Tool 10,000 Days CD

Tool: Danny Carey, Adam Jones , Justin Chancellor, Maynard James Keenan.
Audio Mixer: Joe Barresi.
Recording information: Grandmaster, Hollywood, CA; O'Henry, Burbank, CA; The Loft, Hollywood, CA.
Animation: Ray Zone.
Illustrator: Alex Grey.
Photographer: Travis Shin.
To its legion of fans, everything the band Tool does is an event, but the elaborate plan behind their sporadic release schedule--roughly five years, on average, between albums--is due primarily to the time and effort the band packs into each successive effort. To title their fourth album 10,000 DAYS, then, isn't as much an exaggeration as it would seem. Tool are America's most consummate mainstream perfectionists, revitalizing progressive rock to the grandeur of its '70s heyday, but updated with technocratic tension and existential dread not known to previous generations. Perhaps it's the development of more musical genres at the turn of the millennium, but it's also Tool's ability to take what is needed from each and leave the florid excesses behind, forming a seething gray core of angst and release across epic-length songs that are as accessible as they are complex. The material on 10,000 DAYS provides typically thought-provoking grist for the band's lyrical handwringing ("Vicarious" tackles reality television as the bane of culture; "Wings for Marie" is a two-part suite on the death of vocalist Maynard James Keenan's mother), and is as musically engaging as ever, finding the band at their most powerful since 1996's AENIMA.
In an age where major labels dictate that new releases from bands appear on record store shelves every 18 months or so, rare is the artist given freedom and ability to reflect and stretch out to explore creative evolution and release music as an artist, rather than the prepackaged predictability of an entertainer. Thankfully, Tool has somehow managed to circumvent these rituals, releasing a record every four to five years as they so feel the need. This ability to patiently craft their musical direction has paid off for not only the band, but for listeners, as they've been able to expand their musical vocabulary from album to album with great precision, all the while remaining true to the foundations that built such a loyal, if not cult-like, following. But with this absence comes changes to the popular music landscape, as new bands and sounds (as well as a new generation of heavy metal fans to entertain) replace and stimulate the charts. Namely: a lot can happen in five years, especially with a fickle rock audience that is overinundated with constant new bands' songs. The group defied expectations (and even got radio airplay) with Lateralus, but would fans stick with them during the hiatus? There were moments when Maynard James Keenan would emerge courtesy of A Perfect Circle, and there were also several stunning video DVDs to pacify while 10,000 Days was being written, along with cryptic messages via their website, but that was about it.
Thankfully, 10,000 Days was worth the labor pains and wait to deliver. It's not only a step forward for the band, but a re-embracing of the epic-length rock songs found at the roots of early heavy metal. The album starts out with "Vicarious," which features some of Maynard's most straightforward lyrics since Ænema's "Hooker with a Penis." Essentially a biting commentary on reality television, information stimulus overload, and living through others' experiences, it's only a brief glimpse of what's to come, as 10,000 Days also offers some of Keenan's most confessional lyrics. The 17-minute epic "Wings for Marie/10,000 Days" is an ode to his mother, who passed away during the band's hiatus after dealing with paralysis from a stroke for 27 years. In a way, it's voyeuristic to listen to someone working out family issues on disc, but Keenan does it in a way that's sensitive and honest without ever treading the careful line between melodrama and sincerity. Most of the songs are a bit longRolling Stone (p.92) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Singer Maynard Keenan's operatic vocals, alternately simmering and shrill, are more personal and less pretentious than ever before."
Rolling Stone (p.108) - Ranked #38 in Rolling Stone's "The Top 50 Albums Of 2006" -- "'Vicarious' and 'The Pot' are packed with clever twists on instant-hit-single kicks..."
Spin (p.85) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "They've moved past metal to become their own genre....Keenan hisses a mysterious, gnomic gospel..."
Alternative Press (p.196) - "10,000 DAYS packs enough beauty, heartache and triumph that it will be dissected, studied and envied by younger bands for years to come."
Kerrang (Magazine) - "[E]pic, gradiose, mysterious and engaging....An album as substantial and challenging as only the great works of art can aspire to be..."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.68) - Ranked #6 in Kerrang's "20 Greatest Albums of 2006" -- "Self-indulgence never sounded so thrilling."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here's enough innovation of a musical nature to ensure they need not rely solely on vintage phantasmagoria to capture the imagination."