Tool – 10,000 Days

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Waiting for Tool to release an album can be an odd experience, especially if you happen to be a relative newcomer to the band’s legion of fans. On one hand you are curious about the musical direction the band has embarked on whilst making the album; if anything, listening to Tool’s album in chronological order bears testament to this. On the other, there is the odd mixture of information, disinformation, rumours, hearsay and whatnot, much of it, to the delight of the fans themselves, originating from the band itself (Maynard even issued a statement on the Internet saying that the people who downloaded the album ahead of the release date would be very surprised come May 2nd, leading many to assume that this was a decoy). So it was against this background that Tool’s latest offering, 10,000 Days came into the horizon.

The title, and the subsequent release of the track-listing, generated even more rumours. 10,000 Days? That title was almost normal by Tool standards. Consider the previous albums, EPs, etc – Undertow, Opiate, Ænima, Salival and Lateralus – and you begin to see how the title 10,000 Days seems almost out of place in their discography.

No matter. The album leaked on the Internet and, like bees are drawn to honey, was downloaded by those who have waited years for something new from Tool. I was amongst those who downloaded.

Vicarious, the opening track, is an odd song that will grow on most listeners. Upon hearing it for the first time, I was disappointed. Maynard’s vocals sounded muffled and the song sounded like something that was deemed inappropriate for Lateralus. Subsequent listens have resulted in this becoming probably my favourite offering of the album.

From this odd beginning, the album begins to take shape and the path Tool travelled becomes increasingly clear. Up until Ænima, it was clear that this was a band that was pissed off, certainly Maynard was. Lateralus saw them channelling the anger into a musical plain that can be described as ambient. The angry riffs and vocals were still there, but there was space for the listener to soak him or herself in before letting the anger take hold – sort of like Physical Graffiti Led Zeppelin meets Dark Side era Pink Floyd.

With 10,000 Days, it is different. The ambience is, thankfully, still there, but the attitude is missing. In comes an odd grasp of melody that was previously missing. When the listener first realizes this, it is disorienting, but – at the risk of repeating myself – subsequent listens are required to come to terms with it. And when that happens, it is a glorious feeling.

Central to this new sound – if I could call it that – is Maynard’s vocals. He was always angry – with society, with its materialism – but here he is vulnerable, and with the vulnerability comes a new dimension to his vocals. No where is this more evident than in the song titled The Pot. Drug references aside, it contains a vocal performance that is wonderful. If drummer, Danny Carrey’s drumming made Lateralus, then Maynard deserves the credit for making 10,000 Days a beautiful experience.

As for Danny himself, he is to Tool what John Bonham was to Led Zeppelin and what Keith Moon was to The Who. His odd rhythm patterns recall Lateralus, but it is evident that he continues to grow as an artist. Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor do their thing, but remain in the background. Adam, in particular, is very restrained with his lead work, conscious that there were greater things at play.

10,000 Days demands multiple listens, more so than Lateralus did. But that is the great thing about Tool; they take us where their vision – their pretentiousness – leads and we follow. With Days, like with Lateralus, we don’t complain.

I probably won’t with 10,000 Days as my MP3 player continues to play it on repeat.

It’s been worth the wait, ladies and gents.

© 2006 Theena Kumaragurunathan

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