10,000 DAYS

Tool finally made a return, 5 years after "Lateralus" with "10,000 Days". It's more like the previous album than their 90's material, but that's not the best way to describe it.

"Vicarious" blew me away when I first heard it. The 7/8 time signature is interesting and Maynard's vocals have taken an interesting turn. I can't describe it easily but it's just an amazing song.

"Jambi" continues to impress with it's repetitive riffs and bongo style drumming, which reminds me of the album cover. It has a tribal feel. The talkbox solo at the end is the highlight of the song.

"Wings for Marie (pt. 1)" is a depressing first part to the second part, and is sort of a build up, or a shortened version to the second part.

"10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2)" is a really epic song, sounding similar to the first one, and both of these tracks are very proggy. The end is one of the high points of the album, very epic.

"The Pot" is an amazing vocal performance, and is up there with Vicarious. The soft bongo style drumming returns as well as a ripping guitar part.

"Lipan Conjuring" is one of Tool's trademark "filler" tracks. In this case, it's just a bunch of tribal people chanting.

"Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)" is the intro to "Rosetta Stoned", an amazing track which is so complex that it could take months to make sense of. It's very heavy and is from the point of view of a man who was abducted by aliens. Bizarre and mysterious.

"Intension" uses a lot of elecronic noises, and it isn't very Tool-esque, but is still pretty damn good.

"Right In Two" is another strange one and reflects a lot of what this album sounds like. It stands alone as a really good song. It's a good finale. After that we have "Viginiti Tres" which is a bunch of wind noises travelling from speaker to speaker.

This album is one of the first ones I'd go for if you're looking to get into Tool. It's almost as good as "Lateralus", although it is different from anything they've ever done before. It's got an awesome packaging design, with a pair of goggles attatched to view the album art with. All the more reason to purchase this great CD!