I second that notion.

Not sure about that, I'm pretty sure you can find a few people around here who'd cast you into the lake of fire for not liking ANY of Tool's releases and lable you some kind of unbeliever.

Good stuff. I quite agree. I'm voicing my disapproval of the new album, but in all honesty if you guys want to love it you're quite welcome. This is all, naturally, just my opinion. If people are secure in their opinions and enjoy the album then that's all good, but there's a certain demographic here who're more than happy to leap on top of anybody with a dissenting voice and try to chew them out for their percieved ignorance.

The irony is that I've played a lot of acoustic jazz in the past and have learned the hard way not to show up even to a rehearsal wearing a Tool t-shirt... "What do you listen to that crap for? They don't even know how to play in anything other than D-minor!" and so forth. So while I've taken a lot of shit for enjoying this music over the years (and given as good as I got) I must admit that I don't find all the usual critical targets (lack of variation in key, tempo or approach, etc. etc) particularly defensible on this album given the overwhelming lack of anything on the table to compensate.

If you guys do, then great.

No problem. I hope some other band releases an album you do enjoy, and when I hear the new album, I'll just keep my thoughts to myself.

When I listen to this album, I get the feeling this one is a little less calculating, I just picture them "jamming" in the studio. Was just wondering if anyone felt the same way?
(Not that I'm saying it is simple, or that it's thrown together or anything). That feeling is taken a step further when I lok at the titles, and the less- complicated lyrics.

To spare everyone another long post about why it's great, or why it sucks, or to hopefully not get attacked too badly, I'll just say that I really like 10K.*ducks*

And just think...love it or hate it, be thankful you feel passionate enough about something that you even bother to engage in these conversations. Can't think of much other music I even have a desire to read message boards about.

Every album is received the same way, many thought AENIMA didn't live up to Undertow, which is ridiculous because every album is a separate piece, completely different from the rest, which is why this band has longetivity and you and I are sitting here reading about them.

this thread is turning into a circle-wank

Here, here!!! This album isn't supposed to be what we wanted. It's supposed to be what Tool wanted it to be,therefore, it is exactly what is should be. A work of art inside and out. Maynard is God.

Really, really disappointing. I listen to all kinds of music, but I"ve listened to my Aenima, Lateralus, and 13th step more than anything over the years. I also have the other two APC discs, but they never got as much play time. Especially the cover disk Emotive.

Over the last 5 years I've really listened to 13th step the most as I hoped and hoped that TOOL would put out at least one more. When the local station started playing Vicarious I was so pumped. A couple of days ago they gave us a taste of Jambi, and then some more with Right in Two. Not bad, but I was thinking if there were more great songs, it was gonna be incredible...I liked the soft Right in Two and thought it would be a nice balance with the harder TOOL that was sure to come. Wrong.

When I happened upon Emotive one day in the store, I was totally surprised, (had no idea it was even coming) and quickly purchased it. After a listen I said to myself "wtf". Well my reaction after the 1st listen of 10,000 days is unfortunately just as glim. And I'm not going into this with unrealistic expectations. I've listened to my other TOOL/APC discs countless times, so I have an idea of what to expect and what is going to satisfy and what won't. I have no problem skipping over some of the tracks on the other discs to get to the good stuff. (Save for 13th step, all good imo)

Vicarious gets me pumped, Jambi is just "ok" and everything else until Right in Two I'll skip right over. And the softer Right in Two won't hold me for too long.

I was hoping like many for something close to The Grudge, or 46&2, or Ticks and Leeches, or Aenima, etc. Not even close. The disc box and artwork are really cool, but the music is so disappointing. Oh well, I can always count on the Grudge on my drive to the gym...

i love this album but the grandure of lateralus and the song lateralus itself is greater.

but then again each album is different even if they have the same licks. and each one fills in the gaps that another may leave.

hilarious first post. lol thanks for that!

Heh its like Tool gets older but some fans stay the same age.

Honestly if a band put out 5 albums that sounded just like Opiate and Undertow it would get a little old. You can only do so much angry rock. Just about everyone loses their anger at some point in time...at least if they're growing and learning. People mature and become more introspective, such as Lateralus. After that people just start to accept themselves and become able to accept all feelings. I think you've seen that progression in Tool's music as a whole and people who don't like it often haven't been able to move forward themselves in the same way so they reject it as being a sell-out or turning lame because they aren't all heavy lets destroy the world all the time.

this album's very strange. no ther tool album has been like this. and too many fanboys seem to defend it just because it's tool. talk about being a tool.

i adore this band, but this disc is what it is, and if it sounds disjointed, people should accept it instead of defending the band cause they worked so hard on it, or who they are, or whatever. we're criticizing the album, period. and songs like mantra, eier von satan and other "filler" type songs are up on a pedestal compared too some of the stuff on this new disc.

it's frankly very sad for me after being blown away by the last 3 albums. for me jambi and the pot are outstanding tracks - the rest... some good, great, so-so...but nothing that tears you to shreds like most of their previous work.

so, no, absolutely nothing like when lateralus came out.
listen to that one "in the dark" as some people are saying about this one, and tell me your body won't be wiped out after you're done. it's astonishingly good all throughout. not counting the pot, or jambi, which are very powerful...the best tracks here can't hold a candle to anything on that disc.

The people who dislike the album like to speak like their opinions are facts. They are not.

Not sure why but I'm going to add my 2c into this discussion.

The short of it is, for me, 'was lateralus like this?', very much so.

I got into tool with Aenima. That album rocked me deep and is still treasured for what it is / was. I bought all their other albums and loved them too.

Lateralus did nothing for me. At all. I tried hard to like it, but it didn't work. It wasn't the tool I loved, and left it it that. They went in a direction with that album, a direction that I couldn't follow.

I didn't expect anything from 10k days. Maybe I'd moved on musically, I don't know. I was still listening to the same stuff I've listened to for as long as I can remember though. Pink Floyd, Radiohead... But I knew I was always going to buy the new tool album regardless.

Well what can I say about 10k Days... It blew me out of the water. It was like a good, best most loved friend just walked back in through the door. I found myself going 'holy shit, I used to love this band, and here's why!'. It totally sucker punched me because I didn't expect to hear music that would just 'grab' me. That hasn't happened in a very long time. I listened to it twice through the first time I had my hands on it. I loved it.

I came back to toolshed.down.net to hear what everyone else was saying. Bask in the glory that is tool once more. I used to come here (not the forum obviously) when Aenima was released. I wanted to share my ideas and get involved in the music, not just listening to it. What I saw in the forums at first shocked me. Then I just found it really really funny. There were times where I literaly had tears in my eyes from laughter. The swearing, the fights, the 'I earn more money than you', 'my opinion is worth more than yours'. It totally took me by surprise because I expected... I'm not sure what I expected I guess... More.. Empathetic people? Something like that. For the very fact that tool, as a band, as the people, and as their music shows and promotes... Well, everything in this forum was the exact opposite.

I read the forum for a few days. Surprised and still amused. But sort of feeling empty too. It made me feel funny about the music. Like... Is this what the band represents? I heard the interview on Triple J with the band, and how they said the fans just aren't getting it. I don't know about anyone else, but I thought of this forum. Do they troll around here to see what people say? God I hope not.

Anyway. Am I a 'fan' of tool? Surely I can't be if I didn't like Lateralus right? Well, I wouldn't say I'm a fan of any band really, even if I own all their albums and listen to their music all the time. To me, they are just guys who make music that I enjoy. If Maynard came up to me running late for a concert and asked to borrow my car, I'd tell him to "die in a fire and eat a cock, and by the way I love your music". Sacralige I know. But to me he's just another guy, not a god among men.

And if they make something that doesn't grab me, I don't feel the need to beat the crap out of everyone who it does grab. Tool are just human beings and eventually no matter what, a human being is going to do something that not every other human being can relate to.

This will obviously be my first and only post here. The flames following this post will be large and numorous. But I just felt I had to vent here. I think people need to calm down to be honest. It's like tool wrote lyrics with direct insults that question the sexual orientation of specific people's mothers. Because that's how a number of people are acting. Get over it. It's music. These guys make it. You don't own it, you are not the band, you are not Maynard. He didn't shit on your chest and call it gold.

I guess in closing I better make a point about all this stuff I've just said. Could you imagine internet forums being around when Pink Floyd were releasing their music? My god...

I just listened to 10K Days (which I bought btw) for the first time yesterday. IMHO after just one listen, it does sound like a collection of b-sides and out takes. I'm not saying I don't like it, but I am saying I like this cd the least of their previous three. I HOPE this cd grows on me after each listen. If this was any other band I would be hesitant to give it a second spin. But since it is Tool, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. There is a lot to digest and absorb here. Fingers crossed.

it'll grow on you, substantially more, i assure you. there are after all, some pretty good tracks to digest and feel further with each listen.

but will it reach the heights of previous works? that depends on your taste. but for me, after multiple listens, sadly doubtful.

great. useful comment. thanks.

When Lateralus came out I thought that it was different from every other album just like I thought Aenima was different. Lateralus took some getting use to, however, I never could say that I was dissapointed. Eventually Lateralus became my favorite album. 10,000 days does not sound like something new from Tool. It sounds like they ran out of ideas, or that the are afraid to journey into another realm and progress musically. Maybe if Maynard would stop fucking around with APC and his other bullshit than Tool can get more creative. Also, Adam Jones sucks balls at guitar on 10,000 days. It sounds like he just barely learned how to play.

Good albums should not always take months of listening to enjoy them. Maybe we are so dissapointed in 10,000 days that we are forcing ourselves to like it.

It is a sad day for a band that we thought would follow the footsteps of such greats like: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and King Crimson. Then again, I am pretty sure those bands had a couple of dissapointing albums. I just expected more from a band like TOOL.

I forced myself to keep listening to Lateralus because I couldn't understand everything right away. I thought it was really weird and I just focused on the tracks played on the radio, but after a while I discovered stuff like The Patient and The Grudge. After forcing myself to listen, I loved it.

What really amazes me about these threads, is that people actually seem to CARE if other people like or dislike the album. I am interested in opinions, only as a matter of interest and curiousity. I could give a rat's ass if one person likes it or not, I just find it interesting to see how the same music can have such wildly different impacts on folks. I just find it funny that some posters actually equate not liking the album with 'spewing hatred!' Every time you are tempted to type a sentence that starts with 'I really don't understand how you can/can't' with regards to the quality of the album, please take a step back and realize that every single person on this board is vastly different, regardless of the few similarities that brought them to the same place as you.

I personally love the album, so put a notch in the 'love' column for me. And I'm glad there are folks out there that don't like it, diversity is good.

Well then my opinion is that 10,000 days sucks cock and balls.

I've always jumped around an album, I like to listen to my favorites. It was like that when Aenema first came out and the same thing for Lateralus. I see 10,000 days no differently. This album is on par with all the others. Over time you figure out its intricacies. For me when Lateralus came out I knew it was too complex for me to understand, I'm sure it's the same with 10,000 days.

I wonder what's wrong with me. I bought Undertow when it came out and loved it. Listened to it over and over and, well, over. Then, I bought Opiate and thought it was pretty good, but not as good as Undertow. I went to the store at midnight and bought Aenima when it came out and loved it. I thought it was definitely better than Undertow and showed real progression. Then, I bought Lateralus within days of its release. Loved it. Found it to be deep and thoughtful and musically very interesting. It, to me, felt an awful lot like an advancement from Aenima. Interestingly, it wasn't my favorite in terms of emotion. But, then I would listen to it again and be impressed with how much I liked it even though I had thought I didn't like it as much.

And, now, with 10,000 Days, I'm digging it. It feels very consistent with the past albums. I'm honestly shocked to see people calling it a bad album. Bad compared to what? I mean, come on. There are a lot of bad albums out there and this just isn't one of them. I've only been able to listen to it about 3 or 4 times. Vicarious is a very solid song and I can't see what people don't like about it. Biting lyrics, driving guitar, thundering drums, it's all there. Jambi knocks my socks off, dude. It's a very high quality song. And, the 10,000 Days suite is wikkid! I'm still trying to digest the rest of the album, but I can't fathom the dissappointment by some people. Maybe it's that whatever album drew them into Tool was so good, to them, that everything else pales in comparison. I mean, I know that Undertow really sucked me in and didn't let go. I was obsessed with that album. But, 10KD does NOT feel weak to in any way. It feels like a Tool album. A good Tool album (which is redundant, if you ask me). Maybe I'm just a big Tool... fan. I have seen them in concert four times, once in a club before Aenima came out. My biggest suspicion is that this album is just too progressive for most people and they're too impatient to wait to understand it or appreciate it. I love progressive rock and metal. This album is very progressive. I know some people that don't like Tool as much as they used to because the band has become too "arty." But, I like that. So, maybe there's something wrong with me.

But, how can it be wrong when it feels so right. Unh.