Lateralus

Lateralus is the culmination of the stabs at dark sonic experimentation which have marked Tool’s last three albums. It’s probably their most airless, claustrophobically intense record yet, without much by way of cathartic climax.

Maynard, perhaps sated by his A Perfect Circle side project, is quite vocally restrained, presumably in order to concentrate on the atmosphere and instrumentation of the record, both of which are extremely dense. The album stretches and unfurls over almost ninety minutes of music, the most epic tracks between eight and eleven minutes long, while a couple of short spooky fillers in the opening half of the album, like ‘Mantra’ and ‘Parabol’, furtively ease us into the depths.

‘The Grudge’ is characterised by Danny Carey’s precision drumming, ‘The Patient’ is one of the few tracks which feature typical Maynard tones, sonorously flickering along the edge’s of the notes, while ‘Ticks And Leeches’ is, aptly enough, an agony of squelchy guitars and growling screams. The stand-out tracks are ‘Schism’, lyrically verbose and tattood with tribal drum clots, and the title track which starts like a hearbeat, then bursts into a bombastic guitar riff, before twisting into a pummelling litany of words and musical shape-shifting.

The sound of Lateralus is textured without becoming too viscous, but the persistent mood of menace, without shocking relief, might wear thin after the first hour or so. Best listened to in a darkened room – so long as you’re not of a nervous disposition.