Kollem26

I think I spoke incorrectly when I presented my idea about Mantra. To make sense I think I need to share the whole story.

I'd rather say that I prefer Mantra as the opening track to a new arrangement. I buy into the idea that Maynard and the rest of Tool want us to interpret the songs for ourselves. Being arranged in the order they were written is awesome in itself, and I appreciate it for what it is. But I often like to make playlists where the songs compliment each other either in theme or sound. I do this for various artists, and when I tried it for Tool I ended up rearranging the Lateralus album.

My arrangement goes: Mantra, Parabol, Parabola, Schism, Ticks & Leeches, The Grudge, Lateralus, Eon Blue Apocalypse, The Patient, Disposition, Reflection, Triad.

I purposefully kept Faaip de Oiad out because of its difference in content and sound. Instead naming my arrangement after this song.

The two trios I mentioned in my previous post regards the opening and closing trios of Mantra/Parabol/Parabola and Disposition/Reflection/Triad. There only needs to be two because it opens and closes the arrangement, and Schism is very similar to the sounds of Mantra and Parabol(a), which is why it is placed directly after the trio rather than Mantra.

I put this together to make the tracks meld in a single coherent story. Mantra/Parabol/Parabola is the introduction showing the characters strong faith in everlasting spirits and God.

Schism then speaks of a literal lover creating a crisis in the character's life.

Ticks & Leeches shows the growing of hatred and the feeling of being used.

The Grudge is the character telling himself to let his anger go before it destroys him.

**In the last three songs there are also points where it has an undertone of the loss of faith in God. A loss in the communication he had with God, the feeling of being used by the church, and then the anger he feels that he must let go to move on.

Lateralus is then the enlightenment of the character about the world. He sees the diversity and finds himself awed by it and the universe's immensity and complexity. He embraces the beauty in the randomness of it all. He then resolves himself to find a way to remain human (logical, curious, rational) yet maintain the faith he had lost from his life troubles.

**This middle part all seems like a stretch to be referencing God, but I tried to arrange it so that the character is suffering literal emotional struggles with his personal relationships and that his suffering translates into a question of "Why?", and without a good answer a loss in the idea of an ultimate being and his/her plan for the world.

Eon Blue Apocalypse, I interpret as Eon (Long) Blue (Sorrow) Apocalypse (Ending) The character has overcome his anger and sadness and now reflects on the aftermath of his experiences, namely the potential loss of his faith.

The Patient, the character examines his past and asks again, "Why?" He finds himself at his wit's end and cannot see how he can go on if what he had believed in is false. Yet he continues to hold up the faith throughout his serious questioning. He tells himself to wait out his time of doubt, though seriously contemplating walking away from the whole thing.

Disposition speaks of the change in his heart and mind. He asks for guidance and support (from either humans or a supreme deity), and watches as his thinking and feelings change.

Reflection speaks of the character, almost defeated in spirit finding peace in the emptiness in death and lack of an ultimate power. When the moon reminds him yet again of the beauty and wonder of the universe. How lucky he is to be alive and breathing (as seen in Parabol(a). He "crucifies" the ego he had held in his previous life for believing in his superiority over all Earth and its creatures as one of God's chosen. He sets aside the despair he felt from having the ego he had developed being crushed through his loss in faith. I also consider an alternate ending where the moon helps him regain his faith and he is to crucify the ego he felt as believing God didn't exist and man more powerful than him/her. Or possibly a gaining of a faith of an interconnected life force throughout the planet, something similar to Brahman in the Hindu faith. The multiple ways to interpret lyrics is one of the reasons I loved Tool in the first place. I, however, prefer the loss of faith interpretation because the lyrics don't seem to signify a regaining of faith in God or power, but of a faith in humanity. Finding purpose without an ultimate being watching over and guiding. Capable of anything, the human race needs to strive to make the world a better place than where we found it in every generation. Using hope and reason as the tools for this. However, the references to praying and the light's power make my favored interpretation unlikely.

Triad is a fitting musical emotional epilogue to this arrangement. Wordless it creates the feeling of the inner emotional turmoil the character had experienced throughout the arrangement.

Faaip de Oiad is Enochian for The Voice of God, or so Google tells me. The audio in this track is a prank phone call. These two ideas led me to interpret this song as meaning that the voice of God is false(a prank phone call by humans), and that is part of the reason I prefer the loss of faith interpretation of Reflection. I named the arrangement after this track to keep it connected to the album somehow. Although when I listen to this playlist it never plays, never really liking this track I prefer this anyway.

If you read all of this thank you for taking the time and let me know what you think. I don't think I'm correct in rearranging Lateralus this way, but I think I found a new and interesting way to listen to one of my favorite albums.