Aenima - Tool

Advantages: Amazing ablum and band
Disadvantages: Nothing

After the success of Tool’s 1993 debut album “Undertow”, the band was already receiving acclaim for the live stint on the third annual Lollapalooza festival and for their disturbing music videos for the songs “Sober” and “Prison Sex”. When it came time to record their sophomore effort “Aenima”, bassist Paul D’Amour left the band and was replaced by Englishman Justin Chancellor. When the band recruited David Botrill, the band wanted to broaden their ...
...done when it came to make a second album. Whereas most groups try to make a second album that was more accessible or stick to the formula that made their first album great, Tool didn’t do any of those things. Instead, they went to darker and more melodic territories to set the “Aenima” album further apart from their debut album. What Tool did was make on one of the best hard rock albums of the 1990s that broke more rules on how to rock harder with ... Read review

Advantages: This is Tool
Disadvantages: May be disturbing to some...

...My first experience of Aenima (but not Tool, having owned Lateralus for a good 6 months) was at a party some 5 weeks ago. Getting on for midnight, a group of us were gathered in the ridiculously deep sofas and dim lights of the front room, relaxing, chatting, and trying to avoid any of the manic vomiting that was going on elsewhere. Enter several girls who demanded we let them put on an album by 'Pink'... After refusing for a good five minutes, they ...
...hours. Everyone, except me, and Aenima virgin at this point, began to sing, in perfect (well, drunk-perfect) harmony, eyes half-closed like a well-stroked cat, and several people began to sway dangerously flexibly along. It was like watching a funeral, or a prayer by some strange cult, there was a solemnity to it that was... well, wierd. You see, the thing about Tool is, you never really absorb how good they are on the first few listens. At first, ... Read review

Advantages: Complex, original, amazing rock music with a difference.
Disadvantages: Takes a while to fully appreciate. Not to everyone’s tastes. Grrrr those four silly tracks!

...it with your ears... Aenima is the third album by Tool (following on from Opiate and Undertow). Like all their albums it is complex, sincere, difficult to categorise, and of course is amazing... Tool are defiantly anti-commercial. They do not release singles and they do not personally appear in their own videos (the videos are always really cool animations that have been worked on by a member of the band). The band like to remain fairly anonymous ...
...– they have Integrity. Aenima is an outstanding album. It sounds very different to any other music (apart from other Tool albums obviously) and is very original. All of the musical tracks are longer than people have to come to expect a song to be. They range from about five minutes to more then ten minutes long. There are 15 tracks comprising of the following: 1. Stinkfist 2. Eulogy 3. Useful Idiot 4. H 5. Forty Six & 2 6. Message to ... Read review

Advantages: Maynard James Keenan, Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, Adam Jones.
Disadvantages: -

...Used as a single when Aenima first came out, it is easily accessible, compared to the rest of Aenima. Great guitar and drums on this song. Perfect example of 'hard rock' Tool. 10/10 ***EULOGY*** This is a slightly longer song. It probably 'something you'll get used to'. The percussive introduction is great. Inspiring vocals by Maynard on this song, as well as great lyrical content. It'll be one of your favourites before long. 9.5/10 ***H*** ...
...firmly emplants the rest of the band as very, very talented musicians. Carey and Chancellor keep time together, with a very strong, rhythmic bassline, whilst Maynard once again provides his powerful vocals. Fitting end to a great album. 10/10 Aenima was the album of the nineties. ***Schism*** ... Read review

Advantages: Amazing
Disadvantages: some people just won't get it

This is it. This is the album that you're alive for. This is the reason that music was invented. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, has come anywhere near to this album. The first time you hear it (something that I wish I could do again), will be one of the most magical times of your life. Because you don't know whats coming next. And you can bet every time, that what is coming next, is not only stunning, but not what you were expecting. It's ...
...to me. It's been with me now for 8 years, and even now I could listen to it the whole way through and still not be bored. For the first 100 or so listens, this album will continue to get better, until eventually it reaches it's peak, and it will never ever fall from that height. Basically, if you are one of those people (like I am) who likes heavy music, yet has always also liked the melodic, more meaningful side, then this album is for you. And ... Read review