Perhaps I’m a bit biased, considering that I was quite a newbie fan of the band 20 years ago. However, yeah, I’m still going to stir the online shit-pots and claim that the American prog-metal senseis, TOOL, released their greatest magnum opus in 2006 under the title, “10,000 Days.” Period. Sure, the album did not boast any songs written as differential math equations like “Lateralus” did 5 years earlier, but the overall execution and songcraft on this beast were way more solid than those of “Lateralus” or even“Fear Inoculum,” in my opinion. If I recall correctly, the band was already well on its way into the pantheon of prog-metal elder gods, but this album finally sealed the deal. I mean, there are myriad great prog bands, and then there are prog monoliths of a peerless quality – and with this selection, TOOL became a fine specimen of the latter school. You know how it goes: not only should the albums be quasi-conceptual treatises on progressive excess, but the band would also need to sport controversial stage-costumes and lots of visual eye-candy – and it sure would help if the frontman fully employed media antics that were every bit as obnoxious as some of their most die-hard fans. In this respect, TOOL circa 2006 left no boxes unchecked, almost as though they were paying homage to some of the most bloated prog dinosaurs of the 1970s. The good thing was – and still is – that I simply adore these prog fossils of yesteryear. Of course, the longtime fans who were expecting “Lateralus pt. 2” weren’t as easily impressed; I do remember a bit of a lukewarm online reception at the time. Then again, all true fans should have known that TOOL was never a band to release the same album twice. Right from the get-go, “10,000 Days” unfolded as something far more progressive, excessive, and ethereal than anything they had previously released. If that wasn’t right up your alley, well… too bad for you. I was already familiar with “Lateralus” when this beast came out, but as much as I vibed with the proggier pieces of that album, this 2006 selection blew them all out the window. This album got several Grammy nominations, too, so it wasn’t really that short on love outside the grumpy factions of the TOOL fanbase. Being the “Lateralus” follow-up, it sure didn’t have it easy, but as the test of time has shown, it fared exceptionally well.
The album kicks off with a straight-up curveball; “Vicarious” is a beefy and progressive riffer about the mainstream media’s affinity to sensationalized death and tragedy. The song was released as a single a couple of weeks ahead of the album, accompanied by a trippy music video. The main riff is every bit as delicious as some of those classic TOOL origamis, this time chugging away in quintuple meter most of the time. The groove sounds as if it were in the compound quintuple meter of 10/8 with a 6+4 syncopation, making the riffage diabolically groovy and catchy simultaneously. Then, as per the band’s usual modus operandi, Danny Carey‘s drumwork is out of this world. Listening to this beast of a riffer a couple of weeks ahead of the album sure got every prog nerd so hyped up they could barely contain themselves. For one thing, it sure as hell was a good omen about the upcoming studio album that some of us had been waiting for 9 long years.
Okay, let’s get the best bangers out of the way and then proceed to the band’s trademark ”silly filler tracks.” Yeah, of course, there are a few of those, as well, but this time they were something else entirely: no hash-cake recipes in German like “Die Eier von Satan” this time. (Has anyone tried that recipe out for real? Does it even work? It calls for no eggs, so I have my doubts…) First, it was a good omen indeed that the lead single was such a sublime prog-riffer! The following track, “Jambi,” dropped such a quantum prog riffage that the world has never been the same. I reckon it must be the single most copied riff in TOOL‘s whole back catalog. When some random prog act gets rightly accused of ripping off TOOL, it’s always this riff they have been tampering with. So, I guess it’s fair to say the iconic 9/8-riff in this epic has become one of the most defining riffages in TOOL‘s entire riff arsenal. Want to sound like TOOL? Well, drop some nice polyrhythms in 9/8 and there you go! The downside of this maneuver is that 9-based meters are some of the most diabolical time signatures to mess with and still sound cool. Some prog outfits handle it pretty well, and then there are bands like TOOL and WHEEL who master this particular art like nothing to it. “Jambi” remains the most lyrically chilling and musically mind-bending prog riffer ever written in a 9-based meter to this day, and this is not a matter of opinion, but a cold, hard fact. The song features sections in 6/4 as well, but the meatiest bits are in 9/8.
Then, it seems to be the case that it’s not only rappers who like to write weed anthems. I mean, just listen to “A Passage to Bangkok” by RUSH, or “Light Up or Leave Me Alone” by TRAFFIC. Proggers are not strangers to the otherworldly delights of jazz cigarettes, either, it seems. If that hash-cake anthem from earlier was not enough to convince you that TOOL was a member of this club, the fifth track on this album, “The Pot,” should drive the point home. Yeah, sure, the lyrics are ambiguous enough to allow for myriad interpretations, but c’mon, you know how it goes with these guys.
The 18-minute title track is split into two songs – “Wings for Marie (pt. 1)” and “10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2),” respectively. The song is a delicate and introspective account of the recent death of Maynard’s mother, who had suffered a stroke and partial paralysis 27 years before her death, hence the title; 10,000 days equals approximately 27 years and 5 months. This epic is by far one of the most chillingly beautiful songs about death ever written. Given that TOOL used to be a metal band on their earlier albums, 18 minutes of atmospheric reminiscing of this sort probably rubbed some metalheads the wrong way at the time, but I found this 2-part epic just perfect. Then again, I come from the dubious vintage-prog circles where 20 minutes is generally considered just as decent a song length as any. Thus, I filed this beast under ”bangers,” too. The 7-minute atmospheric mantra, “Intension,” is often written off as needless doodling as well, but I like it. If you take a cue from “Die Eier von Satan,” and enjoy this album with some fine bakery products, tracks like this begin to make a lot more sense. I would reckon.
Lastly, the track that closes the album for me is “Right in Two.” It is by far one of the best epics in TOOL‘s whole back catalog, still after 20 years. The way the song builds momentum from mellow and atmospheric guitar arpeggios to full-on prog-metal mayhem over the course of 9 minutes is a textbook example of how it should be done. So, even with a handful of weird experiments, the album’s bangers-to-fillers ratio is pretty outstanding, especially with the bangers being of this caliber.
So, what about the said “silly filler tracks”? Generally, “Lipan Conjuring” has been dubbed as belonging to this section, what with the song featuring nothing but some slightly unsettling Native American chanting. Is this song merely a goofy reprise of that hash-cake thing, only this time chanted in the Apache language? Or, is it just Carey and his Indian buddy tripping balls in the desert? I guess we’ll never know. The other silly filler track is far more interesting, musically, though. “Rosetta Stoned” is a cautionary tale of getting abducted by aliens while tripping on bad acid. Yeah, the lyrics are silly nonsense, but the music is certainly not. With this track, TOOL gave the term “psychedelic prog” a new meaning with those batshit-crazy polyrhythms! “Lost Keys (Blame Hoffmann)” is merely an instrumental, 3-minute intro to this psychedelic mayhem – with yet another thinly veiled drug reference… The last “filler track” is the weird noise collage closing this selection, entitled “Viginti Tres.” The name of the song is Latin for the number twenty-three, and what the hell it was supposed to mean, I guess, was anybody’s guess. In my opinion, it is the only track that should count as a filler in this selection. It is completely unnecessary, and, in this day and age, when I listen to this album either from my laptop or on Spotify, I skip this closer by default. Sure, I have the state-of-the-art CD edition with those built-in 3D glasses and shit in my collection, of course, but as per the zeitgeist of the day, I never actually listen to my CD’s anymore.
That said, I genuinely struggle to find any serious faults in this album. My entry point into TOOL was “Lateralus” somewhere along the early 2000s, but at the time, I never really thought of them as a prog band first and foremost. To me, they sounded more like a metal band flirting with the occasional prog elements – yeah, despite the Fibonacci mayhem and all! The very reason I fell for them in the first place was those proggy bits. So, when they rolled out this beautiful journey into the atmospheric depths of progressive metal after a 9-year incubation time following the release of an indisputed masterpiece, not only did my view of the band change, but this album also immediately became something to hyperfixate on, exclusively, for quite some time. Despite the heavy sections, which certainly sound heavy enough to count as metal, this is progressive music of the highest caliber. End of story.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Vicarious
- Jambi
- Wings For Marie (Pt. 1)
- 10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2)
- The Pot
- Lipan Conjuring
- Lost Keys (Blame Hoffmann)
- Rosetta Stoned
- Intension
- Right in Two
- Viginti Tres
Lineup
Maynard James Keenan – vocals
Adam Jones – guitars
Danny Carey – drums, percussion
Justin Chancellor – bass
Label
Tool Dissectional / Volcano Entertainment II / L.L.C (distributed by Sony)
