In 2019 Tool finally made their albums available on streaming services – presenting the opportunity to select their proggiest material for fans of the genre.
Given that the band sprang from grunge and alt metal, 1992 EP Opiate and 1993 album Undertow didn’t offer much in the way of prog, but that changed with 1996’s Ænima. Hence our 12-track list featuring material from that record and onward.
1. Forty Six & 2 (Ænima)
Mixing basic 4/4 time with 7/8, the fifth track on Ænima deals with lyrical concepts that espouse Carl Jung and American mystic Drunvalo Melchizedek.
It opens with Justin Chancellor‘s loose but mesmeric bass, building in slow fashion over repetitive guitar riffs into a big proggy groove. Amazingly, it was released as a single.
2. Third Eye (Ænima)
Opening with drug-related clips from the late comedian Bill Hicks, the closing track from Ænima is a near 14-minute epic that helped point the way the band would take with later work.
It’s expansive, brooding, prone to occasional bursts of frenetic activity with a message about expanding the mind. The fact that producer Dave Bottrill had worked with King Crimson the year before on Thrak should not go unnoticed
The live version from the 2000 live album Salival is held to be the best version.
3. The Grudge (Lateralus)
Hypnotic bass lines, chanting vocals, crashing guitar crescendos. The Grudge opens 2001’s Lateralus as a statement of proggy intent.
By this point Tool were far more about atmospheric soundscapes building into prog metal workouts. The abrasiveness of early albums had been replaced with a maturity and desire to break musical boundaries.
4. Parabol/Parabola (Lateralus)
The two tracks merge into one nine-minute prog rock workout. The opening Parabol features Maynard James Keenan‘s chant-like vocals over a haunting musical backdrop.
Then the band crash in with Parabola, Adam Jones‘ guitar searing through the mix as the band lock into a super-tight progressive groove.
Parabola was released as a single, with one of Jones’ trademark videos to accompany it.
5. Lateralus (Lateralus)
Drummer Danny Carey has said of the title track: “It was originally titled 9-8-7, for the time signatures. Then it turned out that 987 was the 16th number of the Fibonacci sequence – so that was cool.”
Is that prog enough for you? The nine-minute plus song mixes 9/8, 8/8 and 7/8 as Keenan implores humans to explore a deeper understanding of everything.
6. Disposition/Reflection/Triad (Lateralus)
Although listed as three separate songs, this triptych towards the end of the album are meant to coalesce into one lengthy piece of music, running at over 20 minutes in total.
Opening with the gentle, reflective Disposition, the band move into centrepiece Reflection, which slowly builds before bursting into life about eight minutes in. The more percussive Triad gradually brings things to a close.
Possibly Tool’s proggiest moment ever!
7. Vicarious (10,000 Days)
About as catchy and immediate as Tool get on 10,000 Days, the opening track and first single is the closest connection to the band’s past – in other words, all that was left of the alt. metal band of yore.
It’s hardly metal though, riding in on a big fat prog groove as Keenan sings of the thrill for people who live through others in the media eye.
8. Wings For Marie/10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2) (10,000 Days)
This epic two-parter is either the sound of a band living out its fantasies, playing the long-form music so beloved of drummer Carey, a prog fan from an early age – or the sound of a band disappearing up its own arse. Clearly, we favour the former. Typically haunting to open, and building to a fine rolling groove.
9. Rosetta Stoned (10,000 Days)
In keeping with the band’s love of drug-related allegory, Rosetta Stoned imagines a man waking from a DMT trip, encompassing aliens and his spiritual awakening. The song uses a staggering array of time signatures – 4/4, 5/8, 5/4, 11/8, 3/4, and 6/4 – if that’s not prog enough for you, we don’t know what is!
10. Intension/Right In Two (10,000 Days)
Another proggy couplet, these two songs joined at the end of 10,000 Days are about as reflective as the band get.
They display their more ambient side on opener Intension before the more epic Right In Two breaks through with more trademark jarring rhythms, twisted time signatures and odd percussive breaks.
A pointer to where Tool Were headed with Fear Inoculum?
11. Fear Inoculum (Fear Inoculum)
The five-year wait between Lateralus and 10,000 Days was nothing compared to the 13 years fans had to wait for Tool’s fifth studio album. When it did arrive in 2019, Fear Inoculum was placed under intense scrutiny, some beleiving it didn’t hold up to such a delay.
Having lived with the music for the ensuing years, with the opportunity to see most of the songs performed live, the general feeling is that it’s a fine addition to the canon, and certainly the most overty proggy – six of the album’s 10 songs weighing in at over 10 minutes.
The opening title track is a brooding beast, which opened the band’s live shows in emphatic style, creating as much a sense of anticipation on the album as it did in the live arena.
12. Invincible (Fear Inoculum)
Our seciond choice from Tool’s most recent album is the one the band chose to close their live shows with – the 12-minute-plus Invincible.
Despite its length, the song is actually one of the catchiest tunes on the record, riding along on Carey and Chancellor’s tribal rhythm and featuring an inspired vocal performance from Keenan, whoe switches between gentle singing and his more regular loud and mournful howl.
Then at its midway point a typically knotty and twisted Jones guitar solo unfurls. A fitting show closer.
