FORTY SIX & 2

Tool have always been the masters of buildup, and never better does that talent show than here (except for maybe Pu[&*!#]) on the AEnima album. The song starts out with a dark bassline, and soon more instruments are added. Then the first verse kicks in, with lyrics seemingly about the art of shape-shifting or coming into a higher form. About two minutes through, the powerful kicks in and the listener quickly becomes involved with the music. This goes on until the climactic end, which I wouldn't dare reveal.

Here is another one of the tracks from Tool's second album 'Aenema' that really meshed well with me. Despite coming off of an album that left me feeling lukewarm, 'Forty Six & 2' manages to take the sludgy anger that defined the album but channel it into a very careful build up and sense of composition. This track is built around an exotic bass riff from Justin Chancellor, and has a lyrical theme concerning some abstract Jungian psychology. In any case, the ordeal is pretentious as hell, but the lighter sections manage to get really atmospheric. Taking quite a bit of time to hit the heaviness, there is the intuition that the piece is quite a bit better composed than the typical Tool track of the period. It is equal parts mellow and heavy, and dark throughout the entire thing. Although there's the clear sense that the band is trying to make something spiritual. However it fails to evoke any response in me besides as an interesting exercise in post-metal. I have never been big into Tool, but 'Forty Six & 2' is a track I've enjoyed, even if it may be a bit shallow on beauty.