Tool -- 'Aenima' [classic review]

Tool
"Aenima"
(Volcano Records)


"... a jagged, brooding nightmare filled with roaring guitars, abrupt rhythm shifts, and jarring sound effects. One of 1996's strangest and strongest alt-metal records."

-- from Entertainment Weekly's review of "Aenima"

"Aenima" is one of those albums that, after release, seemed to yield hit after hit. Each subsequent single seemed better than the one before. From the title track to "Stinkfist" to "Eulogy" to "H" to "Forty-Six and 2" and "Hooker with a Penis," the hits never stopped. Anything that wasn't released, very well could have.

"Aenima" has a fairly sterile feel to it. The production is crisp and the tone undoubtedly foreboding. Whether the band is tackling the destruction of L.A. (on the title track), death ("Eulogy"), drugs ("H") or even the taboo topic of fisting (on "Stinkfist" -- think about it, this song is on national radio since its release to this day), the message is quick and to the point and conveyed with a deadpan delivery. Even the instrumental and other interludes seamlessly flow between the tracks and pull the rest of the tracks into one complete cohesive unit.

The beauty of the Tool sound is that it isn't an in-your-face assault. Rather than the percussive unit, the guitar is the driving force behind the music and the rhythm is what propels the album. Not quite tech-metal, not quite an industrial durge, the focused delivery is what makes this album a classic.

The album and band pulls you in with a hard-hitting assault and then keeps shifting and changing the tempo and direction in such a pure manner that you feel powerless to stop the onslaught. That's the true beauty of the album. You can pull any nugget out and it sits perfectly alone. But it also fits into this complex puzzle of sound. You could never change the tracklist order for "Aenima," but each piece can be enjoyed on its own.