Some bands are amazing. An example of a great band is Metallica. Everyone has heard at least one of their songs (That probably being Enter Sandman from their Self-Titled Album.) Some bands are great but are lesser known. I will be talking about one of those, the band Tool. 

Tool was formed in 1990 in Los Angeles. The original lineup is Vocalist Maynard James Keenan, Guitarist Adam Jones, Drummer Danny Carrey, and Bassist Paul D’Amour. The only lineup change since they first started was Justin Chancellor replacing the Bassist in 1995. The band has 5 studio albums. They shifted artistically quite often. Their first studio album was Undertow. Undertow was released in 1993, and was more of a  heavy metal sound. Their second album, Ænima, was released in 1996 and they went for a more alternative metal type of music, Then by their third album, Lateralus, The band fully switched to progressive metal. 

One reason the band is so good is the lyrics. The lyrics often mean a lot more than they appear on the surface. For example, the song “Forty-Six and Two” from the album Ænima says the lyric,” Forty-six and Two” a lot. It is in the name after all. But if you look deeper into the lyrics the song is talking about an idea from psychoanalyst Carl Jung who proposed the idea that if humans evolve to have 2 more chromosomes it would get rid of a disharmonious state. Many of the songs have a deeper meaning than they would appear to have on the surface. 

  Another reason people like Tool is, well, the music. The drums, guitars, and vocals go well together and Maynard James Keenan harmonizes with some of the instruments on some songs. While many focus on the singer, the band Tool has a great overall sound. The setup they play live also reflects that. In most bands, the vocalist is in front of many of the instruments but Tool has the vocalist all the way at the back with the guitar and bass guitar being in the front. People love Tool for more than just their vocalist. Other bands, like Metallica, put a stronger emphasis on their vocals than Tool. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as James Hetfield screaming,”Gimme fuel, Gimme fire, Gimme that which I desire” is awesome. But many people just start talking about the vocalist and not about the rest of the band. With Tool, the other instruments are generally more memorable. The guitar on the song “Schism” from the album Lateralus is very memorable and amazing. 

Another great thing to note is just about how different and mysterious they are. Their songs have a lot of generally weird qualities. An example includes the song “Third Eye”, which included sound samples from comedian Bill Hicks. Another example is “Mantra” from Lateralus, which has the vocalist’s cat as an actual part of the song. The general mysterious nature of them also drags people in and amazes them. 

Tool albums can be found in many mediums. The most popular forms being CDs and Spotify. Some songs are not explicit, but many are and the general sound is aimed more towards teenagers and adults. So I would not listen to Tool with an 8 year old unless you know what content is included in the song you are listening to. I would advise starting from their first albums as progressive metal is hard to get into all at once. Once you do get into it though, it is amazing. Overall I rate the band 11/10.