Oddly, i bought LAteralus back when it came out in 2001, impulse buy after not being able to get Schism out of my head. I would put it on, and listen to Schism first, then i'd put it back to the beginning, and for some odd reason i would always fall asleep before making it past Parabol. Then i'd wake up andi swear i didn't rememer a thing.
So i just figured, boring.
Then just this past October of 03 i got Aenima and it blew my mind. Then i had to go back to my house (i'm in the dorms) and dig up Lateralus from where it was collecting dust. I figured, maybe i missed something the first time around. Boy did i. Lateralus as a complete album, is just the ultimate. I call it my album of hope lol. It's a transcendent experience, and that's what i listen to when i want to be uplifted.
Don't get me wrong though, i love all the albums, including Opiate with a passion. They all just take me to distinct places, which is one of the reasons i love Tool so much, n matter what mood i'm in, i can take one album and throw it in, and just be in that place without ever having to interrupt to skip any tracks. </rambling>
:)
I still take Aenima as my favorite. Maybe it's the negative/peaceful vibe that come from it. I tend to feel that Aenima musically fits my feelings better than the rest of them. I like Lateralis, but it's my least favorite of Tool's. That's right, I said it.
this is really interesting, because i would argue that a perfect circles new one is in the similar vein as lateralus . . .
its a lot more complex and a little harder to get in to, just like lateralus was . . .
remember, too, that most fans were expecting another aenima, or at least an extension of it . . . a lot of people (and id actually argue most people) were expecting the same thing with thirteenth step . . .
people dont like lateralus because its not what the expected, or what they like about TOOLs previous albums . . . the same applies to thirteenth step . . .
its either that, or these same people simply have no fucking taste or class what-so-ever . . .
peace and blessed be . . .
crow011 . . .
Tool still retains the sophisticated manner in which is: Tool. APC just seems to be experimenting, and dragging themselves to a lighter air on the music... more... new, clear cut. APC's 13th stepseems to just be in such a dramatically different direction that mer de noms...
Meanwhile... Lateralus and Ænima aren't too far off, if you look at it. Ænima is like more of a punishment, negative icing on the album as opposed to Lateralus, which is the positive version, the motivational...
IMO, the people who liked Tool for its sophistication liked Lateralus the most... but those metal heads who couldn't even understand the Fibonacci Sequence or come up with a damn thought of their own couldn't grasp the true meaning inside Lateralus.
I agree with what you said... but I don't like 13th step too much, and i LOVE Lateralus... even though I mostly listen to my albums alltogether, if I had to choose one, Lateralus all the way.
BTW my friend agrees with the above paragraph... good post though, you are right, it's mostly the weeding out between those who liked the mood and those who liked the meaning...
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When I have time, I'll post in here later...
Good thread though, just needed to post this to mentally remember it...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ÆnimaticEnigma
Ænima is like more of a punishment, negative icing on the album as opposed to Lateralus, which is the positive version, the motivational...
Are you suggesting that Ænima is primarily Tool's negative emotions being reflected through their music? So you think that H. is perhaps more emotionally sad and lamented then Lateralus' third track The Patient?
I'm not sure I agree with what you're saying. If that's what you're suggesting... I mean, I can understand the negative moments on Lateralus to be an acceptance of life and the consequences of communication... So perhaps they are trying to put it in a more positive way instead of calling on "meteor showers and tidal waves..."
Still I don't consider the two albums to be polar opposites... Perhaps Lateralus is an obvious progression on the themes and issues that are discovered, uncovered or explored (depending on how far you believe Tool had evolved their music at that point in time)... But what you seem to be saying is that they are using one to cancel out the other, to split and divide people into liking one or the other...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ÆnimaticEnigma
it's mostly the weeding out between those who liked the mood and those who liked the meaning...
Therefore, based on what I said earlier, I can easily say that I like both to a great degree... I can't pick one as being better than the other, because I believe that Lateralus simply evolved on a few basic themes that were put forward in Ænima... I would suggest that Lateralus wouldn't exist without Ænima preceeding it...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madklikor
That's why I like both of them... they are different, and in a sence, Lateralus wouldn't be as beautiful if Aenima, if this duality, this confrontation, hadn't exist before it. There is a sence of accomplishment on Lateralus that comes from Undertow and Aenima.
I fully agree with you and the others that explored this idea...
__________________ When the movie is over...
... and the movie goers have left en masse, the only sound you hear is the bang of chairs returning to their upright position .
Aenima always sounded great from the first time I listened to it. Even though I had no grasp of the tracks or meanings, the riffs just carried the album through for me. It got better and better as I got more into Tool, watched the videos, read the lyrics, but I think I've got about all I can out of it now. (I mean in understanding, I still love listening to it.)
Lateralus, on the other hand, I originally didn't get at all. The tracks blended together, the rhythms confused me and I couldn't get what the album was, as a whole. I think it was about the 5th or 6th time I listened through it started to make some sense. I have been listening to it for 3 years now, since it came out, and every time it means more. I still have a lot to take from it and I think the sheer depth lost me. I am starting to find my way.
I still don't have a favourite Tool album, although Opiate is fucking amazing. But so are Undertow, and Aenima, and Salival, and Lateralus. Hmmm... I think it depends on my state of mind at the time.
__________________ Nothing in the universe can be the same while somewhere, nobody knows where, a sheep which we have never seen may or may not have eaten a flower.
okay...whoever would call me a metal head for liking aenima more than lateralus needs to consider doing one thing...listening to ticks and leeches and triad. tell me that those songs aren't some of tool's heaviest ever. i will laugh in your face after i e-spit on you. as i've said before, aenima is my heart and lateralus is my soul. besides, aenima just so happens to be my favorite order of songs ever made. not just the order, you know. the songs. every minute beat of every measure every note every second, minute, hour and seventeen point five minutes of aenima is the best music i've ever heard. some days it stays on repeat in my car. i am also a musician. what first drew me to tool was my fascination with the world coming to an end, our eminent (and unavoidable) extinction as a species, and evolution. i was one of the lucky few to view the aenema video before salival (and everyone else i've ever known), and quickly drew that conclusion. i bought the album the next day and have been in love ever since. but to say that you don't love lateralus as well?... that's similar to loving cool and not whip.
from wut ive seen is that anyone who loves this style of music is going to have to love undertow and aenima, the energy and style is so strong. But lateralus is definatley a cd that the energy is hidden so u have to wait until about the third or fouth hearing to find that energy. I still love aenima more, but lateralus has definatley left its true and great impression on tool fans. The first time i heard "Reflection" i thought it was overwritten and trying to be a new 3rd eye but after giving it a few more chances i found what it means deeper into it and now i think its equal if not better than 3rd eye. Same with the grudge, i was dispaointed the first time i heard unlike stinkfist but now after giving it a few more goes i think its ALOT better than stinkfist. This is probably why Tool is so special.
from wut ive seen is that anyone who loves this style of music is going to have to love undertow and aenima, the energy and style is so strong. But lateralus is definatley a cd that the energy is hidden so u have to wait until about the third or fouth hearing to find that energy. I still love aenima more, but lateralus has definatley left its true and great impression on tool fans. The first time i heard "Reflection" i thought it was overwritten and trying to be a new 3rd eye but after giving it a few more chances i found what it means deeper into it and now i think its equal if not better than 3rd eye. Same with the grudge, i was dispaointed the first time i heard unlike stinkfist but now after giving it a few more goes i think its ALOT better than stinkfist. This is probably why Tool is so special.
grudge is the weirdest song on the album, nobody ever agrees but i think it sounds like it could come off of aenima, some of aenemas tunes like h..46..3rd eye that usually sound a bit different each time you listen to them depending on whatever mood, drugs, but feels like almost everytime i hear it its like a new song
The whole album just doesn't sound as good as the others, that's the reason I don't like it. I don't care about all that deep meaning and messages and spirituality bullshit. I think it ruins the listening experience when you get that into it.
I prefer Lateralus, some time ago I prefered Aenima but then I started listening more to lateralus and find out that it's just more musical then Aenima, there are more instruments and a lot influences of other cultures. I still like Aenima very much but I think Lateralus is a great step forward for Tool. Does someone agree?
Lateralus was the 1st tool album I bought. And, I didn't like it at 1st, songs were too long, too atmospheric for me. I wasn't ready for it. Then I bought AEnima and LOVED it, I listened to it almost religiously. But, as I've gotten older, and less angry with the world, I've come to like Lateralus more. I've been very much into the study of occult topics, and i've seen themes repeated in this album. I could just be reaching on that, but anyway, on to my point: All preferences are due to life experience, that colors everything you see. People who don't like Lateralus just aren't there yet.
Not one Tool fan seems to place Undertow as their favorite album besides me.
Ah well.
I appreciate the musical quality and lyrical depth of Lateralus, but it's just not what I'm looking for. Especially not now. However, every song on undertow speaks to me within my own perception of the song, and the lyrics have potential to help me through some bullshit that I go through every day. Lateralus doesn't do that for me.
It's not the anger and agression that I miss. It's the deep sadness and lament.
Actually, now that I think about it, I find a lot of things funny.
Like how the starter of this thread, after openly admitting being opposed to people who like anything before Lateralus, named his s/n after a song on Aenima.
Last edited by Nirvanoid68; 06-19-2004 at 03:22 PM..
I really like all Tools albums. But Aenima is their best one. not a discredit to Lateralus at all, Its a great album, but Aenima had more variation to it, and more songs. With Aenima you have slow songs like 46-2, Eulogy, and H. But then you had fast songs like Stinkfist, Aenima and Jimmy. Lateralus its all one type of songs and not much variation. Which in its case, isnt that bad of a thing. Overall, I like Aenima better because youo have more songs, and all tool songs are great so that is a good thing, and amazing songs like Eulogy.
Look, there's always people that started listening to Tool because of Lateralus or Ænima or even Undertow... And those are the albums that they relate to the best or respect the most... That's what they believe the "true" Tool to sound like...
So then when another album comes out that contradicts the sound of previous or latter albums then it becomes a chance to have Ænima vis a vis Lateralus - for example - as the better or "proper" sounding Tool...
As far as I'm concerned, it's all relative to when you started listening to Tool and also how much effort you have put into sampling all their music... It's easy to dismiss something the first time, because it's different from expectations... (I would consider that a good thing...) But it's harder to appreciate Tool's versitility and just appreciate all the albums...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peaceful Moments
I just love 'em all...
__________________ "A beauty impossible to endure
The blood imparted in little sips
The smell of you still on my hands
As I bring the cup up to my lips..." Nick Cave
God I hate it how people say 'This song is "better", this album is "better"'. You can say "I like this one better...." or "I think this album is better" but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and until you fully comprehend that concept you shouldn't post any comparisons. And that is not an opinion, that is a fuking fact.
opiate undertow and aenima are incredible but they are also negative these albums heal people that are negative, Lateralus has only one song that is not warm, conforting, and/or healing. Who wouldn't like the song Reflection, it gives me chills and when I listen to it I can make the night sky change colors
how is aenima negative.. or opiate even.. i guess you could say undertow and salival are negtive.. aenima though?
Last edited by Parabowl; 09-06-2004 at 09:35 AM..
Reason: missed word
I have for the longest time always loved Lateralus the most out of all of their albums. But the other day i was listening to Aenema high, and man, I learned to love that album in a different just as much as Lateralus. If you just really sit there and just listen intently to it, you'll feel it so intensely. I was listening to everything on the album, but paying most attention to the guitars. Its so dream like.......really hard to explain, but i can feel and almost see the music, its just a whole nother world. one thing it almost feels like your being strung out. The way Adam uses the pick scrapes on the guitar, and from what I remember i believed he used some whammy bar on some songs. I think that its about using negativity and or anger for self healing or purifying, or just leading away from anger. Like in the self titled song "wash it all away" to me thats leading into the content on Lateralus. Like wash away all this anger, negativity.
From what im seeing with their albums is that kinda in a way each album isnt about just one thing, but like the end of each album sets forth for the next album.
So the song Aenema is about healing, then it goes into that on lateralus.
I believe we can find what a future albums theme could be about right in Lateralus.
I just had all these thoughts, but it was hard to write them down good.
Im sorry guys, I get kinda off topic? One thought lead to another, then to another.
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hmmm
how the fuck is Reflection negative!!!
sure, the song my sound negative, well maybe not even negative, I would say more "uncomfortable" negative to me is a bit off.
Because i think the song is about self reflection. Looking at yourself, and either wanting to change and having the ability to.
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You're generalising - and condemning others as you do it.
Personally, I prefer Aenima. Not just a little, either - I genuinely think Aenima is hugely more impressive than Lateralus. That's just personal opinion.
Am I a metal head?
I don't know. Tool is the only metal band I've ever actually listened to properly.
Was I expecting another Aenima?
Probably not, because Lateralus was my first Tool album.
And, it was great, originally. Lateralus really kicked my ass and opened me up to music in a whole new way (and enlightened me to the fact that metal isn't the retarded genre I always took it for).
Aenima, on the other hand, I absolutely loathed first time I heard it. Harsh, aggressive, dark industrial noise was what it sounded like.
Maybe that's why I prefer it now - it took me weeks, months of repeatedly playing Aenima before I started to appreaciate it. And even now, well over a year on, I'm still making sense of all of it - it grew on me like you wouldn't believe.
My love for Lateralus, on the other hand, diminished with repeated playings, despite the technical superiority of it all - it just didn't, in my opinion, have the depth of Aenima. Or the raw, spiritual emotion.
Now, it's still a great album, but it wouldn't even make my top five (while Aenima would definately be number one).
And, you asked, "why?"
Sorry. There's no accounting for taste, is there?
Aenima is why I love Tool. It's a fucking masterpiece. Lateralus, in my opinion, is just a great album. The Kid A to Aenima's OK Computer, if you will.
I don't know why that particular opinion would make me ignorant in any way.
I feel the same way, but opposite. I see Lateralus and Kid A in the same way you see AEnima and OK Computer.
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Re: People who dislike Lateralus
Choosing between Ænima and Lateralus, for me at least, would be impossible. Each one appeals to a different part of my personality, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
