)
Just listen to each one individually until cooked before proceeding to the next track.

For each track
After 2-3 listens a melody starts to reveal itself. . . a few more listens then turns into a few more swarming but striking melodies. . . then the lyrics bite. . . and finally once you start to abosrb the dynamics, it culminates into something much more mesmerising than anything you have heard before. Have you ever stared at one of those images which turn 3D if you concentrate hard enough. Or have you ever stared into the clear night sky and notice that the longer you stare the more stars that start to appear that you couldnt see before.
ITs there. . . it just takes time to train the senses. The reward is yours and yours alone.

After step 6 only then are you ready to embark on the album in its entirety as one cohesive ensemble. I am convinced you wont regret it. I cant believe I was stubborn enough all these years not to give this masterpiece my full attention. It took one weekend and now its been weeks I cant stop carrying it around.

And Nick. . .
well Nick makes this some sort of race. Dehumanizes, packages and serves this as a yes-no vote. Dare I say, even corrupts and profits.
What is the point. Just be thankful you had the mind to hear it.
.


You can see a complete list of all Tool discography, or go back to the Tool tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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