Aenima

Some how for some reason, this was the last Tool album to complete my collection... Don't ask me why... I've listed to "Aenima" 4 times now, but already I find it lives up to the hype surrounding it, just like "Lateralus" did. For newcomers: This is a GREAT Tool album to start with because it contains some of the best elements of Tool: the dark, gritty and somewhat bitterly juvenile "Undertow" as well as Tool's complex though provoking magnum opus that is "Lateralus". But beware, this isn't your typical hard rock/ metal album, like other reviewers will tell you, it takes time and attention... be prepared to set aside enough time to listen to this record in it's entirety and probably not like it. You'll be rewarded though as your brain starts to sort things out and piece parts together... which is the best way I can describe it. It's just structured so differently than anything else one typically hears from popular rock groups... To be honest, I fell asleep halfway through during my second listen to "Aenima", but on the 4th listen, It hit me, and I was rockin this album just completely enthralled by it... On "Lateralus" it took me like 10+ listens to fully appreciate it, but when it finally hit me... WOW. Anyways, again, this would be an excellent place to start in my opinion... It contributed to Tool's amazing evolution. "Aenema" IS Tool's first progressive metal masterpiece.

If you've never heard of Tool, this is the album to listen to first. Tool is one of the best progressive metal bands of all time, my personal favorite on top of that. They're music is very well...mind-bending, whether that's bad, good, or just crazy, it's all what the listener decides. Not just the music, but the interesting tracks, like Ions, where all you hear is electrons charging.

My personal favorite songs are Stinkfist, Eulogy, H, Jimmy, and 46 & 2. The rest of the album is still great. This album just has a tendency to keep you listening to it over and over again, and is just a great record to add to your music collection if you haven't already.

Stsrt to finish, this is fantastic piece of work. I put it up there with Stones (Sticky Fingers and Exile), Who (Who's Next), Zep (I, II, or IV). Not a bad track on the whole disk. A Landmark. We listen to this at work, and it is simply known as "The Album." Hey, Gus, what's next? I think I'll put on "The Album" again. Buy it.

Aenima is one of my favorite Tool albums. It's just too amazing to put into words.

The musical aspects of Ænima and the ritual "file under exercise**" have already been well-covered in the other reviews here. I'll cover an angle that I have never before read about this CD.

When mixing a record, it is common practice to bring in recordings of other songs, sounds, or whatever to use as references and / or "ear-cleaners".

This CD has become (for me at least) a Golden-Standard. The sound on it is SO well-produced that it serves as landmark; it not only sets a standard against which other works are measured, it is also like a lighthouse for those mixing new works. It helps one maintain or regain one's bearings in frequency-space.


** the comparison of one band to other bands such to allow those who know the music to market it to those who don't.