Tool band genre

Undertow , indeed, launched their obsession with tricky time signatures — but, crucially, also widescreen production and cinematic arrangements. Working again with Opiate producer-mixer Sylvia Massey, they reached a new level of studio craft, exploring a breadth of tonal colors. Just listen to the way his voice slithers around the word "stumbling" in fluid, dramatic swoops — the melodic equivalent of cursive writing.

Singles like "Sober" and "Prison Sex" — in heavy MTV rotation thanks in part to their brooding, stop-motion-animated videos — sounded like nothing else in heavy music. And the entire music industry — from radio programmers to critics to record executives — seemed unsure how to categorize the quartet.

The L. Times , in attempting to praise the emotional resonance of "Sober," delivered the song a backhanded compliment, writing that it "introduces an element of poignancy to go with the customary grunge-rock dread.

They got the first part right anyway. At its core, the song is a drop-D drone built around Paul D'Amour's solitary churning, harmonic-drenched bass chord; Jones alternates between clean-tone verses and distorted choruses, and Carey propels the track forward with his swooshing hi-hat groove.

Then there's the exorcism happening behind the mic, as Keenan vents in a counter-rhythmic cadence about a friend's battle with substance abuse. I don't tell people to do or not do drugs. You can do what you want, but you have to take responsibility for what happens. If you become addicted and a junkie, well, that's your fault.

Some critics took issue with Keenan's frequent use of graphic sexual imagery, which often led to Tool being miscategorized as overtly macho or, worse, insensitive to survivors of abuse. In reality, the frontman uses physical penetration as a metaphor for deeper angst — on the bluesy "Prison Sex," his analysis transcends jail cells, condemning how one torturous act of indignity usually breeds another.

The next step is to work though it. But this song is about the first step in that process, which is recognizing. The lyrical nuance here is unparalleled in prog metal. Consider the warped Biblical spin of a line like "Do unto others what has been done to you," with its bleak spin on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

Consider how "Released in this sodomy," when sung, sounds just as much like "Released inside of me. It's worth noting that the chorus of "Prison Sex" bears a coincidental resemblance with Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" — compare the ascending vocal lines of Keenan's "For one sweet moment I am whole" with Eddie Vedder's "Try to erase this from the blackboard.

Like all of Tool's subsequent albums, Undertow probably lasts 15 to 20 minutes longer than it needs to, and most of the filler feels designed to provoke squirming — from Henry Rollins' clunky spoken word on "Bottom" to the satirical sermon and chirping crickets that bookend "Disgustipated.

Outsider status be damned, the album still managed to go double-platinum in the U. Lateralus Volcano arrived that May, topping the Billboard Subsequent singles "Parabola" and "Lateralus" were favorites on the U. Rock charts, and the album soon went multi-platinum. After another several-year sabbatical -- during which time Keenan bounced back to A Perfect Circle -- the group returned with another chart-topper, 's 10, Days. Their most esoteric statement yet, the album spawned the singles "Vicarious," "Jambi," and U.

Mainstream Rock number one "The Pot. At the conclusion of touring, Tool began another extended hiatus. Although the band re-emerged for a brief summer tour in , it would be another ten years before fans could hear new music. During this period, Keenan debuted his de facto solo project, Puscifer , and returned for a third album with A Perfect Circle.

Behind the scenes, the band was also bogged down by a lawsuit that wouldn't be resolved until The next year, shaking off the cobwebs, Tool returned to the road for another quick jaunt in the U.

After an interminable year gap between albums, Tool returned in with their epic fifth album, Fear Inoculum. Their third straight chart-topper, the set also featured their second Hot placement to date, the ten-minute title track, which became the longest song to ever appear on that chart.

Meanwhile, for the first time, Tool made their entire discography available for streaming; this propelled all of their past albums back to the charts, breaking records in the process. They embarked on a sold-out arena tour of the U.

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