Review – Album – Lateralus – 2001- Tool

9)Ticks & Leeches(8:10)-Probably the loudest song on the record. Drums bite in precipitously and keep biting deeper! Awesome drum intro by Carey. Guitars kick in at around 0:33. The lurid vocals emerge at 1:09. A lot of screaming, shrieking and cacaphony on this one! Maynard curses some Tick that is sucking his blood. Everything remain bloody till 3:22, when everything dies off suddenly. Maybe it’s the death of the “sucked-up” person being symbolised by the silence. There are many things happening over the silence, but those are too silent to get detected. The person seems to recover slowly. And wakes up at around 5:49. Then……………………..there’s a NUCLEAR EXPLOSION!!! At 5:56, the beast wakes up, and resumes to it’s biting! Cruel song indeed!

10)Triad(8:46)-This is an instru-mental song! It starts off with an Arabic Guitar riff that continues throughout the song. There’s some fantastic soloing by Adam Jones. Then the drums explode at 2:54! And then the song repeats itself till the end. The last two minutes are absolute silence! Might be dificult for some people to digest!

11)Reflection(11:07)-The longest and the most  psychedelic song. It opens up very slowly, taking a lot of time to set itself. The drums and the bass create an absorbing atmosphere that lulls the listener into a stupor. There’s a bit of sitaring in between. This song is good for relaxing. There’s a magnetic feel attached to it. Maynard wants us to give up our ego and realize that we are all one mind. An absolute masterpiece.

12)Disposition(4:46)-Another soulful and beautiful song. An absolute mood-setter. The tabla on this one sounds magnificent, and so does the enigmatic bass, and the aromatic vocals. Maynard keeps singing “Mention this to me; watch the whether change”. This song is meant to be heard on a rainy day, sitting near the window!

13)Faaip de Oiad-This is not actully a song. It’s a radio recording of a man describing some sort of alien in Area 51. A lot of cacophony on this one!

It is impossible to jugde. critisize or compare this piece of art. Because there is no existing factor on the basis of which this album can be criticised, or judged It’s one of it’s kind and inimitable. Those who hate it haven’t been able to digest this abstraction.And those who love it have realized its boundless beauty!