About me:Web Designer and fan of alternative music, snowboarding, films, books, festivals, art, computer game...
Member since:31.05.2001
Reviews:19
Members who trust:15
Review rated by 29 Ciao members on average: very helpful
There is a sure fire way to forget about the commercially manufactured abomination that is the charts and there is a way to forget about bandwagon hitchhikers that claim to be making ‘alternative’ music. The way to do this is to sit down with a Tool album in your stereo and listen to 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 by avoiding personal talk in interviews and the vocalist (Maynard James Keenan) has a constantly changing band identity – he always has a different outfit and might be bald one night or wearing one of a million wigs another. This is all because Tool want to concentrate only on the music and they want their music to be truly artistic. In other words – 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 Harry Manback 7. Hooker With A Penis 8. Intermission 9. Jimmy 10. Die Eier Von Satan 11. Pushit 12. Cesaro Summability 13. Aenema 14. (-) Ions 15. Third Eye
There are four tracks that seem fairly pointless – they are not actually songs but just weird things like ‘Message to Harry Manback’ which is simply a man speaking a message of hatred to someone over a slow piano sound… odd. The other tracks like this are ‘H’, ‘Intermission’ and ‘Cesaro Summability’. They are all very short and a bit annoying. Luckily they do not detract from how good the actual music tracks are. Just skip them!
Standout tracks include: ‘Stinkfist’ – the opening track is a slightly twisted song from the point of view of a fisting fetishist (accompanied by incredible music). ‘Eulogy’ has a really good beginning that builds up to a brilliant song and ‘Aenema’ is also a brilliant track which has a nice rolling drum sound. This track had a video made for it too (can sometimes be seen on mtv2). I also really love the track ’Forty Six and 2’ (it has an amazing chorus – well, as close to a chorus as Tool get).
I strongly recommend this album to people who are open minded about music and will appreciate something that really is alternative. Although it might take a few listens before you fully appreciate it you will find that the album is a really interesting and different approach to rock music. It’s damn good!
Good opinion, "those four tracks" I personally like, they stand out and proves that Tool are not just another band that everysong is over ten minutes long and soung practically the same. Good opinion. One thing I like about Tool is the fact that they are not well known and the less publicity they have.
Drew
vy metal band for the 1990s. Rather like Metallica circa...And Justice for All, the sound is focused heavily on texture, with vocals and guitars layered one atop the othe...
vy metal band for the 1990s. Rather like Metallica circa ...And Justice for All, the sound is focused heavily on texture, with vocals and guitars layered one atop the oth...
03.02.2004 21:34
I like the way its quite brief, somes up some of the outstanding songs on here, but i suppose i do like the detail of people explaining songs!!
19.12.2003 00:27
Crackin' album
14.12.2002 15:51
Good opinion, "those four tracks" I personally like, they stand out and proves that Tool are not just another band that everysong is over ten minutes long and soung practically the same. Good opinion. One thing I like about Tool is the fact that they are not well known and the less publicity they have. Drew