i am not in the feild professionally, (getting paid) but i deffenately think they (Tool)
are getting better as a band. the music is complicated where intended and lets each band member shine when needed. teamwork... can be a beautiful thing.

as for production and engineering i don't think they've done anything to far from the norm. i think the writing and structure of the songs commit more to what the album "sounds like" rather than someone mixing down and bringing it all together.

awesome piece of work.

one thing i've always loved about Tool; in other artist work you can see holes in the music.. where they could have done something a little more intense, or whatever adj. you would like to use, but Tool, is always fullfilling.