September 17, 1996 - Ænima

A week after my last release and three and a half years since "Undertow", Tool released their second album "Ænima" on September 17, 1996. This was Tool's breakthrough album and it even reached #2 on the charts, which is pretty good for a band with next to no radio airplay. It's also the first album with their new bassist as Paul D'Amour is replaced by Justin Chancellor, but they still play the same unique style of metal. Let's listen to the latest from Tool!

The album opens with it's lead single "Stinkfist", which has some pretty raunchy lyrics for a single, considering this song is about fisting someone in the ass! Maynard James Keenan's singing is very quiet for most of this song, but he sounds great in the louder parts. Newcomer Chancellor plays some solid bass throughout the song and Danny Carey plays some pretty fantastic offbeat drums that keep you guessing and sound really cool. Adam Jones' guitar is fairly simple, but he is like David Gilmour in that he can make simple riffs sound so epic and awesome! The solo in this song is a perfect example: i' pretty sure he uses only three notes, but he still manages to rip off a pretty sweet solo! It's a pretty nice way to kick things off! Up next is "Eulogy" and it's got a slow and trippy opening with some interesting guitar effects. Carey lays down another nice drum beat and they slowly ramp into the main part of the song which starts with Maynard singing through a megaphone for an interesting effect. In this eight and a half minute song they nicely and progressively continue to build into a nice heavy riff. I love the lyric "You claimed all this time that you would die for me. Why then are you so surprised when you hear your own eulogy?" and Maynard delivers it really well. The last couple minutes are pretty fucking awesome, starting with another epic guitar solo by Jones. Everyone is heavily and nicely jamming and Maynard'a final lyric of the song is a "goodbyyyyyyyye!" that he holds for an insanely long time! A pretty impressive finish to a pretty impressive song. Track 3 is called "H." and it has a slow but trippy and pretty cool main riff that Maynard sings overtop in a great soft voice. When they eventually get heavier things sound pretty good and Carey is playing some awesome drum fills. After a trippy little guitar part they build nicely and snap into a heavy finale with some awesome guitar, bass and drums. Another pretty sweet tune! The next track is the first of several short interludes on this album and it's called "Useful Idiot". It's only 38 seconds long, but it just sounds like a record skipping at the end of the album for the whole 38 seconds. It leads right into another single titled "Forty-Six & 2" and Chancellor leads the way with a pretty cool bass riff that Jones and Carey build around for a solid main riff. Maynard sings softly at times and also yells nicely when the music gets heavier, he's just such a good singer. The less heavy parts still have a cool psychedelic vibe, and the heavier parts sound pretty great. Carey plays a short drum solo even and it's pretty sweet. It sets the stage for a great heavy finish to yet another pretty good track. Up next is "Message To Harry Manback" and it has the producer David Bottrill playing a soft piano riff that is not typical Tool, but it's a solid little piano riff. Overtop of the piano is a long phone message left by a friend of a friend of the band and boy is it angry! The person leaving this orofanity-laden message talks about hating Americans and actually saying "I hope somebody in your family dies soon". That's pretty fuckin' dark and it's definitely a strange little interlude. Track 7 is "Hooker With A Penis" and it's a fast-paced song with some great guitar by Adam Jones throughout. Maynard wrote this song in response to a fan that thought they "sold out to the man" with the release of "Undertow" and Maynard let's this fan have it in a hilarious and pretty badass way on this song. I love the chorus and how it ends with "so you can point that fucking finger up your ass!" I also love that the last lyrics are Maynard just belting out "Fuuuuuuuuck you buddy" and the hits just keep on rolling! The next song is "Intermission" and it's exactly that: an intermission at the halfway point of the album. Someone named Eban Schletter is the only person to play on this song and he plays an organ that sounds like an old-school intermission! I think it's pretty cool and he even shows off a bit at the end of this short song with some cool organ! It leads perfectly into track 9 "Jimmy" and Jones plays the same riff as the organ,but on guitar and this turns out to be the driving riff of this song as well! Chancellor plays some awesome bass in the background throughout the song and this a great showcase of how Tool weave together trippy and psychedelic lighter parts that make the really heavy parts Hot so much harder. Maynard's vocals work the same way and together it makes for a pretty cool song. The next interlude is another strange one and it has a German name and all German lyrics. It's called "Die Eier Von Satan", which translates to "the eggs of Satan". The song has a very industrial beat as Tool branch off onto more unfamiliar territory, but of course they make this factory-like riff sound pretty trippy and pretty cool. Someone named Marko Fox does the German lyrics on this song and translated, all the lyrics of this song are a recipe to make hash brownies,with an emphasis on the line "and no eggs". What Tool do brilliantly is make it sound like it's a Nazi rally. It could be quite frightening to hear, but don't worry folks, it's actually just a recipe! A very strange idea for a song, but they execute it perfectly. Track 11 is the ten minute "Pushit" and Jones plays a simple but cool guitar riff that everyone else builds around nicely to form a slow and space-y main riff. The heavy part that comes eventually sounds pretty good and then things shift to a really trippy new riff. Chancellor drives things along with a trippy bass riff and Jones and Carey both play some cool stuff as well while Maynard holds lots of long notes. As the guitar gets louder, Carey plays some pretty sweet drums and this builds nicely into a pretty sweet part that takes us all the way to the finish. It's a great way to end this prog-y song and there aren't even anything close to weak points on this album (interludes excluded). Speaking of strange interludes, up next is "Cesaro Summability" and it starts with a very high-pitched baby crying. It hurts a bit it's so shrill, and then the rest of the song is a very trippy noise on repeat. This might be the weirdest of all the interludes. Track 13 was also a single and it's the title track "Ænema". It's got a really catchy and heavy main riff and Carey plays some pretty great drums as well. Chancellor comes in with another great bassline and with Maynard's great singing it's hard to not to love this main riff. All the lyrics in this song are wonderful, but the first few lines sum it up pretty well: "Some say the end is near. Some say we'll see Armageddon soon. Certainly hope we will. I sure could use a vacation from this bullshit". Words don't do proper justice for this one, it's a really fucking good song just doesn't seem like enough. Every aspect and every part of this song is really freaking good. Tool continue to outdo themselves! The final interlude on the album is "(-) Ions" and it's really just four minutes of what sounds like a circuit pinging on a loop as well as some more trippy noises that sound like sheet metal being flapped around.  The circuit noise sounds interesting on headphones, as it seems like it travels to and from each ear, and this is a pretty trippy but also unexciting song. The album closes out with the near 14-minute "Third Eye" and it has a trippy opening which features a few different soundbites. Comedian Bill Hicks does a funny bit and there's also a line I love: "it's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom, keep that in mind at all times, thank you". Eventually things ramp into another cool Tool riff with some great contributions from everyone, especially some sweet-sounding guitar by Jones. Maynard holds another really long yell that sounds awesome and Chancellor's wicked bass drives things along while Jones plays lots of sweet guitar all over the place. Words don't do proper justice to the beautifully heavy music these guys play here. The drop from the heavy riff as Maynard sings "so good to see you" is so fucking good. Jones plays some magnificent guitar that isn't flashy at all but it just sounds so good! Maynard sounds great as well and his talking part sounds really epic as they slowly build things back up again. "Prying open my third eye!" hits nice and hard and when the song seems it might be over, they smoothly do it all again. This time they expertly build to a guitar solo where Jones plays some pretty epic stuff. They finish the song off with another round of "prying open my third eye!" and Tool have amazingly saved the best for last in a phenomenal finish to a pretty remarkable album.

That is the end of "Ænima" and I thought it was an absolutely fantastic album! Every song over three minutes (the non-interludes) was way above average and several of them were really fucking good! Even some of the interludes were cool! Justin Chancellor is a very welcome addition with a ton of great bass and everyone else is at the top of their game with lots of great drums, guitars and vocals to boot. What more can I say? This is like the top of the top! It blows their first album "Undertow" out of the water, and it's a great album too! I'm really excited to see where Tool go from here, they could'nt possibly top this, could they?