jimbotron

these aren't in any order. i wish i could include them all...

stinkfist - the bridge is incredible, and it hits me on a deep level every time. Also, I can't get over how I hear "voices" in the music at the end, they sound like aliens or something, its just really well done. I've heard people criticize this song for its simplicity, but I think its beauty is in how much it communicates through its simplicity. this song grips you hard, and you aren't let go of until the end of the album.

flood - intense imagery. throwing everything from the past away because of a realization that its all wrong. fighting your way into the future with nothing, but this destruction is humbling, necessary, and inspiring. jesus would approve of this song.

third eye (live version is best i think) - i'll admit this song is a lot better if you've ever taken hallucinogens, but thats just because i think most people require some sort of hallucinogen to make the sort of inward journey he's talking about here. powerful song, beautiful juxtapositions, and a first step into the possibility of transcendence found in lateralus.

parabol/parabola - gotta have both. this song can be interpreted a lot of ways (of course they all can), and i don't even have one interpretation that i stick too. this song came to me at a time when i was beginning to question the nature of reality, who we really are, and what it means to be living here in a physical existence. the video is great too, ultimately inspiring, and beautiful. i have felt so many times what he means when he says "we barely remember who or what came before this precious moment, we are choosing to be here, right now, hold on, stay inside, this body, this body holding me, be my reminder here that i am not alone."

triad - this song could be called ascension or transcendence. at the end of lateralus, the protagonist is ready to jump to the next level (similar to what happens at the end of undertow and aenema). this song is that jump, and i can't think of a better way to musically "describe" what it is to transcend physical existence and dive into an incredibly enormous world that exists on a level above the physical. some of you know what i mean.

on another note, i find a song like flood inextricably linked to triad, as is third eye. they all have the same basic goal, but are performed by people who are living with different experiences and understandings at the time they are made. it is obvious that tool develops many spiritual understandings between aenema and lateralus, and this is definitely so with undertow as well. the beaty of tool is that songs, even albums, are only sections of one beautiful symphony. you could put undertow, aenema, and lateralus together as one album and it would work incredibly well.