by Billy Sunshine

Created on: February 13, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

"10,000 Days", the latest release by TOOL, the world's favorite psychedelic progressive hard rock band, is an awesome album in every sense of the word.

In this present dusk of physical albums, as mp3 players colonize the music industry, Tool may have laid claim to the title of "The Last Great Album Cover"(in close competition with Beck's "The Information") with this new disc. Guitarist Adam Jones directed the artwork.

Much like the legendary Led Zeppelin, Tool has positioned themselves as an "album band", rather than a "singles band". They regularly create 6 minute songs, much longer than the standard 3 minute format. Some pieces are more than 10 minutes long. Their attention to each album's visual presentation reinforces this mindset as well, from the hidden image of a cow licking it's anus under the CD tray of undertow, to the animated images of Aenima, to the transparent layered cover of Lateralus.

The 10,000 Days packaging has 3-D Stereoscopic lenses built in and aligned to enable viewing of the album art, consisting of works by Alex Grey, as well as individualized portraits of the four band members by Travis Shinn. The stereoscopic images appear to have depth, and are similar to the images seen through a ViewMaster. A pictorial instruction for viewing the art are also cleverly included within the album artwork.

Now, getting to the album itself, I think it is fantastic and easily stands up beside Tool's earlier albums, all of which were obviously crafted and conceived with utmost care. I have, however, had a few discussions with people who have grown progressively more disappointed with each Tool album, as they have gotten less aggressive sounding with each release. If you judge them as a Metal band, yes they are falling off; But if you judge them as a heavy psychedelic band, then they may just now be blossoming. In my opinion, "H" from Aenima was the first sliver of light as Tool opened up this psychedelic door.

The guitar on the new album takes a backseat to the creative whole. Whereas it seems like every other hard rock band in the world is based around guitar riffs and vocals, with the bass and drumming serving mainly to lay the groundwork for a face melting solo, in Tool, Justin Chancellor's bass or Danny Carey's drums are just as often shouldering the load. Jones does uses new techniques for him, such as a talkbox solo on Jambi, as well as a guitar part on Lost Keys that seems to be one sustained, slowly undulating note for the first 1:30 of the song.

Much of the new album has a general trance-like feel, where it is almost as if sometimes Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor are using their guitar and bass as rhythmic instruments to add to the amazing polyrhythmic tapestries already laid down by the drums. One surprises are the rapid fire, doubled, distant guest vocals by Bill McConnell on "Rosetta Stoned", the first time anyone has added vocals to a Tool album since Henry Rollins' spoken word section in the song "Bottom" on Undertow. Another treat is Danny Carey's use of tabla on "Intension" and "Right in Two".

As usual, Justin's bass is full, active and bubbling, and Danny's drums are more amazing than ever before. Adam uses his guitar to serve the song, not to show off. Maynard often seems to be sliding into the background to become more of a fourth instrument than a stereotypical singer, but his lyrics are just as intense and introspective as ever.

If you've ever been to a Tool show and heard someone say "Man, that was like a religious experience!"(as I have 3 different times), and you had to agree, then you will not be at all disappointed in this album.

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