Though progressive-metal band Tool’s latest release “10,000 days” topped the Billboard charts this summer, it lacks the impact of their past work and has fallen flat with many hard rock fans. Yet those who witnessed Tool perform this material live at the Oakland Arena on Sept. 3rd beheld a miracle.
By itself “10,000 Days” could be categorized in the ever expanding sub-genres of rock as “background-metal”, just don’t tell that to the thousands of fervent fans who exploded in applause every time they recognized an introduction to one of the new songs. Indeed, they were aware of something that had eluded the non-believers.
While this album presents a weaker version of the Tool we have come to know and love, it is no less an awesome work of art. If a concert revival was needed to open our eyes, so be it.
Befitting reanimation, the stage was designed in the sterile simplicity of a hospital hallway, and the roadies were even dressed in long white lab coats as they tended to the equipment. The theme carried into the perfectly synchronized video projections, which featured bizarre images of hemi-sectional human anatomy, pregnant people becoming balloons, and conjoined CGI characters locked in an intricate coital embrace seemingly woven from the tapestry of an M.C. Escher hallucination.
Even without the unrivaled visual presentation, the power of Tool’s live performance transcends even the polished production of their recorded music. Danny Carry’s tribal, rolling thunder drumming and the chunky grunge guitar and bass rhythms of Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor take on new meaning in person. Maynard James Keenan’s poetic and increasingly insightful lyrics impart deeper understanding when sung to the audience. Witnessing the technical precision of these four gifted musicians coalesce into their unique syncopated styling is a spectacle all its own.
Interspersed with the new songs were a handful of hits from their past, including “Stinkfist”, “Forty Six & 2”, “Schism”, “Sober”, “Lateralus” and “Ænema”. Hearing the new material performed with the old helped to foster a connection many otherwise would not have made. While the band has musically evolved, they are still the same old Tool, and “10,000 Days” is a great album, even if it qualifies as background-metal.
Originally published in the Express, September 15, 2006.
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