Tool - 10,000 Days Options

[mrmcpheezy]

This album is due to come out May 2nd. It leaked a while ago, and I've been listening to it pretty much nonstop since getting it.

It's fucking pimpass. I like it a lot. I'll go track by track and review it, I guess.


Vicarious - This is the first single from the album. When I first heard it, I didn't like it much. I was disappointed with it. After hearing the whole album, though, I started liking it more. I understand it better now, I think, and I like it a lot more now than I did at first. Pretty heavy. Pretty catchy. I love the progression of the chorus vocal melody over the course of the song. Not my favorite from the album, but not too bad.

Jambi - Holy shit this song is awesome. It's starts with a heavily distorted, driving guitar part, and then becomes a more romantic song, though never losing it's edge. "I would wish it all away if I thought I'd lose you for just one day". After a couple verse/chorus passages, there's an extended solo of some sort. Some people think it's a guitar solo, some say it's maynard using a "voicebox". Personally, I have no idea what it is. The end of this song is what makes it so amazing. The last 45 seconds or so build incredibly and the song ends suddenly just as it reaches its highest point. The song ends with the line "just stay out of my way" screamed from maynard. Very intense.

Wings for Marie (pt. 1) - This song has some cool parts, but bores me as a whole. Most people think it's an intro to the next song (because of the pt1 and pt2 thing) but it almost feels to me that instead, the two tracks are two versions of the same song. I don't know. I really like some of the guitar work in this song, but it doesn't really do all that much for me. The songs ends with the line "it's time for us to let you go".

10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2) - This is one of my favorites. I love it. Here's some backstory: Maynard's mother was paralyzed and was in a wheel chair for 27 years until she died a few years back. 27 years is approximately 10,000 days. These two songs are about her. One of the major lines in this song is "ten thousan days in the fire is long enough, you're going home". Later, there's an amazing passage, the end of which is the song's main climax:

You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
shake your fist at the gates saying,
"I have come home now.
Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father
tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.
It's time now, my time now.
Give me my wings"


This song is about a woman who was paralyzed for 27 years, and what she would say when she finally reaches heaven. She was a very religious person, and though maynard has never come off as the religious type, it seems as though he hopes, for her sake, that her beliefs were right.

The song ends with the same music and a similar vocal section as the Wings for Marie. The last lines are:

"Should you see your maker's face tonight
look him in the eye, look him in the eye and tell him,
"I never lived a lie, never took a life,
but surely saved one.
Hallelujah.
It's time for you to bring me home."


The Pot - This song is weird. I like it, but it's weird. Maynard sings this crazy high pitched stuff, and there's a really jam band type bassline underneath it. The song is semi-undertow-ish, musically. "You musta been high" is repeated numerous times. Someone I know compared maynard's vocals to when a good friend comes in wearing a weird hat. At first, it's really odd, but after a while you get used to it, and after a while more you hardly even notice it. Most people either really love or really hate this song. I know a few people that like this song 10 times as much as any other song on the album. I'm one of the few that just thinks it's alright.

Lipan Conjuring - In this song, Maynard becomes native american for no apparent reason.

Lost Keys - This song starts with some dark ambience, and then a guitar part is played over that. After a while, there are two voices: a nurse and a doctor. I'm not sure exactly what they're saying, but at the end, the doctor is speaking to the patient, whose voice we never hear, saying "what's happened? tell me everything".

Rosetta Stoned - This song is heavy and driving as fuck. At the beginning maynard does some...growl rapping. I'm not really sure how else to describe it. Later his voice cleans up a little, and he begins singing a little more slowly and clearly. Some have guessed that in this song, he is the patient being spoken to in the first song, and that he becomes more lucid as the song goes on. He speaks of being spoken to by an alien of some sort, being told that he is the chosen one. He says:

"And after calming me down with some orange slices
and some needle spooning, the ET revealed to me
his singular purpose he said:
"You are the chosen one.
The one who will deliver the message.
A message of hope for those who should choose to hear it
and a warning for those who do not."

and later:

"Overwhelmed is what you would be, when placed in my position.
Such a heavy burden now to be.. the one.
Born to bare and read you all the details of our ending.
To write it down for all the world to see...
but I forgot my pen."

and still later:

"Strapped down on my bed.
Feet cold and eyes red.
I'm out of my head.
Am I alive or am I dead?
Sunkist and sudafed.
Gyroscopes and infrared.
Won't help the braindead.
Can't remember what they said.
God damn, I shit the bed."


"shit the bed" is one of the lines that repeats numerous times throughout the this song. Seriously. This song almost seems like a joke, lyrically. Musically I think it's quite impressive, especially the drumming from danny, but the lyrics aren't serious at all. I do really like a lot of the vocal effects though, except for the way they're used at the beginning of the song.

Anyway, moving on..


Intension - This song is very chill. It never builds up much. It's pretty mellow throughout. I don't mind it, but it's the song that I'm least familiar with. There aren't many parts that really grab my attention at all. I don't mind it, but I don't particularly like it.


Right in Two - Hell yes. Hell fucking yes. This song is my favorite from the album...and may soon be my favorite tool song ever. I cannot express how much I enjoy it. It's predominantly in 11/8 with a number of voices layered into it. The lyrics are awesome. There so many intense parts in this song. At one point there's a tabla solo from danny that goes on for a number of minutes before building and then exploding in one massive release point. The lyrics are quite interesting as well.

"Angels on the sideline,
puzzled and amused.
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they’re all confused.

Don’t these talking monkeys know that Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys.
Where there's one you're bound to divide it
right in two.

Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason,
And this is what they choose?

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys. Give them thumbs they forge a blade,
and where there's one they're bound to divide it
right in two."

I absolutely love this song.


Viginti Tres - This song is a lot like (-) ions for those of you who are familiar with their older work. It's basically the sounds of a storm. That's it. Short, boring, hardly worth listening to unless you're high, and then it seems like the end of the world. I don't like it at all.


So, there's some great stuff on this album. I'm still struggling to figure out how's it's all supposed to flow as a whole, though. That's the one thing I feel it's lacking at this point: whole album cohesiveness. We'll see how that develops as I continue listening to it, though.

So yeah. Everyone, get this album. Listen to it.

[Alex]

The cd case/booklet design is amazing.

[mrmcpheezy]

The cd case/booklet design is amazing.

I like it. I don't particularly like the pictures of the band members...but the artwork is insanely cool.